The Best Colleges With Tuition Under $20K

You, as a parent, want the best education possible for your child. Or, if you’re a student, you might be dreaming about an Ivy League college or one of the most prestigious private campuses offering a world-class education.

But then there’s the sticker shock. Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology both cost about $58,000 a year for tuition and fees – room and board not included. At Vanderbilt University, it’s $60,000-plus.

A great college education doesn’t need to put you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, though. GOBankingRates examined the 2022 Best National University Rankings list from U.S. News & World Report to identify the 25 highest-ranking schools with tuition and fees for the 2022-23 school year below $20,000. The list includes some of the nation’s elite public universities, and all of them fall into the top 70 of the publication’s rankings.

Read on to learn which are the list of the best colleges and universities in the United States with tuition and fees less than $20,000 a year.

• Location: Los Angeles
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $13,804
• 4-year graduation rate: 83%
• 6-year graduation rate: 92%

• Location: Berkeley, California
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $14,796
• 4-year graduation rate: 79%
• 6-year graduation rate: 93%

• Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $16,178
• 4-year graduation rate: 81%
• 6-year graduation rate: 94%

• Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $14,878
• 4-year graduation rate: 89%
• 6-year graduation rate: 94%

• Location: Santa Barbara, California
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $13,104
• 4-year graduation rate: 70%
• 6-year graduation rate: 85%

• Location: Gainesville, Florida
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $6,380
• 4-year graduation rate: 72%
• 6-year graduation rate: 91%

• Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $7,020
• 4-year graduation rate: 84%
• 6-year graduation rate: 90%

• Location: La Jolla, California
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $17,361
• 4-year graduation rate: 73%
• 6-year graduation rate: 89%

• Location: Irvine, California
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $16,245
• 4-year graduation rate: 68%
• 6-year graduation rate: 84%

• Location: Atlanta
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $11,764
• 4-year graduation rate: 51%
• 6-year graduation rate: 92%

• Location: Davis, California
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $15,274
• 4-year graduation rate: 62%
• 6-year graduation rate: 87%

• Location: Austin, Texas
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $13,576
• 4-year graduation rate: 70%
• 6-year graduation rate: 88%

• Location: Madison, Wisconsin
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $10,722
• 4-year graduation rate: 69%
• 6-year graduation rate: 89%

• Location: Champaign, Illinois
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $19,731
• 4-year graduation rate: 71%
• 6-year graduation rate: 85%

• Location: Athens, Georgia
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $12,080
• 4-year graduation rate: 68%
• 6-year graduation rate: 87%

• Location: Columbus, Ohio
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $12,485
• 4-year graduation rate: 67%
• 6-year graduation rate: 88%

• Location: West Lafayette, Indiana
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $9,992
• 4-year graduation rate: 60%
• 6-year graduation rate: 83%

• Location: Tallahassee, Florida
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $5,666
• 4-year graduation rate: 70%
• 6-year graduation rate: 83%

• Location: College Park, Maryland
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $11,233
• 4-year graduation rate: 72%
• 6-year graduation rate: 88%

• Location: Pittsburgh
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $19,760
• 4-year graduation rate: 69%
• 6-year graduation rate: 84%

• Location: Seattle
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $12,076
• 4-year graduation rate: 71%
• 6-year graduation rate: 84%

• Location: University Park, Pennsylvania
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $18,898
• 4-year graduation rate: 55%
• 6-year graduation rate: 73%

• Location: New Brunswick, New Jersey
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $16,263
• 4-year graduation rate: 68%
• 6-year graduation rate: 84%

• Location: Storrs, Connecticut
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $19,434
• 4-year graduation rate: 72%
• 6-year graduation rate: 83%

• Location: Bloomington, Indiana
• Tuition and fees for 2022-23: $11,446
• 4-year graduation rate: 69%
• 6-year graduation rate: 81%

Methodology: GOBankingRates examined the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best National University Rankings list and identified the 25 highest-ranking schools with tuition and fees for the 2022-23 school year below $20,000. Information on each school’s location and enrollment were provided from U.S. News & World Report. Tuition and fees were sourced from each university’s website and include mandatory all-student fees, but exclude fees such as housing, dining, transportation and other variable costs associated with attendance. Tuition rates for full-time freshmen were selected where variable estimates were provided. Supplemental data on each school’s four- and six-year graduation rates for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees who began in 2015 was sourced from the National Center for Education Statistic’s College Navigator.  All data was compiled on and up to date as of Aug. 3, 2022.