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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. A dubious one, anyway.

The absolute priciest four year college education in the country can be had at ... New York University, according to a new survey.

The analysis, by Business Insider, ranks the all-in cost of attending college – tuition, room and board and required fees.

An earlier analysis, by the Department of Education, ranked NYU 64th among private four-year colleges, but that listing just counted tuition.

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NYU is followed closely by Harvey Mudd College, part of California's Claremont Colleges, and Bard College in upstate New York.

The top twenty, in descending order of cost, are:

New York University, $61,977 Harvey Mudd College, $61,760 Bard College, $61,446 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, $60,779 Sarah Lawrence College, $60,656 Wesleyan University, $60,214 Dartmouth College, $60,201 University of Chicago, $60,039 Bard College at Simon's Rock, $60,003 Trinity College, $59,860 Johns Hopkins University, $59,802 Fordham University, $59,802 Carnegie Mellon University, $59,632 University of Southern California, $59,615 Occidental College, $59,592 Scripps College, $59,570 Oberlin College, $59,474 Haverford College, $59,446 Pitzer College, $59,416 Northwestern University, $54,389

College education costs have been rising steadily for years, outpacing inflation. Between 1982-1983 and 2012-2013, tuition and fees for a private four–year college education rose 167 percent, and the price tag for a public four–year education climbed 257 percent, according to College Board.

Not surprisingly, student loan debt is also a growing problem, particularly now that Congress has allowed the interest rate on student loans to double.

Luckily, Fiske has published its list of colleges that offer the best buy in terms of academics and affordability. The flagship public universities on the list, in no particular order, include the University of Florida, the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, the University of Oregon, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Affordable is relative, however. College Board pegged a moderate budget for the 2012-2013 school year at a public university at over $22,000, and over $43,000 for a private institution.

Get your wallet ready.



