Inching Toward the $100,000 Sticker Price
Josh Moody
April 3, 2024
Some selective institutions are expected to hit six figures soon, though such pricing will likely have more of a psychological and political impact than a financial one.
For years, headlines have warned that the cost of attending college would eventually exceed $100,000-a-year at some institutions.
Law schools at Columbia and Stanford Universities and the University of Chicago crossed that threshold in 2019; some higher ed experts predicted that the most expensive private four-year institutions would join them by 2030.
Now that barrier could be broken as early as next year, some believe.
Following a sharp inflationary period in 2022 and rising operating costs for institutions across the U.S., the race to a $400,000 college education is heating up fast. And Vanderbilt University may have taken the lead, with total costs for some undergraduates now estimated at more than $98,000 a year.
