Connecticut · College costs

What College Actually Costs in Connecticut

Sticker price is close to meaningless. The number that matters is net price: what a typical first-year family pays after grants and scholarships come off. Across the 7 four-year colleges we track in Connecticut, the median net price is $32,504. That is $12,648 above the $19,857 median across every college we track.

The headline numbers

MeasureValue
Median net price (what families pay)$32,504
Median published in-state tuition$67,246
Median published out-of-state tuition$67,246
Median federal loan debt at graduation$19,305
Median earnings 10 years after entry$81,898
Four-year colleges covered7

Lowest net price in Connecticut

Ranked by what families actually pay, not by published tuition. Graduation rate and earnings are shown beside it, because a cheap college you do not finish is not a saving.

CollegeAvg. net priceGrad rateMedian earnings
Yale University$23,77795.7%$100,533
University of Connecticut$25,09783.3%$73,997
Wesleyan University$30,17792.6%$73,897
Trinity College$34,83283.8%$90,779
Connecticut College$36,17582.0%$75,001
Fairfield University$48,09584.3%$88,794

Strongest earnings ten years on

Median earnings of former students a decade after they first enrolled. It reflects the subjects a college teaches and who it admits as much as the teaching itself, so read it alongside cost rather than on its own.

CollegeAvg. net priceGrad rateMedian earnings
Yale University$23,77795.7%$100,533
Trinity College$34,83283.8%$90,779
Fairfield University$48,09584.3%$88,794
Connecticut College$36,17582.0%$75,001
University of Connecticut$25,09783.3%$73,997
Wesleyan University$30,17792.6%$73,897

Questions worth asking before you pay

Ask every college on the list for its net price calculator and run it with your real numbers — the published average hides enormous variation by income. Ask what share of need it meets, whether aid is renewable for four years, and what the graduation rate is for students receiving Pell grants specifically. That last figure is on each of our college profiles and is the one most likely to be missing from a glossy brochure.

Where does your child's score land?

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Frequently asked questions

How much does college cost in Connecticut?

Across the 7 four-year colleges we track in Connecticut, the median net price — what a typical first-year family actually pays after grant aid — is $32,504. Published tuition is $67,246 in-state and $67,246 out-of-state, but very few families pay the sticker price.

What is the cheapest college in Connecticut?

By average net price, Yale University at $23,777 per year, according to the most recent federal data.

How much debt do students leave Connecticut colleges with?

The median federal loan debt at graduation is $19,305. That covers federal loans only, so private and parent borrowing sits on top of it.

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Net price is the average for first-year students receiving federal aid and varies sharply by family income. Figures can lag the current admissions cycle.

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