5. Columbia University

Forbes: America's Most Expensive Colleges

Tuition: $45,290

Total Cost: $56,681

The Manhattan campus insures this Ivy League research institution is always on the Top 10 list, despite a $7 billion endowment to help pay the bills. More than half of students get aid; the average amount is $36,041.

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10. Wesleyan Uni... Tuition: $42,084

Total Cost: $56,341

Down-at-the-heels Middletown, Conn. doesn't have the cachet of Cambridge or prestige of Princeton, but Wesleyan beats most of the Ivies for expense. A 9:1 student/faculty ratio keeps costs high.

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9. Northwestern ... Tuition: $40,223

Total Cost: $56,40

Located in the expensive north suburbs of Chicago, Northwestern offers traditional liberal-arts degrees plus specialties like engineering and journalism.

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8. Fordham Unive... Tuition: $39,967

Total Cost: $56,454

Fordham University, an historically Catholic institution in Bronx, N.Y., has a high sticker price on paper, but 93 percent of its 8,000 undergraduates get some type of aid.

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7. Georgetown Un... Tuition: $40,203

Total Cost: $56,485

Georgetown University, located in Washington D.C., was founded by Jesuits in 1789. Georgetown is now one of the world's best-known universities, placing its graduates throughout the law and diplomacy establishments in Washington.

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6. Vanderbilt Un... Tuition: $38,952

Total Cost: $56,634

Room and board and possibly the expense of travel to Nashville push this 6,000-undergraduate liberal arts school into the list of America's most expensive colleges.

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5. Columbia Univ... Tuition: $45,290

Total Cost: $56,681

The Manhattan campus insures this Ivy League research institution is always on the Top 10 list, despite a $7 billion endowment to help pay the bills. More than half of students get aid; the average amount is $36,041.

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4. Washington Un... Tuition: $41,992

Total Cost: $56,930

Costs have increased steadily at this Midwestern liberal-arts university in recent years. Half of 7,100 undergraduates receive some kind of aid; the average amount is $23,963.

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3. The New Schoo... Tuition: $37,610

Total Cost: $57,199

This eclectic collection of colleges in downtown Manhattan –- graduates include Donna Karan, Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Walter Matthau -- vaults to the Top 10 thanks mainly to $4,000 in expenses for books, supplies and other costs like travel and meals. Average financial aid of $11,355 is low because of high number of foreign students who pay full freight.

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2. University of... Tuition: $42,041

Total Cost: $57,590

Brainiac Central on Lake Michigan comes with a stiff price, but places its graduates in the best professional schools in the country. The 65 percent of students who receive some assistance averaged $27,460 in aid.

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1. Sarah Lawrenc... Tuition: $45,212

Total Cost: $58,334.

A pricey New York-area location and low, 9:1 student/faculty ratio make this 1,300-undergraduate liberal-arts college the nation’s most expensive school.

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