Mississippi has 10 private and 8 public 4-year colleges that enroll 11,985 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $24,068 for in-state students and $28,509 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Mississippi charge around $21,840 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Mississippi provided $9 million in financial aid to 3,319 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $82.6 million in grants and scholarships to 8,051 students.

Mississippi receives 1.4% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 4,129 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $21.5 million in pell grant ($5,145 per student on average), and 5,132 students received a total amount of $27.8 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($5,212 per student on average).