BUZZ
When combining tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation and other expenses, the cost to attend 16 colleges and universities across the nation tops $100,000 per year, according to new data from the Princeton Review.
“We just keep going up and it just never stops,” Jeff Selingo, author of “Dream School,” told CNBC, which reported on the data.
“For the 2026-27 academic year, 16 institutions — including Duke, Georgetown, New York University and University of Chicago — have a sticker price of more than $100,000, according to data exclusively provided to CNBC from The Princeton Review’s upcoming ‘The Best 392 Colleges’ list,'” the outlet reported.
“Others, like Brown University, Northwestern and Pepperdine, cost more than $99,000.”
In comparison, the costs during the 2024-25 school year hovered at around 98,000 for the most expensive colleges.
For 2026-27, Harvey Mudd College, a private STEM-based school in Southern California, tops the list at $104,512. In second-place is Duke University at $103,975, followed by the University of Chicago at $103,821.
“We have been moving toward this six-figure price tag for a long time, and now we are here — and for a lot of people that feels significant,” Selingo told CNBC, adding that now many families are opting for less expensive state universities.
To make up for the costs, many universities offer “generous financial aid packages, with some even covering the entire cost for low-income families,” CNBC reported.
“Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among the few that are ‘tuition-free’ for undergraduates with family incomes of up to $200,000,” it reported.
The data comes in the wake of a recent Fox News poll that found nearly three-quarters of voters don’t believe a college degree is worth the cost.
And nearly two-thirds of Americans said they don’t believe that a college degree is worth its price tag, according to a November 2025 NBC News survey.
MORE: College costs skyrocket 112% above rate of inflation over last four years: study
