Mario Tama / Getty Images

There are only eight Ivy League universities, yet they're known for being the most elite institutions of higher learning in the country.

School-ranking website Niche rated the most and least expensive Ivy League schools, along with prices for housing, meal plans, and textbooks.

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania were grouped together in the same NCAA sports division for the first athletic conference of 1954. But the "Ivy League" name reportedly dates back to 1933, when Stanley Woodward, sports editor for the New York Herald Tribune, referred to the schools as "ivy colleges."

The cheapest Ivy League school is Princeton University, with a $47,140 yearly tuition, and a net price (the average price students actually pay) of $16,302, which is still lower than every other Ivy League university.

Here are all eight Ivy League universities, ranked from least to most expensive.

Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, costs $47,140 a year

Every Ivy League university ranked from least to most expensive

Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, costs $47,140 a year

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, costs $48,949 a year

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, costs $51,400 a year

Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, costs $52,853 a year

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, costs $53,419 a year

Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, costs $53,496 a year

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia costs $53,534 a year

Columbia University in New York, New York, costs $57,208 a year