Virginia has 55 private and 16 public 4-year colleges that enroll 48,882 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $30,581 for in-state students and $49,450 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Virginia charge around $30,743 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Virginia provided $67.8 million in financial aid to 13,284 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $324.5 million in grants and scholarships to 27,750 students.

Virginia receives 1.8% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 13,323 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $65.9 million in pell grant ($4,834 per student on average), and 22,275 students received a total amount of $127 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($6,288 per student on average).