College costs have been rising at twice the rate of inflation for more than two decades, but buyers still feel sticker shock when they see the bills. Today, many of the great private engineering schools exceed $50,000 a year in total costs.

We've compiled a list of the 25 most expensive engineering schools. To be sure, all of these schools offer financial aid, often in substantial amounts. The bottom line is, many students will pay less than the starting figures shown on the following slides.

Big state institutions did not make this list for a simple reason -- their in-state tuitions are much lower than those of the private institutions shown here. It's also worth noting that many private schools with costs in the high-$50,000 range came very close, but didn't quite make the list. MIT, for example, missed by $154. Stanford missed by $6.

Page through the following slides and then tell us: How much did you pay for your engineering education?

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Senior technical editor Chuck Murray has been writing about technology for 31 years. He joined Design News in 1987, and has covered electronics, automation, fluid power, and autos.

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