Total Costs At The Top Undergraduate Business Schools

Total cost of a college education might not be the most prioritized data point when making a college decision. But it’s usually at the top of the list. Student loan debt continues to be an issue for millions of Americans. Each year when we rank the country’s best undergraduate business schools, we also ask schools to report total cost estimates for students entering the school this past fall to get a sense of what future college students and their families might expect to pay over four years of college.

This year students at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business have the lowest estimated four-year total cost and just $61,176 for in-state students. BYU was by far the least expensive school, with an estimated total cost of about $22,000 less than the next school with the lowest cost — the University of Pittsburgh College of Business at $83,224. Following Pitt is the University of Akron’s College of Business, where the estimated total cost was $91,420.

Not surprisingly, in-state residents at public universities have the least-expensive options. In-state residents at 13 public schools can still earn a degree for less than six figures. Those schools mainly reside in the Midwest, South, and Southeast. Three schools with estimated total costs of less than $100,000 are in Ohio — more than any other state. However, all but three of those 13 schools were outside the top-31 ranked schools this year. The only school in the top-10 with an estimated total cost of less than $100,000 is the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. BYU and Pitt were the next-highest ranked schools this year at 31st and 30th, respectively. All other schools with an estimated price tag of less than $100,000 ranked 60th or higher.

Rank	School	In-State Total Cost
31	Brigham Young University	$61,176
30	University of Pittsburgh	$83,224
76	University of Akron	$91,420
81	University of Kentucky	$92,135
89	Iowa State University	$93,332
86	Florida International University	$93,504
73	Texas Tech University	$94,824
74	Ohio University	$95,768
60	University of Oklahoma	$97,144
68	Bowling Green State University	$97,826
92	University Of New Mexico	$98,500
6	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	$98,936
84	North Carolina State University	$99,940

Private schools all around the country dominated the list for most expensive schools. Bucknell University in Pennsylvania had the highest estimated price tag — a whopping $320,640 for four years of college. Top-ranked University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School followed with $318,540. No other state saw a greater spread in total cost among business schools than Pennsylvania, which had one of the least expensive options but also the two most expensive schools. Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas had the third-highest estimated total cost at $310,648.

In total, seven of the 93 schools to be ranked this year had estimated total costs of at least $300,000. In addition to the three schools listed above, Boston University’s Questrom School of Business ($310,648), Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business ($306,860), Hult International Business School ($304,800), and New York University’s Stern School of Business ($302,192) all estimated total costs above $300,000.

Private schools dominated the list of most expensive schools. Of the 10 most-expensive schools to participate in this year’s rankings, four were ranked in the top-10. All but one was ranked in the top-50.

Rank	School	In-State Total Cost
35	Bucknell University	$320,640
1	University of Pennsylvania	$318,540
26	Southern Methodist University	$316,504
27	Boston University	$310,648
8	Carnegie Mellon University	$306,860
32	Hult International Business School	$304,800
3	New York University	$302,192
87	Santa Clara University	$296,992
50	University of Denver	$294,360
5	Georgetown University	$293,410