Sticker price tells you little. Average net price — tuition and living costs minus grant aid — is the number that matters, and the gap between colleges is large.
US colleges publish a sticker price that almost nobody pays. The number that matters is the average net price: tuition, fees, books and living costs minus grant and scholarship aid. It is what students actually pay, and it varies enormously between colleges with similar sticker prices.
The free US Colleges directory lists 6,056 institutions with acceptance rates, tuition, average net price by income band, graduation and retention rates, all from federal IPEDS data. Compare a shortlist side by side rather than relying on a single ranking.