How the report calculates affordabilty:
Probably helps explain all the demand for “free” (federal) college tuition in the recent primaries.
I think the cost includes both private and public universities? (I wasn’t able to access the Penn report). In-state SUNY is much cheaper than in-state Rutgers or NJIT, but NY is ranked is lower than NJ. NJ is “affordable” only because the many small privates in the state do not charge high tuition (relative to others).
The few crumbs tossed to the masses by the Ivies can in no way make up for the lack of affordability of public education. But when I read influential publications like the NY times, all they have to say is how great the Ivies are in helping to close the equity gap.
Yeah I think NY got a bad rap in this one. IMO both CUNY and SUNY are affordable. Add that to the fact that lots of people commute to CUNY so room and board is non-issue. If they just look at federal and state aid and the yearly price of tuition. I think NY would be higher on the list
The rankings have some “quirks”. For example, states that invest in merit based scholarships (Florida, Tenn, Georgia, for example), don’t do as well as states that spend a significant % of financial aid as “need-based”. For example, a donut hole family ($75K+ a year) would find Florida’s public research institutions (#30 on the list) more affordable than Texas (#7 on the list).
In some states, the “higher” ranked public research institutions are more expensive for all income bands/types than “lesser” ranked schools (For example, PSU vs West Chester U); while in others, the “higher” ranked schools don’t charge much more in tuition, and have better need-based aid (UF, FSU, UCF vs FAU, FIU, UNF). That’s something that doesn’t come out in these rankings.
Also, they consider Private institutions in the ranking (and state aid given to students attending private institutions). That’s interesting to know, but you can argue over how much states (legislatures) should support private institutions and students.
The data is coming from the IES NCES, so you can use College Navigator so see “Net Price” by income for each individual school.
I’m still trying to understand the data inputs.
Percent of family income? Is that family income national or state median?
And are room/board costs included even if most students are commuters?
It’s weird that they included private schools. I would like to see that same list with just the public schools included.
NY is definitely cheaper than most of the other state’s I’ve looked at. California is 4th on the list and NY is 39th, but Tuition + Room and Board at Binghamton is $22,251 and at UC San Diego it’s $25628.
@LucieTheLakie, I feel for you. Pennsylvania is crazy - $28,434 for Penn State - ouch!
@WalknOnEggShells, PSU’s net price calculator actually came in at just under $34,000 for freshman year at University Park back in 2014!
Yikes, that’s crazy. Kind of makes the choice between public and private kind of easy though 
Maine laments the fact that its young people go out of state and then don’t return after they graduate. It would help if their state schools were more affordable! My daughter will be going to Pennsylvania - ironic. Susquehanna is giving her enough aid that it’s about the same cost to us as the University of Maine. And she’s a good student, but not outstanding.
^^ Or another OOS public in a state with its own poor rating. It’s really like a sad epic game of musical chairs.
I am also unclear on how NJ fared so well, when to live on campus at Rutgers you’ll be spending about $31,000 for a full time student. Montclair State is the same price. Sure, privates like Monmouth aren’t as expensive as many other privates nationwide, but without FA the student will have to pay more than at Rutgers.
I don’t see how South Dakota is #41. Tuition at SD schools is pretty low.
I heard from a friend who talked to an admissions rep at a college fair who told her PA residents can go to a SUNY school for $33k. Room and board included.
@NFL123, these schools are about $20k if you have to board and some have a requirement to live on campus for a year or two if not in commuting
*distance
The merit aid at Pitt for PA students is not nearly as generous as it was just a few years ago. We were basically told that it was unlikely that our D would receive any meaningful merit - although at The Ohio State and U of DE we will likely receive excellent merit making the COA much lower than Pitt – (not to mention Alabama and Auburn, and Mississippi who will offer much, much more to high stat OOS). We still have Temple offering automatic merit but not on our list. Forget about Penn State - even within the honors program the merit $ is a drop in the bucket.
I don’t get New York’s rating either. SUNY’s are very afforable even including room and board. While it was 5 years ago COA for my kid to attend Binghamton would have been $20k/yr.
For 2016-17 it’s $23k now. OOS is $38k.
https://www.binghamton.edu/admissions/cost.html
Other, less selective SUNY’s are less.
Here is SUNY Cortland for example:
http://www2.cortland.edu/cost-aid/student-accounts-office/tuition-and-costs/
I found this site very useful in sorting public colleges by in-state prices and out-of-state prices. It does not take into account family income, financial aid, etc. Its just a tool to look at absolute prices.
Try running the state schools’ net price calculators for a student from a middle income family (e.g. $60,000) without top level merit scholarships (e.g. 3.3 GPA).
That can give you a better idea of “typical” affordability than list prices, and make some of the results less surprising. E.g. both CA and PA state schools both have high in state list prices, but CA state schools give much better in state financial aid. AL state schools are known for big merit scholarships, but not much aid for those who do not hit the merit thresholds.
Of course, affordability comparisons will differ for a top student (3.8-4.0 GPA) from a high income family.