Average: $19,009
Lowest: Talmudical Academy, Adelphia, N.J. – $469
Highest: Art Center College of Design, Pasedena, Calif. – $39,672
The top of the list of institutions with the lowest net cost is dominated by small, religious institutions. The cheapest one, Talmudical Academy, is a rabbinical college that offers just a bachelors degree. Its student population is tiny: 63 students. Next on the list is Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary, in Jacksonville, Texas, which costs $1,876. The rural Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, N.D., costs $2,031, and Southeastern Baptist College in Laurel, Miss., costs $2,699.
The most expensive 4-year private, not-for-profit institutions tend to be art and music schools (six of the Top 10 are). The Art Center College of Design has the highest average cost for students, but the price of attending actually dropped by about two percentage points from the 2009-2010 academic year to the 2010-2011 year. The other institutions with the highest net costs are The New School in New York City, which has a net cost of $39,004, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which costs $38,965, The Boston Conservatory, which costs $37,798, and California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, Calif., which costs $36,997.
