Actually, the full cost of attendance for the 2008-2009 school year was $50,000. BUT before you go into a money coma or decide that it is out-of-reach, you should know that the cost of attending Carleton is different from the expected family contribution. We know that many of our students cannot afford to pay the full cost of attendance (which includes tuition, room, board and fees, labs, field trips, student publications, and college events). In fact, slightly more than 50% of Carleton's students receive some form of financial aid.

What Carleton works to do is to meet 100% of a student's demonstrated financial need through grants, scholarships, loans and work-study. We operate with a need-based financial aid system, which means that we award aid based on a family's financial profile, not on a student's past achievements in academics, athletics or any other arena. This allows us to support all of our students across their four years and 90% of Carleton's students graduate within 4 years.

Private institutions cost more, but they also tend to have more available grant money and other sources of funding that do not require repayment.