People walk by Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, U.S. Jim R. Bounds | Bloomberg | Getty Images The yearly cost of attendance at over a dozen colleges is now six figures , after factoring in tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation and other expenses. For the 2026-27 academic year, 16 institutions — including Duke, Georgetown, New York University an...
People walk by Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, U.S. Jim R. Bounds | Bloomberg | Getty Images The yearly cost of attendance at over a dozen colleges is now six figures , after factoring in tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation and other expenses. For the 2026-27 academic year, 16 institutions — including Duke, Georgetown, New York University and University of Chicago — have a sticker price of more than $100,000, according to data exclusively provided to CNBC from The Princeton Review's upcoming "The Best 392 Colleges" list. Others, like Brown University, Northwestern and Pepperdine, cost more than $99,000. As more schools cross the $100,000 threshold , others will follow, according to Jeff Selingo, the author of "Dream School." "We just keep going up and it just never stops," he said. "We have been moving toward this six-figure price tag for a long time, and now we are here — and for a lot of people that feels significant," Selingo said. Some students and their families have reached their breaking point, he added, and as a result, smaller liberal arts colleges have started losing ground to larger — and less expensive — public schools. "There is a group of institutions that used to be able to command increasing their price without a problem, and now they are finding students and families pushing back," Selingo said. Read more CNBC personal finance coverage Trump Accounts create a 'legal backdoor' for Roth IRA wealth, tax attorney says Retirees fear running out of money. Many are spending too little instead Social Security retirement trust fund may be depleted in 2032: Trustees report College sticker prices top $100,000 at 16 schools — but many students pay less CNBC's Financial Advisor 100: Best financial advisors, top firms ranked Overall, undergraduate enrollment continues to notch modest increases, according to the latest report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center , a nonprofit that tracks h...