Luckily for us Midwesterners the states with the most expensive public and private universities are Pennsylvania and New York, respectively. This trend continues when one considers almost all of the most expensive colleges throughout the country. The East and West coasts contain the majority of these colleges often due to the fact that so many freshman students move away from home to these areas after high school. These upper-echelon schools can run into the high $40,000 mark for tuition and fees. Public colleges in these regions also charge closer to $15,000 and above making them sometimes less than ideal.

Considering the price tag of a lot of these out-of-state schools it can easily seem like staying at home is the only affordable option. Thankfully this isn’t actually the case. There are more than a few regional universities that rival affordable home prices with their out-of-state tuition. 10 of these most economical public colleges run more towards the center of the US. Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Nebraska all have great schools that can range in price from $6,000 to $10,000.

Unsurprisingly, a large number of the most costly places to buy a house coincide with the most expensive places to go to college. Adjusting to only consider the continental states those on the coast such as Washington, D.C. and New York and California have pretty high housing costs. The median listed price of a home in Washington, D.C. is now roughly $450,000 with California close to follow at $425,000.

The cheapest states to live in all sit near the heart of the country. Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky are the three least expensive states in which to buy a house. Median list prices in Mississippi are roughly $150,000 and our home state of Minnesota also only comes in at $180,000.

Although prices can vary drastically by region and state to state where someone should choose to go to college should also rely heavily upon the education they want, their life outside of school there, and just how well the college feels like it fits them. Many options for every kind of student can be found in every state and all one must do is look and they’ll find great schools and great homes basically anywhere.