This Is the Most Expensive College in West Virginia

The cost of a college education can be prohibitively expensive for many students. As of 2019, a student would have to pay an average net price of $9,915 to attend a four-year public college, and $19,220 to attend a non-profit private school, after financial aid is factored in.

While the cost of college has increased virtually everywhere, certain schools stand out as being especially expensive. Whether it is because of their selective admissions standards, unique programs offered, or notable faculty, there are hundreds of schools that charge tens of thousands of dollars per year.

Each state is home to at least one school with an average net price of more than $12,000 per year. Smaller states tend to have fewer universities, and those they do have tend to have lower fees and tuition.

The vast majority of schools that rank as the most expensive in their state are private schools. While many of these are liberal arts colleges, a number of institutions on this list are art schools or music conservatories. Though these schools cost tens of thousands of dollars per year, those with fine arts degrees tend to earn much less than those with other types of college education. These are the college majors that pay off the least.

Though the University of Charleston ranks as the most expensive college in West Virginia, it is one of the least expensive on this list, with an annual net price for students receiving financial aid of less than $22,000. The school accepted only half of its most recent batch of applicants, compared to a 56.7% acceptance rate at the typical American college.

The school offers dozens of majors, many in STEM fields like computing and technology, health care, science, and more.

To identify the most expensive college in every state, 24/7 Wall St. used data from the National Center for Education Statistics to rank all bachelor’s degree-granting schools based on net price — the annual cost of tuition, books, room and board, minus any financial aid — for full-time, first-time degree-seeking undergraduates students who received grant or scholarship aid for the 2018-19 school year. This is the most expensive college in every state.