Northwestern University failed to make a new list of the most expensive colleges released by the U.S. Department of Education today — but not by much.
Among the five percent of private, non-profit four-year schools included on the federal high-cost list, the lowest charge for tuition and fees for the 2009-10 school year was the $38,630 charged by Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
Sixty-three schools charged more than that. Evanston-based Northwestern managed to come in just under the threshold with tuition and fees for 2009-10 of $38,463.
The only Chicago-area school that did make the list was the University of Chicago, which charged $39,381.
Northwestern also failed to make the list for the most expensive net price after subtracting financial aid.
There the threshold for inclusion on the most expensive 5 percent list among private, non-profit four-year schools was the $29,533 charged by Western New England College.
That data is for the 2008-09 school year, when the net cost at Northwestern was $28,371.
The net cost figure only includes students who qualified for some form of financial aid.
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