Six figures, still broke

More than a dozen US colleges now list a price above $100,000 a year. Many of those same schools are under serious financial strain.

Revenue falls as prices rise

Research from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association shows tuition revenue has actually dropped even as sticker prices climbed.

High tuition, high aid

Colleges raise the published price and raise grant aid alongside it, says Texas A&M economist Emily Cook. Families pay tuition minus grants, and that net number keeps shrinking.

Aid buys enrollment targets

Schools with the steepest sticker prices often hand out the most aid, per The Princeton Review's 2025-26 rankings. They do it to hit enrollment numbers, even when it damages the bottom line.

Nobody knows the real price

Aid packages arrive only with an admission offer, late in the process, and often are not final. One analyst puts college pricing on par with healthcare for opacity.

“Higher education is one of the least transparent sectors of the economy.”

Some students do pay full

At Georgetown and Tufts, roughly 50% to 60% of students receive no grant aid at all, according to AEI's Preston Cooper. The discounting is concentrated in mid-tier private colleges.

Discounts hit 57 percent

The average tuition discount for first-time, full-time students at private colleges reached 57% for 2025-26, per NACUBO. Colby lists $96,120 and gives an average package near $77,757.

“Higher education is switching from a seller's market to a buyer's market.”

The death spiral

Colby covered its aid with a billion-dollar fundraising campaign, which its president admits few schools could repeat. Small colleges have already closed, and the pace is expected to pick up.

“A lot of private liberal arts colleges right now have almost zero families who are full-pay families. That is a death spiral.”