College Costs in Iowa

The 2023 Directory of Iowa Colleges and Prices

Iowa Colleges, Cost and Affordability for 2022

How much does it cost to attend college in Iowa?   The average annual in-state college tuition in Iowa was $20,299 for the 2021-2022 academic year. This is $5,169 higher than the U.S. average and ranks Iowa amongst the costliest as the 8th most expensive and 45th most affordable state or district to attend college. This is a change of $255 from the 2019-2020 average of $20,044 and represents a 1.27% annual increase. The list of Iowa colleges below provides school specific cost and value rating.

Our guide surveyed tuition data from the 62 colleges and universities in Iowa, the most popular being Iowa State University with 27,553 full time students and an in-state tuition list price of $8,324. Grinnell College is the most expensive in Iowa with an in-state tuition of $58,156.

Click on any school for current tuition, future cost estimates, school specific savings plans and estimated student loan payments. Iowa colleges can also be filtered by public, private, community colleges and four year schools. Additionally, cost based sorting is available for the lowest and highest tuition options. Jump directly to our ranking of best values in Iowa or cheap Iowa colleges guide.

<Academic Rating is a CollegeCalc proprietary national percentile ranking of a college's overall difficulty and educational effectiveness. An average score is 50. Dollar value is a measure of a school's academic rating compared with the average net price paid. Colleges which are ranked "n/a" didn't report sufficient data to formulate a score. Learn more about our ratings.

All price data are reprinted from the U.S. Department of Education's 2020-2021 IPEDS Survey and reflect reported costs for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Explore Iowa Colleges

School Tuition Rating Value
AIB College of Business

Des Moines, Iowa

$15,300 NA NA
Allen College

Waterloo, Iowa

$18,956 NA NA
Briar Cliff University

Sioux City, Iowa

$32,526 NA NA
Brown Mackie College Quad Cities

Bettendorf, Iowa

$11,592 NA NA
Buena Vista University

Storm Lake, Iowa

$37,518 49 77
Central College

Pella, Iowa

$19,250 58 98
Clarke University

Dubuque, Iowa

$35,740 55 49
Coe College

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

$48,472 NA NA
Cornell College

Mount Vernon, Iowa

$47,100 59 75
Des Moines Area Community College

Ankeny, Iowa

$5,220 NA NA
Divine Word College

Epworth, Iowa

$14,000 NA NA
Dordt College

Sioux Center, Iowa

$33,590 59 54
Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa

$45,734 75 83
Eastern Iowa Community College District

Davenport, Iowa

$4,296 NA NA
Ellsworth Community College

Iowa Falls, Iowa

$4,416 NA NA
Emmaus Bible College

Dubuque, Iowa

$19,550 54 73
Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary

Ankeny, Iowa

$17,480 40 34
Graceland University Lamoni

Lamoni, Iowa

$31,250 47 70
Grand View University

Des Moines, Iowa

$30,224 NA NA
Grinnell College

Grinnell, Iowa

$58,156 88 93