I am dividing an imagined all-in for Oxbridge of $58K for 3 years, or $174K by 4 to come up with an equivalent per year tuition at a 4-year US college but no one is every going to offer me a place at any school to study mathematics… Oxford does seem to be a little bit more expensive to begin with (Mathematics at Camrbidge is 26K BPS and engineering about 35K) but it’s true that different areas of study are more expensive. It’s also true that some colleges charge higher college fees and rent than others. As far as I can tell the international tuition is locked at Cambridge but the amount you pay your individual college could increase. Entirely possible I am wrong.
Typically Oxford is about $5000 per year cheaper than Cambridge because they bundle college fees with university tuition. The figures you quote are accurate at current exchange rates for the cheapest courses but engineering and CS are about $20K per year more (and engineering in particular is now a four year course):
So while I agree that Oxbridge can be a good financial deal for many full pay students, that depends on the choice of subject.
I’m just so relieved by the cost difference, I got carried away. My child is in Liberal Arts concentration in one of the least expensive colleges so you are absolutely correct, though I was rounding up to $58K per year. The LACs were about $75K all in and schools like U Chicago (which was also a favorite) & Columbia are coming on $85K. Chicago is on target to be $100K a year by 2025. So its definitely worth looking even for more expensive areas of study. Engineering is kind of a different value proposition, because your job prospects are more predictable so you can better predict the burden you can take on. As as side note, I do know people who saved even more by going to peer institutions in Canada (U Toronto, McGill) where they got merit aid in addition to the lower cost of tuition.
Oxford sends detailed information on how much college and university fees will be for year 1, 2 and 3. They guarantee those numbers so you know total cost of attendance upfront. So, yes, there is (modest) increase but it is not arbitrary.
Majors with labs (Engineering, Chemistry?) cost more.
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I think it was in Town & Country. The implication was that, in part, wealthy applicants can massage holistic admissions to their advantage–expensive help with essays, internships etc. in a way they cannot finesse the academic interview. They felt US Unis were more friendly to UK private school kids than Oxford & Cambridge, which are committed to trying to raise the percentage of state school kids they enroll.