Most Affordable Colleges

The largest 4-year colleges with out-of-state tuition under $15,000

Most "cheapest colleges" lists have a problem: they rank on in-state tuition, which is only cheap if you already live there. Move one state over and the same school can cost three times as much. This list uses out-of-state tuition instead, so every school on it is affordable no matter where you are applying from.

The cutoff is $15,000 a year in published tuition. That is before any financial aid, which means what you actually pay will usually be lower. We show sticker price because it is the one number that is comparable across every institution in the country, and because aid packages vary so much that two schools with identical tuition can leave families paying very different amounts.

Ranked by undergraduate enrollment, largest first, so the schools with the fullest campus experience appear at the top. Tuition and enrollment figures come from the U.S. Department of Education. Click through to any school for its acceptance rate, graduation rate, campus safety score, and what graduates actually earn.

Ranking methodology: Schools must have published out-of-state tuition under $15,000 per year. We use the out-of-state figure deliberately: in-state pricing makes a school look cheap only if you happen to live in the right state. Included institutions are 4-year, not for-profit, and traditional degree-granting colleges: doctoral, master's or baccalaureate. Community college systems that grant a small number of bachelor's degrees are excluded, as are special-focus institutions such as seminaries, medical schools and conservatories. Institutions where more than 50% of undergraduates are enrolled exclusively in distance education are excluded. Ranked by undergraduate enrollment, largest first.

154 schools meet this page’s criteria: four-year colleges with published out-of-state tuition under $15,000. This page ranks the 20 largest by undergraduate enrollment.

CollegeCove features four-year colleges and universities that primarily award bachelor's degrees or higher. Community colleges, vocational and certificate schools, graduate-only institutions, seminaries and other single-subject schools, and institutions that are primarily online are not included. Search all schools to reach community colleges and specialized institutions too.

#1

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT

#2

Georgia Gwinnett College

Lawrenceville, GA

#3

Northern Illinois University

Dekalb, IL

#4

University of Southern Mississippi

Hattiesburg, MS

#5

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant, MI

#6

Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, NC

#7

East Tennessee State University

Johnson City, TN

#8

University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Mayaguez, PR

#9

South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD

#10

Arkansas State University

Jonesboro, AR

#11

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Edwardsville, IL

#12

University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras

San Juan, PR

#13

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Carbondale, IL

#14

Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI

#15

Youngstown State University

Youngstown, OH

#16

Universidad Ana G. Mendez-Gurabo Campus

Gurabo, PR

#17

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN

#18

West Texas A & M University

Canyon, TX

#19

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Slippery Rock, PA

#20

Southeast Missouri State University

Cape Girardeau, MO

Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as an affordable college on this list?

Published out-of-state tuition under $15,000 per year at a four-year degree-granting institution. We use out-of-state rather than in-state pricing so the list means the same thing regardless of where you live. If a school here happens to be in your home state, your cost will be lower still.

Does this include financial aid and scholarships?

No. These are published tuition figures before aid, so what you pay will often be less. Sticker price is the only number that compares cleanly across institutions. Treat this as a shortlist and check each school's net price calculator and cost breakdown before ruling anything in or out.

Are affordable colleges lower quality?

Not reliably. Price correlates weakly with outcomes, and a low acceptance rate is a much weaker quality signal than most families assume. Compare graduation rates and post-graduation earnings on each profile rather than using tuition as a proxy for rigor.

Are online colleges included?

Online institutions charge a single low national tuition rate, so any list ranked on price fills up with them before a residential campus appears. We exclude schools where more than 50% of undergraduates study exclusively at a distance, using enrollment counts from the U.S. Department of Education rather than whether a school happens to offer online courses. Nearly every college does that now, so it separates nothing. How students actually enrol is the only measure that does.

How do I find affordable colleges near me?

Open the Budget Friendly collection and apply the state filter to narrow this set to your region. Worth checking both directions: a school in your home state will charge you the in-state rate, which is lower than the out-of-state figure used to qualify it here.

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