Affordable Private Colleges in Missouri
Private nonprofit four-year colleges, ranked by net price after aid. Their sticker prices are the highest and their discounts are the deepest, so the published tuition tells you very little.
37 private colleges in Missouri are listed here, 36 of them reporting a net price. They run from $6,100 a year at College of the Ozarks to $31,817 at University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, with a middle of about $21,677.
The cheapest are College of the Ozarks, City Vision University and Drury University-College of Continuing Professional Studies. A low average is not a low bill for everyone — aid depends on your family's income — but it is where to start.
Private colleges in Missouri, cheapest first · 37
Average net price per year after grants and scholarships, with the share of students on federal Pell grants where reported. Schools publishing no net price are listed last.
- College of the Ozarks
- City Vision University
- Drury University-College of Continuing Professional Studies
- Cottey College
- Central Methodist University-College of Graduate and Extended Studies
- Urshan University
- Avila University
- William Jewell College
- Missouri Valley College
- Evangel University
- Ranken Technical College
- Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences
- Lindenwood University
- Logan University
- Ozark Christian College
- Drury University
- Park University
- Mission University
- Southwest Baptist University
- Washington University in St Louis
- Culver-Stockton College
- Maryville University of Saint Louis
- Evangel University-College of Online Learning
- Columbia College
- Central Methodist University-College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Hannibal-LaGrange University
- Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
- Stephens College
- Westminster College
- Saint Louis University
- Rockhurst University
- William Woods University
- Missouri Baptist University
- Webster University
- Kansas City Art Institute
- University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis
- Cox College
Questions families ask
- What is the most affordable private college in Missouri?
- By average net price — what students actually pay per year after grants and scholarships — it is College of the Ozarks at about $6,100 a year. That is an average across all students there; your own cost depends on your family's income, so check the school's net price calculator.
- What is the difference between sticker price and net price?
- Sticker price is the published tuition before any aid. Net price is what students actually pay after grants and scholarships are subtracted — not loans, which you pay back. Net price is usually far lower, and at expensive private colleges the gap can be tens of thousands a year, which is why every figure on this page is net price rather than tuition.
- How much do private colleges in Missouri cost on average?
- Across the 36 private colleges in Missouri that report a figure, the middle of the range is about $21,677 a year after aid, running from $6,100 to $31,817.
- What does the Pell grant percentage mean?
- It is the share of undergraduates at that school receiving a federal Pell grant — need-based aid that does not have to be repaid. A higher share usually means the school enrols more students from lower-income families. Across the private colleges listed here it runs from 11% to 68%, with a middle of about 37%. It is the only aid figure the Department of Education publishes per school, so it is the only one shown.
Which of these actually fits you?
A list is a starting point, not an answer. Two minutes of questions gives you a shortlist ranked on cost, academics, size and location — with the reaches labelled honestly.
Find your match — free