tuition
Americannoun
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the charge or fee for instruction, as at a private school or a college or university.
The college will raise its tuition again next year.
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teaching or instruction, as of pupils.
a school offering private tuition in languages.
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Archaic. guardianship or custody.
noun
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instruction, esp that received in a small group or individually
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the payment for instruction, esp in colleges or universities
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tuition
1250–1300; Middle English tuicion a looking after, guarding < Latin tuitiōn- (stem of tuitiō ), equivalent to tuit ( us ) (past participle of tuērī to watch; cf. tutelage) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Tuition is a fee paid for instruction or teaching, usually for higher education. Many students need to get part-time jobs to pay their college tuition. The word tuition comes from the Anglo-French word tuycioun, meaning "protection, care, custody." Some people say college protects you from the "real world," at least while you are in school, but tuition is a reality all students face. Tuition can describe any payment made for instruction, however, even for a knitting class. That tuition can probably be covered without student loans or scholarships, though.
Vocabulary lists containing tuition
Nothing But the Truth
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The Distance Between Us
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Education and Academics, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When she realized she didn’t want to create art glass, her professor encouraged her to leave and “save $90,000 on tuition for something she wasn’t 100% behind.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
“The Merage Flex MBA’s new tuition falls below the federal loan cap of $100,000, removing a critical financial barrier for working professionals across Southern California and beyond,” the university said.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026
I am pleased to report that we paid off our mortgage, continue to work and have pivoted to diverting some required minimum distributions and earnings to help pay our grandchild’s tuition.
From MarketWatch • May 13, 2026
The tuition discount that Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business is giving aspiring M.B.A.s next fall.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
So he’d registered, maneuvering his employer into paying most of the tuition, and went one evening a week.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
