1. University Tuition
1.1. Every student who attends university in the USA must pay tuition.
1.2. The average cost of tuition for a public university is 4,081$ a year.
1.3. The average cost for a private university is 18, 273$ dollars a year.
1.4. Students in the USA pay for tuition by receiving financial aid (money from the school), scholarships (money awarded for good grades) and loans from banks and the government
1.5. The average debt for a student after graduation is 23,200$
2. Community and Junior Colleges
2.1. The USA also has thousands of community colleges
2.2. These schools are two year schools that offer degrees
2.3. Most community colleges have programs where a student who does well can transfer to a four year university.
2.4. Anyone can attend a community college regardless of grades form high school
2.5. Many students who did poorly in high school attend a community college for two years and then transfer to a better school to complete their degree program
3. Types of universities in the USA
3.1. State Universities
3.1.1. State universities are funded by the state government.
3.1.2. Tuition (the cost to attend) is much cheaper than at a private university, although usually they are very large.
3.1.3. Every state has a state university.
3.2. Private Universities
3.2.1. Private universities are not operated by the state, although they can receive money from the state.
3.2.2. They are much more expensive to attend, and they are usually smaller than state universities.
4. Degrees in the USA
4.1. Undergraduate education lasts 4 years in the USA
4.2. Graduate education is 2 years for a master degree (MA/MS) or 5-6 years for a Doctorate (PhD)
4.3. Students receive either a Bachelors of art (BA) or a Bachelors of science (BS)
5. Numbers:
5.1. The USA has 5,728 universities
5.2. This is an average of more than 118 for each state
5.3. Here are more than 18 million students attending university in the USA (almost 5% of the population
6. The Best Universities in the USA
6.1. The Ivy League
6.1.1. The Ivy League is a collection of private universities in the USA / The Ivy League is made up of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Yale
6.1.2. All the Ivy League schools are located in the Northeastern part of the USA
6.1.3. All eight schools rank in the top 15 universities in the USA
6.1.4. The Ivy League is a collection of private universities in the USA
6.2. Harvard University
6.2.1. Harvard University is the best university in the world
6.2.2. Harvard is located in Cambridge in Boston, Massachusetts
6.2.3. Harvard has more than 21 thousand students (8 thousand undergraduates)
6.2.4. Harvard costs more than 40 thousand dollars a year to attend but offers a large amount of financial aid
6.3. Princeton University
6.3.1. Princeton University is a member of the Ivy League and is located in Princeton, New Jersey
6.3.2. Princeton is the 2nd best school in the country
6.3.3. Princeton offers only undergraduate education and had only 7,000 students
6.3.4. F. Scott Fitzgerald graduated from Princeton and wrote about his time at the school in This Side of Paradise
6.4. Cornell University
6.4.1. Cornell University is a member of the Ivy League and is located in Ithaca, New York
6.4.2. Cornell has over 20 thousand students (with 13 thousand undergraduates)
6.4.3. Cornell is the 15th best university in the country
6.4.4. Cornell is divided into 7 different colleges, half of which are public and half of which are private
6.4.5. Cornell has world renowned programs in Hotel Management and Veterinary Medicine
6.5. University of California at Berkeley
6.5.1. Cal-Berkeley is the best public university in the country and the 3rd best university in the world
6.5.2. Berkeley has almost 40 thousand students
6.5.3. Berkeley has top ranked programs in computers, math and science
6.5.4. The founders of Google attended university at Berkeley and created the website for a class project