This week’s Chronicle of Higher Education lists the tuition costs of every college in the nation. Very interesting reading. Among the highlights:

- My alma mater, Indiana State University, is probably the least highly regarded of Indiana’s 4 major public universities (its reputation trails Purdue and Indiana and probably also Ball State). This year’s in-state tuition cost at ISU is $5864. The University of North Carolina is one of the most highly regarded public universities in the nation. UNC’s in-state tuition cost this year is $4515. Guess which state has the higher income tax? Yep, North Carolina’s income tax ranges from 6.0%-8.25% while Indiana has a flat 3.4% income tax (source). UNC’s tuition is also lower than the flagship university of other states in our region - Virginia ($7133), Tennessee ($5290), Kentucky ($5812), South Carolina ($7314), Georgia ($4628). It’s even lower than Alabama ($4864) and Arkansas ($5495). At least it’s the same as LSU ($4515) higher than West Virginia ($4164) and Ole Miss ($4320). And it’s significantly higher than Florida ($3094) and Florida State ($3208).

- Elon’s tuition is $18,949. It trails Duke ($32,409), Wake Forest ($30,210), Davidson ($28,667), Guilford ($21,640), Meredith ($20,000), and Peace ($19,265) among North Carolina colleges and universities. Not sure how financial aid differs at all those schools though.