Cost of College in Wyoming
What does college cost in Wyoming?
In-state public tuition and fees average $6,938 (rank 5 of 51), out-of-state $22,718, private nonprofit not reported. The all-in four-year in-state public total is about $91,822. The least expensive public option is University of Wyoming at $6,938.
Average charges, four-year totals, named institutional extremes, and flagship net prices for Wyoming, computed from the federal IPEDS file.
Updated October 22, 2026
Wyoming sits in the least expensive third of states for public college: its average in-state tuition and fees of $6,938 rank 5 of 51 jurisdictions, 34% below the national average of $10,525. All figures on this page are computed from the federal IPEDS file for Wyoming: 1 public and 0 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, Wyoming four-year institutions (IPEDS 2023-24) | Public in-state | Public out-of-state | Private nonprofit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition and fees | $6,938 | $22,718 | not reported |
| Housing and food (school-reported average) | $13,340 | $13,340 | not reported |
| Books and supplies | $1,670 | $1,670 | $1,670 |
| Four-year total at 3% annual increases | $91,822 | $157,840 | not reported |
No private nonprofit four-year institutions in Wyoming reported charges in the federal file, so the private column is genuinely empty here rather than estimated.
Compare the two public prices before anything else in Wyoming: residents face $6,938 of average tuition and fees; nonresidents face $22,718. The $15,780 annual gap, about 3.3 times the resident price, is larger than the entire average book, transport, and personal budget combined, which is why exchange programs and merit offers aimed at nonresidents deserve a full evening of any out-of-state applicant's research time.
How Wyoming compares
Measured against its own median state ($9,813 of in-state tuition and fees), Wyoming at $6,938 is 34% below the middle of the country as well as its mean. And its internal range is wide: $6,938 at University of Wyoming up to $6,938 at University of Wyoming. A state average is a summary; these two named endpoints are the prices at which actual Wyoming students actually enroll.
Net price at University of Wyoming
The flagship test shows what aid does to the sticker at the state's best-known institution, University of Wyoming in Laramie. Its published in-state tuition and fees are $6,938, yet the median net price paid by aided first-year students overall is $13,299, and by family income the schedule runs:
| Family income | Median net price at University of Wyoming |
|---|---|
| Up to $30,000 | $7,602 |
| $30,001-$48,000 | $7,618 |
| $48,001-$75,000 | $10,168 |
| $75,001-$110,000 | $15,315 |
| Over $110,000 | $18,136 |
The shape of that schedule is the institution's aid policy in one column: the lowest-income students pay $7,602, the highest-income pay $18,136, a ratio of 2.4 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. Wyoming 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 Wyoming
One more computation belongs in every Wyoming family's notebook: the private-public gap across a full degree. Private tuition and fees average unreported here against the public $6,938, and across four years with living costs the private total reaches a figure the federal file cannot support for this state versus $91,822 in-state public. Grant aid narrows that gap substantially for lower-income families, per the flagship schedule below, but for families in the upper brackets the sticker gap is close to the real gap, and it is the size of a house down payment in most Wyoming housing markets.
The flagship numbers also discipline expectations for the rest of the state. University of Wyoming typically commands the largest aid budget per student among Wyoming publics; regional campuses discount less deeply, so their nets for the same income sit closer to their (also lower) stickers. A family whose flagship estimate disappoints should not assume the system has nothing for them: at the regional price level, a smaller discount on a smaller sticker can produce the smaller net, which is the only figure that was ever real.
Finally, read the averages with the landscape in mind: Wyoming's public average of $6,938 blends a flagship at $6,938 (1.0 times the average) with regional campuses far below it, and its private average of no reported figure blends institutions of very different aid wealth. Averages open the conversation; the named institutions on this page, cheapest, flagship, and most expensive, are where a family's actual decision gets made, and each publishes the net price calculator that turns this page's ranges into their number.
Ways Wyoming students lower the published bill
Residents of Wyoming should also price the private bench before concluding anything: the state's 0 private nonprofits average not reported of tuition before their own aid, and for the income brackets where private grant aid is deepest, a private net price occasionally undercuts the public sticker, the crossover the flagship table below illustrates at the state's best-known institution. The net price estimator runs the comparison properly, bracket by bracket.
Regional exchange. Wyoming participates in the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), under which residents can attend participating public institutions in other western states at no more than 150% of the host's in-state tuition, a discount that matters when the target program is across a state line, and under which students from other WUE states receive the same treatment at Wyoming publics. WUE seats are limited and not every major qualifies, so the discount is applied for, not assumed.
Carry three Wyoming numbers: $91,822 (the average four-year in-state public total), $13,299 (the flagship's median net price), and $6,938 (the cheapest public tuition in the state, at University of Wyoming). Lists, savings targets, and aid comparisons all start from those.
College costs in other states
Compare Wyoming 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 · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin
Frequently asked questions
How much does college cost in Wyoming?
On IPEDS 2023-24 averages: $6,938 a year of tuition and fees in-state at publics, $22,718 out-of-state, and not reported at private nonprofits. The all-in four-year in-state public total with housing, food, and books at 3% annual increases is about $91,822.
What is the cheapest public college in Wyoming?
University of Wyoming, at $6,938 of tuition and fees in the 2023-24 federal file, the lowest among the state's 1 public four-year institutions. The most expensive is University of Wyoming at $6,938.
How much aid does University of Wyoming give?
Its median net price for aided first-year students is $13,299 against published in-state tuition and fees of $6,938. By income, the median runs from $7,602 (up to $30,000) to $18,136 (over $110,000) in the IPEDS 2022-23 data.
Is Wyoming a good state for out-of-state students?
That depends on the premium: nonresidents pay 3.3 times the resident tuition at Wyoming publics on average ($22,718 vs $6,938). Regional exchange participation can cut that premium substantially for eligible programs, as described on this page.