Yes, it is a top school in the country, equivalent to an Ivy League school. In terms of the price, a few things come into play. First, most other schools have

Yes, it is a top school in the country, equivalent to an Ivy League school. In terms of the price, a few things come into play. First, most other schools have similar pricing. Northwestern is $54.6k and U Chicago is $58.2k. Yep, it's $3,600 per year, but is a 6% difference that meaningful? Maybe not given that university education has lots of other expenses. Room and board might end up eating a grand or two at another school out of that $3,600. Plus, as a student, often you don't get full choice. It's not like going to the store and being allowed to buy whatever phone you can afford. The university has to pick you first. Beyond that, the sticker price isn't what most people pay. For students coming from families earning over $110k/year, the net price is $40.8k. Northwestern's sticker is $3,600 cheaper, but the net for rich kids is $40.3k or only $500 cheaper. Not only that, for lower-income students, U Chicago is cheaper. In the $0-30k bracket, $3.2k vs $13.4k; $30k-48k, $6.3k vs $7.4k; $48k-75k, $7.9k vs $10.7k. So, is U Chicago more expensive? If your family is making half a million a year, maybe you're paying sticker everywhere and your family has to pay more for U Chicago. However, the sticker price isn't that meaningful given the parental income based sliding scale that universities use.