These colleges—spread from Pennsylvania to Kentucky to Michigan—discount their listed cost of attendance by at least 50% for all, or nearly all, students.
College is more expensive than ever. That part is clear. But private college tuition is frustratingly opaque. The average sticker price at a four-year private college (before room, board and other college-going expenses are factored in) in the 2024-25 academic year was $43,350—a 3.9% increase over 2023-24 prices, according to the College Board.
Yet at nearly every private college in the United States, few, if any, students are paying that price. For a myriad of reasons—prestige, enrollment competition, and student body diversity, to name a few—almost all private colleges charge a hefty sticker price, and then effectively discount their tuition. At four-year private colleges in the 2024-25 academic year, the net price for tuition and fees—meaning the price students and families pay out-of-pocket after federal, state and institutional grants (but not loans) are factored into the cost—was $16,510—$26,840 less than what the schools are posting on their online tuition pages. Put another way, the average tuition discount is a stunning 62%.
There’s a larger number that’s also important: the total cost of attendance (COA), which includes not only tuition and fees, but also room and board, books, transportation and personal expenses. The average list COA was $62,990, while the average net COA was $36,150. That’s a $26,840, or 43% discount. But every student pays a different net price, and determining in advance what yours will be isn’t easy. While they’ve streamlined the tools, most colleges require prospective students to fill out a net price calculator to get a net price estimate, which requires those students to know at least a bit about their parents’ finances. Otherwise, federal websites list average net prices for each school, which is useful but only if a given student is sure they’re a financially and academically average student.
Despite the convoluted pricing, it’s worth investigating the price estimates of any private schools on your college shortlist. After scholarships, the net price at private schools can often match, or even beat, the price tag for public in-state tuition for many students—especially in middle class and even more affluent families.
As part of our annual Top Colleges ranking, Forbes identified 25 schools that offer stand-out scholarship packages to first-time, full-time undergraduates. To determine which schools are the most generous, we looked at the percentage of students who receive at least some grant aid. At every school below, at least 95% of students receive aid, and at 20 of the schools, all students receive some aid. We also looked at which schools offered financial aid packages that paid for a significant chunk of the total cost of attendance. At all 25 schools, scholarships make up at least half of the annual cost to attend, with some paying for as much as 80%. All data is from the 2023-24 academic year, the latest made available by the Department of Education. Read on for a closer look at the 25 private schools on the Forbes Top Colleges list with the most generous financial aid.
Washington & Jefferson College offers first-time, full-time undergraduates an average scholarship of $35,647, which covers more than 80% of the $44,295 annual cost of attendance. The liberal arts school enrolls only undergraduates and boasts a student-to-faculty ratio of 12:1. The college, which accepts about 80% of applicants, requires freshmen to complete a “first year seminar” during the fall semester which includes lectures, concerts, plays, and trips to museums or galleries based on a common theme. Fun fact: Washington & Jefferson’s 60-acre suburban campus in Washington, Pennsylvania was the set of Netflix’s 2021 academic dramedy The Chair.
At Berea College in Kentucky, no student pays tuition. The tiny liberal arts college instead requires students to participate in a work-study program that requires at least 10 hours of work per week for the college, and qualifying jobs range from busing tables at the college-owned Boone Tavern Hotel, to crafting, to janitorial work, building management and groundskeeping. Students receive an average scholarship of $41,626, which covers tuition and about 70% of the $60,718 cost of attendance. The Berea student body is quite diverse—19% of Berea students are Black, 15% are Hispanic, 44% are white and 8% come from outside the United States.
Students at Albion College in Michigan receive an average scholarship of $46,051, which pays for about 66% of the $70,116 total cost of attendance. All students get some kind of grant money. Popular majors at Albion include biology, economics and communication, and the school is well-known for its equestrian center. Most Albion students come from within Michigan, though about a quarter are from out of state. The small-town campus spans 574 acres that includes five miles of hiking trails and 140 acres of outdoor education space.
Soka University of America, a liberal arts college in Aliso Viejo, California, that was founded in 1987 by Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda, offers all of its students some amount of scholarship money. The average award is worth $32,579 and pays for about 60% of the total cost of attendance, which during the 2023-24 academic year was $55,064. All students at Soka follow an interdisciplinary curriculum—there are no discipline-specific academic departments—and must choose from five concentrations: environmental studies, humanities, international studies, life sciences and social and behavioral sciences. Students must also study a non-native language for at least two years and spend a semester during their junior year studying abroad in a country that speaks their chosen language. Fees for the mandatory study abroad program are included in the regular tuition price.
