Choosing which college to attend often includes discussions of tuition costs, financial aid, and education value. And while these are responsible questions to be asking, we have also considered irresponsible questions like, “how much beer could we buy with our tuition?”
This led us to a highly detailed cost analysis and a nationwide comparison of beer to tuition ratios.
Whether you’re serious about buying beer instead of paying your tuition, or you’re using this beer ranking as a way to assess the value of a college and local cost of living, this data reveals some surprising insights.
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How Many Parties Can I Have Instead of Paying Tuition?
We compiled the tuition costs for a wide set of colleges and then used the local sales price of beer to see how many cans you could buy each week.
While the size of your parties and the quantity of beer consumed will determine the number of parties you can have, these beer-to-tuition rates give you some hard numbers to run your own nerdy calculations.
Instead of paying tuition, how many cans of beer can you buy each week?
Georgetown University 1,187
Syracuse University 1,121
University of Miami 1,120
Saint Louis University 1,118
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 812
California State University-Sacramento 589
Howard University 583
University of California-San Diego 502
Michigan State University 456
University of California-Davis 446
University of California-Berkeley 438
University of California-Riverside 432
University of California-Los Angeles 411
Central Michigan University 395
Virginia Commonwealth University 392
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 387
Western Michigan University 377
University of South Carolina 355
Temple University 342
University of Arizona 329
Georgia Institute of Technology 325
University of Georgia 310
Arizona State University-Tempe 305
Indiana University 304
University of Colorado Boulder 303
Louisiana State University 292
San Jose State University 292
Purdue University 289
Georgia State University 285
North Carolina State University-Raleigh 274
University of Tennessee 272
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville 272
Ohio State University-Columbus 271
University of Texas 259
University of Washington-Seattle 256
University of Houston 253
University of Alabama 252
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 241
San Diego State University 232
Texas Tech University 230
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona 226
Texas State University-San Marcos 226
Sacramento State 224
University of North Carolina at Greensboro 217
The University of Texas at Austin 216
University of Texas 216
Texas A&M 214
California State University-Fullerton 213
The University of Texas at Arlington 212
University of North Carolina Charlotte 207
University of Memphis 204
The University of Texas at San Antonio 200
Kennesaw State University 195
University of New Mexico-Main Campus 168
Florida International University 151
Florida State University 150
University of South Florida-Main Campus 148
University of North Florida 148
University of Florida 147
University of Central Florida 147
Florida Gulf Coast University 141
Florida Atlantic University 140
Utah Valley University 137
Valencia College-East Campus 57
Now rather than looking at cans of beer, let’s go big. Using local keg costs for the most popular beer in each state, we’ve calculated another beer-to-college tuition ratio.
Instead of paying tuition, how many keg-filled red Solo cups can you get each week?
University of Miami 1,005
Georgetown University 959
Saint Louis University 914
Syracuse University 507
Howard University 471
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 362
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 337
Michigan State University 328
University of Tennessee 309
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville 309
Central Michigan University 284
University of Colorado Boulder 275
Western Michigan University 271
Virginia Commonwealth University 270
Louisiana State University 247
University of South Carolina 244
University of Alabama 234
University of Memphis 231
Ohio State University-Columbus 230
University of Washington-Seattle 218
University of California-Berkeley 210
University of Georgia 209
University of California-San Diego 203
University of Houston 202
University of California-Davis 202
University of Arizona 198
Texas State University-San Marcos 195
Temple University 194
University of Texas 193
The University of Texas at Austin 186
University of Texas 186
Georgia Institute of Technology 185
Arizona State University-Tempe 184
Texas Tech University 183
The University of Texas at San Antonio 179
University of California-Riverside 175
Texas A&M 171
University of New Mexico-Main Campus 171
Purdue University 170
University of California-Los Angeles 166
Georgia State University 162
The University of Texas at Arlington 158
Indiana University 157
University of North Florida 145
University of South Florida-Main Campus 139
Florida Gulf Coast University 139
Florida International University 136
North Carolina State University-Raleigh 135
San Jose State University 135
Florida State University 135
University of Florida 132
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 130
University of North Carolina Charlotte 125
Florida Atlantic University 125
University of Central Florida 121
University of North Carolina at Greensboro 114
Kennesaw State University 111
California State University-Sacramento 101
Sacramento State 101
San Diego State University 94
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona 92
California State University-Fullerton 86
Utah Valley University 75
Valencia College-East Campus 45
How Does Each State Rank When Buying Beer Instead of Paying Tuition?
Cost of living varies in each state, as does average college tuition costs. To complete our beer to tuition cost analysis, we started with each state’s average cost of a case of beer (24-pack). Then we used data from the National Center for Education Statistics to calculate the number of beer cases that you could by each year with in-state tuition and with tuition at private colleges. Here are the results:
Number of Cases of Beer Per Year You Can Buy Instead of In-State Tuition at a Public College
Illinois 1,636
Connecticut 1,515
New Hampshire 1,505
Michigan 1,493
California 1,436
Virginia 1,412
New Jersey 1,373
Vermont 1,365
Massachusetts 1,364
South Carolina 1,348
Arizona 1,314
Colorado 1,194
Indiana 1,189
Ohio 1,162
Pennsylvania 1,152
Minnesota 1,146
New York 1,130
Hawaii 1,104
Rhode Island 1,096
North Carolina 1,092
Delaware 1,085
Oregon 1,058
Nebraska 1,046
Louisiana 1,019
Maryland 1,015
Missouri 1,014
Kentucky 1,007
Iowa 988
Georgia 985
Maine 982
Alabama 964
South Dakota 951
Kansas 948
Arkansas 918
Washington 911
Wisconsin 897
Mississippi 868
West Virginia 857
Alaska 841
Tennessee 835
Montana 834
Texas 822
Nevada 819
Idaho 814
New Mexico 789
Oklahoma 763
Florida 741
North Dakota 720
Utah 720
Wyoming 702
District of Columbia N/A
Number of Cases of Beer Per Year You Can Buy Instead of Tuition at a Private College
Connecticut 3,333
Massachusetts 3,197
California 3,008
Illinois 2,892
North Carolina 2,778
Vermont 2,752
District of Columbia 2,737
New York 2,690
Louisiana 2,647
Maryland 2,644
Indiana 2,619
New Hampshire 2,597
New Jersey 2,551
Rhode Island 2,506
Maine 2,476
Oregon 2,417
Minnesota 2,379
Pennsylvania 2,372
Washington 2,360
Wisconsin 2,292
Michigan 2,291
Ohio 2,272
Georgia 2,221
South Carolina 2,115
Virginia 2,041
Iowa 2,009
Colorado 1,958
Texas 1,938
Nebraska 1,937
Missouri 1,921
South Dakota 1,832
Florida 1,796
Kentucky 1,786
Montana 1,771
Nevada 1,675
New Mexico 1,644
Oklahoma 1,640
Tennessee 1,635
Arkansas 1,622
Kansas 1,552
Hawaii 1,491
Arizona 1,380
Delaware 1,300
Mississippi 1,273
Alaska 1,265
Alabama 1,250
West Virginia 1,048
North Dakota 981
Utah 799
Idaho 733
Wyoming N/A
While attending college does mean that you need to pay tuition, and not just buy beer, ForRentUniversity.com does give you access to another aspect of college life — off-campus apartment listings. Search our site for your college to find your new student apartment.