With today’s economy college tuition has been a rising cost that students have been struggling with over recent years. College tuition rates are more inflated than rates for medical care.
According to statistics taken in the past year by the College Advocacy and Policy Board, the inflation rate for medical care is up by 436 percent while college tuition and fees is at an inflation rate of 827 percent.
The University of Wyoming is known as being one of the most affordable universities in America. The total estimated cost of achieving a four-year degree at UW, according to CNN Money, is on average, about $43,800.
That is calculated with some grants and scholarships. The annual cost however, not calculated with grants and scholarships, are approximately $14,084. In comparison to UW, institutions such as Harvard, on average, cost $60,000 without grants and scholarships.
Aside from UW, there are seven other community colleges located around the state, which offer affordable educations.
These colleges include Casper College, Central Wyoming College, Eastern Wyoming College, Laramie County Community College, Northwest College, Sheridan College and Western Wyoming Community College.
Though these colleges only offer degrees as high as an associate’s, most students utilize the cheap costs to eliminate pre-requisites until they decide upon a major.
Tuition costs and fees vary from these different colleges, WWCC being the cheapest costing $6,980 annually and LCCC being highest priced at $10,678 annually.
Yet, students find that the expenses are very affordable considering the costs of books, materials, and tuition.
While some students choose to attend colleges here in Wyoming, others find themselves going out-of-state to achieve higher educations as well.
Some of the states in which students choose to go include Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho and Utah.
Colorado is home to over 150 different colleges, four of which are universities.
The University of Denver is the state’s most popular university but also the most expensive. The annual cost of attendance is estimated at approximately $53,000. The University of Colorado at Boulder comes in second for most popular university, with an annual cost of about $21,051. Colorado State University in Fort Collins has an approximate cost of about $18,340. Colorado Mesa University has the lowest approximate cost of $16,953.
South Dakota has over 30 colleges in the state. Like Colorado, there are four colleges that students are most likely to attend.
The most popular is the University of South Dakota, which total fees add up to about $14,752 annually.
South Dakota State University is the largest university in the state and costs around $13,817 annually. Black Hills State University and Dakota State University are amongst the smaller universities in South Dakota having roughly only 2,000 to 4,000 students on campus.
The annual cost of attendance at Black Hills is $13,580 while Dakota state costs $13,709.
Although Nebraska has cities filled with smaller populations, generally no more than 3,000, the state alone is home to over 50 different colleges.
