There is not a simple answer to this question. There are basically three types of colleges/university in US

• Public University

• Private University

• Community colleges.

What is the difference between a public university, private university, and community college

The fees for community college is lowest but since you are looking for the master’s program, you will look at the private or public university.
Private universities are a little expensive compared to public university.University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public university
[Boston University][3] is a private university

If you go through the search tool on the home page and search for universities in state MA, you will find both these universities

Fees for Masters in Boston University / year : $42400

Fees for Masters in [University of Massachusetts Amherst / year: $9937

So you can see it is a huge difference. Also remember that in private universities, you have better chances of getting Scholarships.