Here are the most affordable colleges and universities in Massachusetts. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you, at a price you can afford.
Some of the most talked about universities in Massachusetts are its private schools, including Boston University, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which also happen to be the largest. Tuition for these prestigious schools runs between $50,000 and $54,000. Students here have access to some of the top programs in the country in fields such as biology, literature, law, education, engineering, and religious studies. The alumni from New England schools are equally as impressive, including Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Gates, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
The public higher education institutes also boast top-notch programs, allowing students to pursue associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in fields like mathematics, social work, medicine, and economics. The University of Massachusetts Amherst, the state’s largest public university, offers tuition around $16,000 and serves over 28,000 students. Additionally, students who are interested in attending a religiously affiliated school have 17 options to choose from, most of which feature high graduation rates for their students. For future dental, medical, or mental health professionals, Massachusetts also offers loan forgiveness programs for those working in underserved communities.
As the port of destination for the Mayflower, home to the Plymouth colony, and site of the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts looms large in United States history, but this most populous New England state isn’t just for history buffs. The Bay State is also known for its delicious cuisine, beautiful coastlines, and devout sports fans. Not to mention, it has over 100 colleges for students to choose from.
Find a program that’s right for you and explore the best schools Massachusetts has to offer.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
We’ve identified 13 affordable colleges and universities in Massachusetts, all of which satisfies the following conditions:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
85%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/21
Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
59%
Student body
5K
Worcester State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
61%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/22
Framingham State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
59%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/22
Bridgewater State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
63%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/21
Westfield State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/22
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
59%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1085/21
Salem State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
58%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/21
Fitchburg State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
52%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/21
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
49%
Student body
13K
University of Massachusetts Boston’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
69%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
University of Massachusetts Lowell’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Graduation
20%
Student body
2K
Cambridge College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
83%
Student body
29K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/29
University of Massachusetts Amherst’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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