These Are The 20 Most Expensive Colleges You Can Attend

College is a rite of passage for many young adults. It signifies the start of adulthood, venturing out onto your own — and the realization of just how expensive education really is.

While there are plenty of affordable routes to start your career and build up some experience in your desired field, traditional colleges are still the main source of education after high school. A report by the National Center for Education Statistics found that a whopping 69% of high school students immediately attended college after graduating in 2018.

One of the most expensive colleges in the United Kingdom is actually slightly below the national average tuition cost for an out-of-state school in the U.S. However, UCL is one of the price options across the pond.

This historic school was found in 1826, and it offers programs for both home-based and EU students, which are people who have moved to the UK and resided in the European Union for a period of time. They have a wide variety of courses and degrees.

It’s cheaper to attend one of the more expensive school s in Australia than it is to enroll in a private school in America. Let that sink in for a moment.

The University of Melbourne also has a rich history. It was founded in 1853 as a public research university in the city of Melbourne and is the second oldest university in the country. It also holds the title of the oldest university in the state of Victoria.

This school is as expensive as it is ancient. The University of Cambridge was founded way back in 1209 and was even granted a Royal Charter (a formal document that monarchs issue to establish significance to an organization) by King Henry III in 1231. That earns it the title of the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world as well as the fourth-oldest surviving university on earth.

This private, Ivy League research university has probably the most name recognition in the world of higher education — which is probably the cause for the high price tag.

Like others on this list, Harvard University is the oldest college in the United States. as it was established way back in 1636. It’s even named after its first benefactor, a clergyman named John Harvard.

This college is the first on the list that doesn’t boast some sort of historical significance to justify it’s high tuition costs. It does, however, have some impressive programs and education quality as it focuses mostly on subjects like STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and medicine.

ICL’s main campus is in London’s South Kensington neighborhood, and there’s an “innovation campus” in White Citer. There are also multiple teaching hospitals located throughout London and a research center found in Silwood Park.

Stanford is another top college that comes with some serious name recognition, as well as a high enrollment fee.

And we have another fancy California school that’s way too expensive to attend. The California Institute of Technology—also known as Caltech—is a private, doctorate-granting research university that’s located in Pasadena.

Duke University is another expensive and historic school that continuously earns the title of a top college. It was founded way back in 1892 by Quakers and Methodists living in Trinity, North Carolina. It relocated to Durham, North Carolina, in 1892.

History wins again. The University of Southern California is the oldest private research university in the state. It currently boasts over 27,000 graduate and professional students studying in programs such as occupational therapy, engineering, social work, pharmacy, medicine, business, and law.

Now here’s one you may not have heard of yet. Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Franklin and Marshall College is an expensive private liberal art residential college. What’s cool about this school is that it was not only the first bilingual college in America, but it was also the country’s first coeducational institution.

Here’s another more unknown and unique college than the traditional expensive and STEM-focused schools on this list. Landmark College was actually designed for students with learning difficulties, special needs, and attention disorders.

Next up, we have Trinity College, one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in America. Located in Hartford, Connecticut, this school was originally designed to be an alternative to Yale when it was built in 1823. However, today its foraged its own path as a highly selective liberal arts school.

We’re just about to break the $56K mark with Vassar College, another historic and highly selective independent school located in Dutchess County, New York.

It has ranked as one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, but it’s best known for being a part of the “Seven Sisters.” The Seven Sisters refers to a group of colleges in the northeast of the U.S. that started out as all-women schools: Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Radcliffe, and, of course, Vassar.

The University of Chicago was founded back in 1890 by none other than American Business magnate John D. Rockefeller along with the help of the American Baptist Education Society.

We head over to Switerzland to meet the next most expensive school on the list. ETH is located in Zürich and was founded by the Swiss Federal Government in 1854. This historic school focuses mostly on STEM subjects as their original mission was the provide education for the next generations of scientists and engineers.

This school boasts another impressive historic title. The University of Oxford is the second-oldest university in continuous operation in the world. It’s probably been able to stay in business so long because of how many great minds and influential people it produces, such as Stephan Hawking and Oscar Wilde.

When America started to see an increase in industrialization, MIT was formed to help educate the next generation of workers. Today, it plays a huge role in developing engineering, mathematics, and modern science programs and industries.

As the third most expensive school in the world, New York University boasts the reputation of being one of the most multinational colleges. That’s all thanks to their faculty’s decision to admit students on academic ability instead of social connections. Founded in 1830, it was one of the first universities to do so.

Another historic college, Columbia University, was founded in 1754 in New York City, way before the Big Apple was a thing. In fact, it’s one of the nine Colonial Colleges, a group of schools that were founded before the American Revolution in 1765. The rest are Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, and Queen’s or Rutgers.

We’ve reached the end of our list with this one. Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, is currently the most expensive college in the world.

Why? Well, it probably has something to do with being the second-highest producer of PhDs in STEM subjects and having one of the top-rated undergraduate engineering programs in the country.

What’s a little strange is that it isn’t the #1 school in the world. That title goes to another expensive college on the list: Harvard University.