Cost of College in Virginia
What does college cost in Virginia?
In-state public tuition and fees average $15,262 (rank 49 of 51), out-of-state $35,213, private nonprofit $32,959. The all-in four-year in-state public total is about $126,065. The least expensive public option is Virginia State University at $9,755.
Average charges, four-year totals, named institutional extremes, and flagship net prices for Virginia, computed from the federal IPEDS file.
Updated October 22, 2026
Virginia is one of the expensive states for public college: average in-state tuition and fees of $15,262 rank 49 of 51 jurisdictions, 45% above the national average of $10,525. All figures on this page are computed from the federal IPEDS file for Virginia: 16 public and 36 private nonprofit four-year institutions, charges for academic year 2023-24, net prices for 2022-23. Living allowances (room, board, books) are the averages institutions report for their own budgets; the guide to what cost of attendance includes explains each component.
| Average annual charge, Virginia four-year institutions (IPEDS 2023-24) | Public in-state | Public out-of-state | Private nonprofit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition and fees | $15,262 | $35,213 | $32,959 |
| Housing and food (school-reported average) | $13,618 | $13,618 | $12,874 |
| Books and supplies | $1,253 | $1,253 | $1,253 |
| Four-year total at 3% annual increases | $126,065 | $209,533 | $196,990 |
Residency is worth real money at Virginia publics: $15,262 in-state against $35,213 out, a 2.3-to-1 ratio that adds about $83,466 to a four-year nonresident degree on average. Families relocating, students whose parents move, and independent students sometimes qualify to reclassify after a year of documented residence; the savings, $19,951 per remaining year, justify reading the reclassification rules early and keeping the paper trail they demand.
How Virginia compares
The spread inside Virginia deserves its own paragraph. Virginia State University anchors the low end at $9,755 of tuition and fees, while William & Mary tops the public list at $25,041, 2.6 times as much. Families who treat 'the state university system' as a single price miss this entirely; across the state's 16 public four-year schools, the institution choice alone, before aid, is worth more per year than the average private-college scholarship headline.
Net price at University of Virginia-Main Campus
The flagship test shows what aid does to the sticker at the state's best-known institution, University of Virginia-Main Campus in Charlottesville. Its published in-state tuition and fees are $22,323, yet the median net price paid by aided first-year students overall is $17,831, and by family income the schedule runs:
| Family income | Median net price at University of Virginia-Main Campus |
|---|---|
| Up to $30,000 | $10,123 |
| $30,001-$48,000 | $8,842 |
| $48,001-$75,000 | $14,658 |
| $75,001-$110,000 | $24,023 |
| Over $110,000 | $34,777 |
The shape of that schedule is the institution's aid policy in one column: the lowest-income students pay $10,123, the highest-income pay $34,777, a ratio of 3.4 to 1. A steep schedule (high ratio) means the flagship spends heavily to pull low-income students in and charges affluent families nearer the sticker; a flat one means aid is spread thin or merit-driven. Virginia families should read their own bracket's figure as the flagship's realistic price and the sticker as its ceiling, then repeat the exercise for the other schools on their list using each school's mandated net price calculator.
The four-year view in Virginia
The four-year lens also reframes Virginia's rank. At $126,065 all-in, the in-state public degree costs $25,278 more than the national-average equivalent of $100,787, a difference roughly equal to a year of average earnings for a new graduate working part-time through school. Families comparing Virginia against a neighboring state's publics should compare at this altitude, totals against totals, because per-year sticker gaps compound at exactly the 3% annual pace built into these figures.
At University of Virginia-Main Campus, the distance between the published year (about $37,194 all-in for a resident) and the lowest-bracket net price ($10,123) measures how much grant aid the flagship can deploy when it wants a student: about $27,071 a year. Families in the $48,001 to $75,000 bracket, paying a median $14,658, receive roughly $22,536 of that help. The practical reading: the flagship's generosity is real but rationed by income in published steps, and a family can locate its own step in this table before an application is ever filed.
Counts matter to strategy: with 16 public and 36 private nonprofit four-year options in the file, a Virginia applicant can build a list entirely inside the state at several price altitudes, or treat the home bench as the safety and shop nationally with the home net prices as the benchmark every out-of-state offer must beat. The flagship, at $22,323 of tuition and fees, prices at 1.5 times the state average; the discount schedules of the privates, benchmarked in the estimator, decide whether any of the 36 private options can undercut it after aid.
Ways Virginia students lower the published bill
Two levers move the Virginia total most. First, housing: at $13,618 a year on the school-reported average, living costs rival or exceed tuition at the state's publics, and the dorm-versus-apartment comparison (linked from the hub) is worth real money in the college towns here. Second, time: a fifth year at the average public costs another $30,133 at sticker, so degree plans that protect a four-year finish (credit maps checked every semester, summer terms used surgically) are a financial instrument, not an academic nicety.
Regional exchange. Through the Southern Regional Education Board's Regional Student Program, Virginia residents can pursue designated programs not offered in-state at participating southern institutions while paying in-state rates there, and the same arrangement brings out-of-state students into specialized Virginia programs. The catalog of qualifying programs is the catch: the benefit attaches to the program, not the institution.
Virginia in one paragraph: a public degree runs about $126,065 over four years at sticker, the flagship discounts that to a $10,123 to $34,777 range by income, and the state's least expensive public tuition is $9,755 at Virginia State University. Every other number on this page is a refinement of those three.
College costs in other states
Compare Virginia with the other state pages in this section, each with the same IPEDS breakdown of average charges, four-year totals, named institutional extremes, and flagship net prices, or return to the College cost hub for the calculators and the national state table:
Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming
Frequently asked questions
How much does college cost in Virginia?
On IPEDS 2023-24 averages: $15,262 a year of tuition and fees in-state at publics, $35,213 out-of-state, and $32,959 at private nonprofits. The all-in four-year in-state public total with housing, food, and books at 3% annual increases is about $126,065.
What is the cheapest public college in Virginia?
Virginia State University, at $9,755 of tuition and fees in the 2023-24 federal file, the lowest among the state's 16 public four-year institutions. The most expensive is William & Mary at $25,041.
How much aid does University of Virginia-Main Campus give?
Its median net price for aided first-year students is $17,831 against published in-state tuition and fees of $22,323. By income, the median runs from $10,123 (up to $30,000) to $34,777 (over $110,000) in the IPEDS 2022-23 data.
Is Virginia a good state for out-of-state students?
That depends on the premium: nonresidents pay 2.3 times the resident tuition at Virginia publics on average ($35,213 vs $15,262). Regional exchange participation can cut that premium substantially for eligible programs, as described on this page.