You thought diapers were expensive? A 2009 survey of college tuition and housing costs by the College Board and the Chronicle of Higher Education, and reported by CNN.com, says families can expect to spend more than $200,000 for an education at Georgetown, NYU or Sarah Lawrence College, which snagged the top spot on the nation's most expensive colleges list. And that's assuming your child gets out in four years.
The tuition and housing totals are ghastly enough, but CNN neglected to tack on the cost of books, now hovering near the $1,000 mark, or the obligatory laptop, lab fees, practice room rental and piano tuning (if your child is a music major), transportation, dorm social fees or Greek dues, and all the other bank account-depleting costs everyone forgets about. Many of those costs vary, but the book figure is a national average. Add on the fact that these schools hiked tuition by about 3% last year and that more rate increases are planned, and there's considerable pocketbook pain ahead.
The Top 5 Most Expensive U.S. Universities
- Sarah Lawrence College, New York: $56,728 for 2009-10, including tuition, housing and books; $237,329 for four years, assuming a 3% annual increase in university fees and book price inflation.
- Georgetown, Washington D.C.: $53,101 for 2009-10, $222,155 for four years.
- NYU, New York: $52,933 for 2009-10, $221,452 for four years.
- George Washington University, Washington, D.C.: $52,715 for 2009-10, $220,540 for four years.
- Johns Hopkins, Maryland: $52,630 for 2009-10, $220,184 for four years.
- Average public university tuition for 2009-10, plus the four-year outlook
- Average private college tuition for 2009-10
