Universities: fees in the North are double those in the South (where only one in two students pays)

Those who enrol at a state university between Milan and Turin – or in the north-west in general – pay on average twice as much as those studying on the islands. There, in Sicily and Sardinia, only one in two students pays university fees: all the others are fully exempt.

This divide emerges from an analysis carried out by the statistics office of the Ministry of Universities which, although based on figures updated to the 2024/25 academic year, provides a clear picture of the trends and differences between the various regions of Italia.

Let’s start, however, with the national averages, which confirm a rise in fees over the last three years – close to 7 per cent if we consider only those paying fees – bringing the per capita expenditure to 1,550 euros. However, these increases are a common feature across the entire higher education sector, given that the average cost has risen by 7.5 per cent – to €2,150 – at online universities and by 15.1 per cent – to €7,493 – at private universities.

Focusing on Italian public institutions, the most significant figure remains the regional disparity. This is because a fee-paying student in the North-West pays an average of 1,810 euros a year, compared with 1,143 euros for those studying on the islands. In Central Italy, on the other hand, the fee stands at €1,400, whilst in the South it is €1,273.

If we then consider the entire student body – that is, both fee-paying and fee-exempt students combined – the gap widens further: 1,221 euros in the North-West compared with 599 euros in the Islands. Here, in fact, another particularly marked disparity becomes evident. This concerns those who actually pay. Whilst in the North-East the proportion is almost seven in ten students (69 per cent), in the South it is just over 50 per cent, with 52.4 per cent on the Islands and 51.1 per cent in the South.