Beloit College in Wisconsin offers all of its students some amount of financial aid. The average grant award is $41,931, which pays for 58% of the $71,959 cost of tuition. Beloit is Wisconsin’s oldest college—founded in 1846, before Wisconsin was even a state. It maintains small class sizes; most classes have 15 students, with one third of all classes including 10 or fewer students. Popular majors include biology, psychology and business and managerial economics, though the school is also well-known for its geology and anthropology programs.
Full-time, first-time students at Ohio Wesleyan University receive an average scholarship of $40,326, which pays for 58% of the annual $69,383 cost of attendance. All 1,500 students receive some kind of scholarship money. The liberal arts school is part of the Ohio Five, a consortium of five Ohio liberal arts schools that also includes Denison University, Kenyon College, Oberlin College and The College of Wooster. About half of all applicants are accepted to Ohio Wesleyan, and popular majors include zoology and animal biology; psychology; and sports, kinesiology, and physical education.
Kalamazoo College in Michigan offers 98% of its students scholarships worth an average $42,259, which pays for 57% of the $74,208 cost of attendance. All students follow “the K plan,” which includes study abroad opportunities; experiential learning like internships, undergraduate research, and social justice work; and a cumulative senior project. Students can choose from 32 majors, and some of the most popular are biology, business and chemistry. About 30% of Kalamazoo students are students of color, and 22% are first-generation college students.
If you’re into music performance, you’ve probably heard of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., which is well-known for its Conservatory of Music. The university offers Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Musical Arts degrees, but is also a formidable liberal arts college. All students at Lawrence receive some kind of scholarship, with an average award of $38,867, which makes up 56% of the annual $69,849 cost of attendance. The university operates on a trimester system, and all students are required to take a first-year studies course during their first trimester, which introduces students to a broad array of academic disciplines.
The College of Wooster—another member of the Ohio Five—offers its students an average scholarship of $42,063, which pays for 55% of the $75,800 cost of attendance. All students receive some amount of financial aid. Nearly all students live on campus at Wooster, and its campus is home to about 30 active Greek chapters. Popular majors at the college include political science, psychology, biology and computer science. The College of Wooster has a sister school in India—Ewing Christian College—and 15% of the student body are international students.
The University of Tulsa in Oklahoma is one of the few colleges on this list that’s classified as a private research institution. All students receive some financial aid, and the average scholarship is worth $36,801, which pays for 55% of the annual $66,688 cost of attendance. The university enrolled 2,735 undergraduate students during the 2023-24 academic year, and maintains an average class size of 13 with a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio. To date, University of Tulsa students have received 66 Goldwater scholarships, 76 National Science Foundation graduate fellowships and 27 Fulbright grants.
All of Wabash College’s 840 undergraduates receive some financial aid. The average award is worth $35,964, which pays for 55% of the $65,225 annual cost of attendance. Founded in 1832 by a group of Dartmouth College alumni to teach future educators and clergy, the men’s liberal arts college in Crawfordsville, Indiana, is now one of only three remaining non-religious men’s colleges in the U.S. Popular majors at Wabash include rhetoric, economics, history and biology. All students must complete comprehensive oral and written senior exams, which test proficiency in core academic concepts and the student’s chosen field.
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, offers all of its first-time, full-time undergraduates an average scholarship of $39,589, which pays for 55% of the $71,870 cost of attendance. The Norwegian Lutheran university is well-known for its choir, whose Christmastime concert is the feature of the annual Christmasfest, which also includes traditional Lutheran foods—like the delicious Lefse with lingonberry jam and less delicious gelatinous whitefish dish Lutefisk. St. Olaf accepts about half of its applicants, and popular majors at the college include biology, economics, psychology and mathematics.
All students at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, receive some amount of financial aid, with the average award worth $40,641, which pays for 54% of the $74,320 annual cost of attendance. DePauw’s 655-acre campus sits 45 miles west of Indianapolis, and the university operates on a 4-1-4-1 calendar, which includes fall and spring terms, plus a four-week winter term and a May term. Many students use the winter and May terms to complete internships or study outside the U.S.—about 80% of DePauw students study abroad. Popular majors at DePauw include econometrics and quantitative economics; speech communication and rhetoric; and computer science.
College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, offers students an average scholarship of $32,485, which pays for 56% of the $58,266 annual cost of attendance. Nearly all—98%—of students receive some kind of financial aid. The tiny college enrolls only 402 undergraduates, and its curriculum is based on human ecology. Like Soka University of America, the College of the Atlantic does not have discipline-based academic departments; all students must complete courses in environmental studies, arts and design, and human studies. To round out their education, College of the Atlantic students must also complete a senior project and an internship before they graduate.
