10 Least Expensive Public Business Schools for In-State Students

By Brian Burnsed

Business students at these schools pay less than $15,000 annually in tuition and required fees

Business school is by no means a cheap undertaking. Opting to stay in your home state can help ease loan debt after business school, which has been known to top $100,000 for students who opt to attend the highest ranked -- and often most expensive -- business programs.

Getting a cheaper education doesn't necessarily correlate to getting a poor one. Among the 10 least expensive public business schools for in-state students in terms of tuition and required fees, five are ranked among the top 100 business programs in U.S. News's rankings of Best Business Schools. The average cost of tuition and required fees at the 10 least expensive programs is $9,589 annually, compared to $34,698 for the 10 most expensive public schools for in-state business students. The schools reported this data directly to U.S. News in a 2010 survey that reflected the tuition and fee costs for the 2010-11 academic year.

The Emporia State University School of Business reported the lowest annual tuition and fees among all business schools; students there paid only $5,404 in the 2010-11 school year. Business programs at some of the nation's largest public universities, including the University of Alabama Manderson Graduate School of Business , the University of Connecticut School of Business , and the University of Missouri -- Columbia Trulaske College of Business , all placed amongst the top 10 least expensive business schools.

Only schools that reported the yearly cost of tuition and fees were included in this analysis. Public schools that provided tuition and fees data to U.S. News based on per-credit hour costs or overall costs for the entire length of the program were excluded. Also, business schools that were designated by U.S. News as Unranked were not considered for this report.

Below is a table of the 10 least expensive public business schools for in-state students based on tuition and required fees (figures do not include room and board, books, and other miscellaneous costs):

University	Tuition	Rank
Source: U.S. News & World Report
Emporia State University (KS)	$5,404	RNP*
Southern University and A&M College (LA)	$6,672	RNP
Iowa State University	$8,009	69
Clemson University (SC)	$8,252	RNP
University of Alabama (Manderson)	$9,900	63
Binghamton University - SUNY	$10,644	107
Cleveland State University (Nance)	$11,306	RNP
University of Connecticut	$11,828	69
University of Missouri - Columbia (Trulaske)	$11,890	54
University at Buffalo - SUNY	$11,980	75

*RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one fourth of its rankings category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.

U.S. News surveyed more than 400 schools for our 2010 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annualBest Business Schoolsrankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News rankings of Best CollegesorBest Graduate Schools.

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10 Least Expensive Public Business Schools for In-State Students