All tuition increases are not created equal. Updated information, released June 12 by the Department of Education on their College Affordability and Transparency Center site, shows that while tuition at public, four-year universities nationwide went up at an average of 15% from 2008 to 2010, some colleges upped tuition by as much as 40 to 60%. In the most egregious case of tuition hiking, the University of the District of Columbia raised their tuition by 123%.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing some alarming trends,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a press call with reporters.
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What’s even more alarming is that if you look at just those universities within the 50 states (excluding universities in Puerto Rico, which had large increases in tuition), the vast majority of schools on the list are from Arizona, Georgia and California. The University of California system alone has six schools on the list.
But while the steep hikes in tuition are alarming, the colleges on this list are still cheaper than those universities that top the list of schools with the highest tuition. While the national average for in-state tuition and fees for four-year, public universities in 2010 was $6,669, tuition at Pennsylvania State University, which totaled $15,250, is more than double the national average. Other schools on the list include the University of Pittsburgh ($14,936), University of Vermont ($14,066), University of New Hampshire ($13,672) and St. Mary’s College of Maryland ($13,630).
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Tuition at private, not-for-profit colleges averaged $21,949. The most expensive private schools include Connecticut College ($43,990), Sarah Lawrence College ($43,564), Columbia University ($43,304), Vassar College ($43,190) and George Washington University ($42,905).
To get a better idea of where college costs are going up and by how much, TIME put together this list of schools with the fastest-growing tuition. The 14 colleges on the list are all within the 50 states and have undergraduate populations greater than 10,000.