The average scholarship at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, is worth $35,751, which makes up 54% of the $65,555 annual cost of attendance. All students get some amount of financial assistance. The Lutheran college is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and, like St. Olaf College, has ties to Norway. Popular majors at Luther include nursing, management and biology. The college enrolls 1,637 undergraduate students, and around a third of those students study abroad at least once before graduating.
Ninety-nine percent of the students at Hobart William Smith Colleges—which today is just one institution—receive financial aid. The average award is worth $45,145, which pays for 54% of the annual $82,602 cost of attendance. The school was originally founded as Hobart College for men and William Smith College for women, but combined in 1943 under one institution. The 170-acre campus in Geneva, N.Y., is nestled among the Finger Lakes, and the institution boasts a 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Popular majors include economics, psychology and media studies.
The Cooper Union in New York City offers all students some kind of financial aid, and the average student receives $37,278, which pays for 53% of the annual $69,546 cost of attendance. The college was founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper with the idea that education should be open and free to all, and until 2014, no student at The Cooper Union paid tuition. The college hopes to return to free tuition, and is in the middle of a fundraising push to meet that goal by 2029. It’s tough to get into The Cooper Union—only 12% of applicants were accepted in 2023 to all three schools: engineering, art, and architecture.
Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, offers its students an average scholarship worth $42,577, which pays for 56% of the annual $76,000 cost of attendance. About 95% of students receive at least some financial aid. The Lutheran university comprises four schools focused on the arts, humanities, natural and social sciences, and popular majors include business management, marketing and biological sciences. All students must spend some time learning off campus as part of the GO Program, and can choose from short, two to three-week programs or semester-long study abroad opportunities.
The average student at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, receives a scholarship worth $41,089, which makes up 53% of the $77,582 annual cost of attendance. All students receive at least some financial aid at Ursinus, where popular majors include biology, English, psychology and international relations. All first-year students at Ursinus must complete the Common Intellectual Experience, which is made up of two semesters and introduces students to a variety of academic disciplines. The student body is primarily American—only 2% are international students—and the college maintains a student-to-faculty ratio of 11:1.
Menlo College in Atherton, California, offers all of its students some kind of financial aid. The average award is worth $38,261 and it pays for 53% of the $72,369 cost of attendance. The business-focused school was originally all-male, but became co-ed in 1971. Menlo’s Silicon Valley location allows ample opportunities for student internships at tech giants Google, Apple and Facebook, and popular majors—all business-oriented—include accounting, entrepreneurship and innovation, and finance.
Students at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, receive an average scholarship worth $43,694, which makes up 55% of the $79,510 cost of attendance. Ninety-six percent of students receive financial assistance from the college. Similarly to Menlo, Wheaton College was created as a women’s private college, but enrolled its first coed class in 1988. Students can choose from more than 100 majors and minors, and popular degree programs include business administration and management, psychology, and biology. Students participate in the Wheaton Compass Curriculum, which culminates in a senior capstone project focused within the students’ major discipline.
Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, offers undergraduates an average scholarship worth $35,847, making up 53% of the $68,035 annual cost of attendance. All students receive some financial help from the school. Over the past 50 years, Centre College has produced more than 70% of all of Kentucky’s Rhode Scholars, and is a top-sending school for the Fulbright, Goldwater and Rotary fellowships. Centre uses a 4-1-4 calendar, with two semesters and a three-week CentreTerm in January, which many students use to study abroad or complete an internship.
The Illinois Institute of Technology—often called Illinois Tech—provides a scholarship worth an average of $38,325 to all of its first-time, full-time undergraduates, which makes up 52% of the $72,991 annual cost to attend. The school is classified as a private research university and maintains four campuses in the Chicago area. Popular majors include engineering, computer science, architecture and design, and the institute offers dual-admissions programs in medicine, optometry, pharmacy, law and business.
All students receive some financial assistance from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, with the average award worth $41,260, or 52% of the $79,022 cost of attendance. Like Illinois Tech and the University of Tulsa, Clarkson is also a private research university. Undergraduates can choose from more than 50 majors and minors, and popular disciplines include mechanical engineering, civil engineering and engineering management. Clarkson University also operates The Clarkson School, which offers students an early entrance opportunity into college that replaces their senior year of high school with a residential year of college.
Augustana College students receive an average scholarship of $33,822, which pays for 52% of the $64,848 annual cost of attendance. All students at the Rock Island, Illinois-based college receive some financial help from the college. Augustana accepts about a third of applicants, and popular majors include biology, psychology and business administration and management. The Lutheran college is one of the bigger schools on this list, and enrolls about 2,500 students with an 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Augustana’s campus is home to the The Fryxell Geology Museum, which features fossils, rocks and other mineral specimens.
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