College sticker shock hits even harder in New Jersey

And we wonder in New Jersey why we all feel so broke even when our paychecks seem big.

Here’s just another example.

Conventional wisdom says if your kid is going to college, a public, in-state school is a better financial choice. Best financially is a community college where after two years you can carry your credits to a four-year public in-state college.

An out-of-state school, like the one my son decided to attend, is going to be considerably more expensive. He chose the University of Vermont. While it’s a terrific school with a reputation as one of only a handful of “public Ivy” universities, the cost is enormous. He had been accepted into several wonderful in-state schools my wallet would have preferred, but he wanted the experience of being away and more on his own, not to party but to grow up, mature, learn to become more independent. It was an argument that swayed me.

New Jersey’s in-state tuition still ranks among the highest

But it turns out even New Jersey’s frugal choice of a public, in-state college are among the most expensive of their kind in the nation.

A research team at the University of Technology Sydney Online looked at the most recent published data covering the 2024-25 academic year. They focused on average in-state tuition for public four-year colleges across all 50 states. After comparing these numbers, they created a ranked list of states where tuition is the most expensive for local students.

The Garden State had the dubious distinction of placing the fifth most expensive in the United States.

New Jersey has an average in-state tuition of $15,265. Despite having a large public college system, the cost remains high due to years of limited state support, according to this study.

It could be better — but it could also be worse

An example of how much better we could have it? The least expensive tuition in this category belongs to Florida at an average of only $4,540.

Could we have it worse? The four states that are more expensive than us:

Connecticut — $15,763

Pennsylvania — $16,217

New Hampshire — $17,019

Vermont — $17,600

Somehow that’s not making me feel less broke.