Here are the most affordable colleges and universities in Missouri. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you, at a price you can afford.
Tuition costs in Missouri fall below the national average, allowing students access to many affordable options. For example, at Missouri State University, the second largest public school, tuition fees are around $7,000. Students of actor John Goodman’s alma mater can major in fields like religious studies, history, and business, and even have the option of earning an associate degree in arts or a bachelor’s in business at the university’s sister school in China. Missouri also offers more than 40 private schools.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Tuition and student populations vary greatly among these schools, but students who attend these higher education institutes also have the option to attend classes at other campuses. For example, Saint Louis University, a college with Jesuit roots, has campuses in both St. Louis and Madrid, Spain. Additionally, Missouri offers special loan forgiveness programs for nurses and other health professionals, including dentists, psychiatrists, and primary care physicians, who work in designated, high-need areas.
When you aren’t exploring one of its 6,000 caves, chowing down on some barbecue, or taking in a live jazz performance, Missouri can serve as the perfect place to begin a road trip. The Show Me State is bordered by eight other U.S. states, making it ideal for students love travelling and planning weekend getaways. During the week days, students can continue on their road to success by pursuing their degree at one of Missouri’s 72 higher education institutes.
See where Missouri’s many roads can take you while earning your degree at one this state’s top learning institutions.
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.
Find out more about our ranking methodology here.
We’ve identified 16 affordable colleges and universities in Missouri, all of which satisfies the following conditions:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
12%
Student body
1K
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Harris–Stowe State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
36%
Student body
4K
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Missouri Western State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
98%
Graduation
32%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
990/21
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Missouri Southern State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
58%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/24
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Missouri State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
51%
Student body
9K
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Southeast Missouri State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Graduation
26%
Student body
2K
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Lincoln University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
51%
Student body
9K
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University of Central Missouri’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
75%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
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Truman State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
54%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1119/22
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Northwest Missouri State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Graduation
28%
Student body
8K
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Park University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
54%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
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University of Missouri–Kansas City’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
73%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
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University of Missouri’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
67%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1325/29
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Missouri University of Science and Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Graduation
28%
Student body
7K
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Columbia College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
56%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/24
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University of Missouri–St. Louis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Graduation
66%
Student body
2K
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Ranken Technical College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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