Muncie, IN · Public · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for Ball State University
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$63,133
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $5,200.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Ball State University, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at Ball State University
| Full price, in state | $25,601 |
| Full price, out of state | $44,706 |
| After grants, at your income | $14,608 |
At this income, 3 of Indiana's other 28 colleges cost less after grants, and 25 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. Out of state: Midwest Student Exchange: new students from the member states with a 3.0 GPA pay no more than 150 percent of in-state tuition and fees. The number each year is capped. It can't be combined with the Presidential, Scholars or Academic Distinction awards, and since summer 2025 Ohio students can't get it (and 2 more below).
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At Ball State University, our scenarios for Indiana households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $9,600 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →Merit scholarships
What Ball State University says it awards for grades and test scores.
Out of state: Midwest Student Exchange: new students from the member states with a 3.0 GPA pay no more than 150 percent of in-state tuition and fees. The number each year is capped. It can't be combined with the Presidential, Scholars or Academic Distinction awards, and since summer 2025 Ohio students can't get it.
Out of state: Regional Tuition Savings: new undergraduates from Ohio and Kentucky pay in-state tuition, and keep it with continuous enrollment and satisfactory academic progress. It can't be combined with the Presidential, Scholars, Distinction or Academic Distinction awards.
“New undergraduate students who reside in Ohio and Kentucky may qualify for dramatically reduced tuition at Ball State through the Regional Tuition Savings program.”
Out of state: Midwest Regional Scholarship: new full-time students from Illinois and Michigan with a 3.0 weighted GPA pay no more than 150 percent of in-state tuition and the student services fee. It applies to on-campus tuition. Other fees are not reduced, and it can't be combined with the Presidential, Scholars or Academic Distinction awards.
“This scholarship reduces Ball State’s full-time, on-campus tuition and student services fee for qualified out-of-state residents to total no more than 150% of the full-time, in-state tuition and student services fee paid by Indiana residents.”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what Ball State University reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price. Out of state, there are no grants: the price is before any scholarship from the college.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit. For a family that lives in Indiana, it also counts Indiana's tax credit for money you put through its 529 plan.
The $9,600 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Ball State University's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in Indiana, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Ball State University at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Ball State University's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 3.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The out-of-state figure uses the published out-of-state tuition instead. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Ball State University. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Indiana State University$12,009 a year
- Purdue University Northwest$13,050 a year
- Ball State University$14,608 a year
- Indiana University South Bend$15,354 a year
- Indiana University Bloomington$15,658 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every Indiana college →