10 Least Expensive Public Colleges for Out-of-State Students
Students looking to venture beyond their home state to pursue a college education might consider public schools to get a discount on tuition. While many students could benefit financially from looking at colleges near home, there are schools that offer competitive out-of-state tuition packages that rival many universities’ in-state offerings.
[Learn how you can get in-state tuition as an out-of-state student.]
Among the 452 public institutions that reported tuition and fees data to U.S. News in a 2010 survey of undergraduate programs, the average for out-of-state students was $16,678 for the 2010-11 school year. (Additionally, 121 public colleges surveyed did not report tuition data.) By comparison, the 10 least expensive public colleges for out-of-state students cost an average of $6,643—more than $10,000 less than the national average.
New Mexico Highlands University, a regional university in the West, offered the cheapest tuition and fees package for out-of-state students with a cost of $4,632 for the 2010-11 school year. The university also had the distinction of offering the least expensive tuition and fees package for its in-state residents.
[See the most expensive public colleges for out-of-state students.]
Of the top 10 least expensive public schools for out-of-state students, eight are located among Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and five of the top 10 are ranked in U.S. News‘s rankings of Best Colleges. The five military academies, which charge $0 in tuition and $0 in fees in return for postgraduate service, were excluded from this tuition list, as were schools designated as Unranked by U.S. News.
These are the 10 least expensive public schools for out-of-state students, based on tuition and required fees (figures do not include room and board, books, transportation, and other miscellaneous costs):
*RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find tuition data, complete rankings, and much more.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,700 colleges and universities for our 2010 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’s data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’s rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.
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