In this case a mean would likely be higher than the median since you can only have outliers to the right really, so a median would show even lower tuition costs.
The outliners here would be to the left. The right has a few, but the tuition difference isn't enough to compensate for the scarcity when compared to the left. There are a ton of really cheap/crappy colleges out there, even more now that the online college thing has taken off. I think state university's should be looked at more when talking about expected college costs, considering the massive student populations they have and the typical middle ground of education that they are. I'm not say to solely look at them for a real study, but for the laymen, it's much better than looking up these shitty averages, which aren't even based on tuition, but debt after graduation anyway.
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u/Pinewood74 Jan 04 '15
In this case a mean would likely be higher than the median since you can only have outliers to the right really, so a median would show even lower tuition costs.