You've picked a very unfair data set. Stanford is one of the top universities in the country and has a $22B endowment [1]. The could choose to simply make tuiti

You've picked a very unfair data set. Stanford is one of the top universities in the country and has a $22B endowment [1]. The could choose to simply make tuition free if they really wanted to. Stanford optimizes everything they do (including pricing) to attract the best and brightest. You're also only looking at cost, which is only half of the equation. You also need to scrutinize lifetime earnings of graduates. For Stanford, this metric would obviously be excellent (see: endowment). For many of the mediocre to bad universities in the United States, this metric is likely terrible. [1]: http://facts.stanford.edu/administration/finances http://facts.stanford.edu/administration/finances