Missouri has 61 private and 13 public 4-year colleges that enroll 25,714 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $23,917 for in-state students and $34,091 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Missouri charge around $26,392 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Missouri provided $18.9 million in financial aid to 8,841 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $289 million in grants and scholarships to 22,602 students.

Missouri receives 1.2% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 9,186 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $44.1 million in pell grant ($4,916 per student on average), and 13,227 students received a total amount of $71.2 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($6,201 per student on average).