March Madne$$: The School Tuitions Of The NCAA Bracket

by Abe Sauer

Today begins NCAA basketball’s “March Madness.” The tournament’s eventual champions will get to bask in the national spotlight until the next cruise-ship disaster/naked Congressman/shark attack/GOP primary/baseball season/chain-restaurant review by a flyover-state newspaper happens. And sure, winning a basketball title is worth bragging about. But we all know the real champion is the institution of higher education that can charge the most tuition and still have enough would-be students to be able to send out rejection letters every year. For a second year, here’s the NCAA bracket by tuition, using the college information resource Peterson’s. (Where available, in-state tuition was used.) Who will be the champs this year?

With Notre Dame at $40,910 this one’s a squeaker, but Georgetown goes home with the title at $40,920 a year. Going home first is UNC-Asheville, costing just $3,166 a year — and yet ranking eighth among public liberal arts colleges.

Abe Sauer is the author of the book How to be: North Dakota. He is on Twitter. Email him at abesauer @ gmail.com.