Several years ago, Ivy Coach covered a piece by Alia Wong in The Atlantic, “College Is on Its Way to Costing Six Figures a Year,” which predicted that by 2025, the University of Chicago’s total cost of attendance would surpass the six-figure mark. Now that it’s 2026, we can assess the legitimacy of this argument. As it turns out, the institution is close to breaking the six-figure threshold, but still a ways away, and most certainly did not do so last year, in 2025. Below is a breakdown of the cost of attendance at UChicago for the 2025-26 academic year, pulled directly from their Financial Aid Office website:

Cost of Attendance for 2025-2026	On-Campus	Commuter	Off-Campus
Tuition	$71,325	$71,325	$71,325
Student Services Fee	$1,623	$1,623	$1,623
UPASS Fee	$318	$318	$318
Food & Housing(or Maintenance Allowance)	$20,835	$7,980 (maintenance allowance)	$17,502
Books & Course Materials	$1,800	$1,800	$1,800
Misc. Personal Expenses	$1,950	$1,950	$1,950
Travel Allowance (Estimated)	$450	$450	$450
TOTAL	$98,301	$85,446	$94,968

The University of ChicagoMight Soon be the First University With a $100,000 Price Tag

At $98,301, UChicago is close to surpassing the six-figure threshold, but has yet to actually do so. But just how much does the cost of attendance grow each year at this formidable research university? According to the UChicago 2024-25 Common Data Set, tuition for Academic Year 2024-25 was $67,446. In other words, tuition increased by 5.7% in one year to $71,325. The total cost of attendance in AY 2024-25 was $93,633, which grew by 5.0% the following year to $98,301. Given this rate of change, we at Ivy Coach predict that next year, AY 2026-2027, the cost of attendance will finally cross over the six-figure threshold.

How Do UChicago’s Costs Compare to Other Elite Institutions?

No matter how you swing it, $98,301 is a lot of money to spend annually on undergraduate education. Of course, the money is well spent. Elite institutions like the University of Chicago provide students with the opportunity to rub shoulders with future captains of industry, to nurture a competitive work ethic that will take them far in life, and to be fed into lucrative industries post-grad. This sort of access is priceless. But how does the University of Chicago stack up against other highly selective colleges in terms of cost?

The Cost of Attendance Across Elite Institutions in 2026

University	2025-2026 Cost of On-Campus Attendance
Brown University	$97,184
Columbia University	$95,946
Cornell University	$99,734
Dartmouth College	$95,558
Harvard University	$86,926 +Travel
Princeton University	$86,680 + Travel
Stanford University	$96,513 + Travel
University of Chicago	$98,301
University of Pennsylvania	$95,612
Yale University	$95,350

As indicated by the data above, the University of Chicago is indeed at the upper end of the cost-of-attendance spectrum among elite universities, as its price tag is the highest on our list of schools tallying costs for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Why University of Chicago’s Tuition Reflects Supply and Demand

Any member of UChicago’s esteemed economics department will tell you that tuition prices are set by supply and demand. Supply, in this case, is set by the thousands of high schoolers who apply for admission each year. With the number of slots in the class fixed at around 1,800, UChicago is completely within their right to charge any number they see fit. It’s simply economics. Fortunately, UChicago has a robust financial aid program that covers some or all of the expenses of nearly 35% of the student body, with the average scholarship sitting at $82,308 in 2023.