Attending a college in New York State can cost the average student anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than $59,000 a year after financial aid.

Those figures come from Newsday’s analysis of attendance costs from nearly 170 selected colleges in New York using the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard.

While some colleges continue to raise their annual cost of attendance — full-price tuition, mandatory fees, housing and living expenses — many students pay less thanks to financial aid. Newsday’s analysis focuses on comparing institutions' reported average net cost, or the amount a typical full-time, first-time student receiving federal financial aid pays after grants and scholarships. 

Take Syracuse University: Its full-pay sticker price was among the highest in New York State at $84,632–$88,493 in 2023–2024, but its average annual net cost among students receiving federal aid was $43,336. Fellow upstate institution Cornell University's average net cost is $33,934 while students at New York University average $35,737. 

But Catharine Bond Hill, a senior adviser at Ithaka S+R and a former president of Vassar College, pointed out that the financial resources of a student’s family can determine the student’s eligibility for federal, state and institutional financial aid.

"You need to take all three of those things into account as a student or family in thinking about what you’re going to have to pay to go to different institutions," she said.

Hill recommended that prospective students use the net price calculators that colleges offer online to help them estimate their potential costs. The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 requires all colleges that take part in Title IV federal student aid programs to make a net price calculator available.

"What you want to know is: What is the net price for families with incomes pretty close to yours?" she said.

Hill said that many institutions do not give students enough financial aid to cover the cost of attendance. This called "gapping" students. "The higher the costs to students, the more challenging being gapped is," she said. "So if you’re being gapped on Long Island, it might be harder to fill that gap than if you’re being gapped in rural upstate New York, where the costs are just significantly lower."

The data includes private universities and colleges, as well as public institutions across the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) systems. Public university costs reflect in-state tuition, although nonresident students typically pay more.

NY's most expensive four-year colleges

• The School of Visual Arts ($59,593)
• The Manhattan School of Music ($55,613)
• Yeshiva University ($49,210)
• The Pratt Institute ($48,876)
• The New School ($48,163)

NY's least expensive four-year colleges

CUNY Lehman, Baruch and more ($541–$3,245)

The twelve least-expensive institutions in the analysis — with the exception of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the seven least-expensive college — were all CUNY schools, from Lehman College ($541 average net cost) and Baruch College ($657) to topping out with Medgar Evers College ($3,245). Note that most CUNY colleges do not have on-campus housing and students primarily commute, which significantly reduces the living expenses that are factored into a college's average net cost. 

• U.S. Merchant Marine Academy ($1,516)
• Farmingdale State College ($6,146)
• SUNY Old Westbury ($8,991)
• SUNY Buffalo State University ($10,886)

At the U.S. Military Academy in West Point ,  students pay nothing for tuition, room, board, and medical care. However, they must serve for five years of active duty in the U.S. Army upon graduation, plus three additional years as a reservist.

The cost of attending public universities has remained relatively stable. Since the CUNY and SUNY Boards of Trustees last increased tuition and fees in 2019, a combination of state budget support and tuition freezes has prevented further hikes.