Education / Higher Ed
College Board estimates net public-university tuition at $1,920
Grants lower projected tuition, but living expenses leave a much larger total college bill.
Status: source-checked.
First-time, full-time students attending public four-year colleges in their home state face estimated average net tuition and fees of $1,920 in 2026-27, according to a College Board report released Nov. 5. The figure subtracts grant aid and does not include housing, food or other living expenses.
Including those expenses changes the picture: College Board estimates average net cost of attendance for that group at $21,660. Its report includes allowances for books, transportation and personal spending, making the total substantially larger than the tuition-and-fees figure alone.
Before grants, average published in-state tuition and fees at public four-year colleges stand at $12,290, up $350, or 2.9%, from a year earlier before adjusting for inflation. Published tuition for out-of-state students averages $32,730; the private nonprofit four-year average is $46,350.
The net-price measure is an average, not a promise about an individual student’s bill. The report includes students who receive no grants as well as those who do. It calculates net prices by subtracting average federal, state and institutional grant aid from published prices for first-time, full-time students in the relevant sector.
The latest available detailed grant-aid data are for 2023-24, so the report projects aid and net prices for subsequent years. It puts the public four-year in-state net-tuition peak at $4,600 in 2012-13, expressed in 2026 dollars. The comparison is inflation-adjusted; it is not a comparison of nominal dollar amounts.
What we know / what we don't
What we know
- Net tuition is not total attendance cost.
- 2026-27 net prices are projected, using earlier aid data.
What we don't know
- Individual aid awards and family bills vary; this is not an estimate for a particular student.
The source record