Here's the one thing Mark Cuban looked for when he was choosing a college

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young mark cuban

Courtesy of Mark Cuban

A young Mark Cuban codes at his desk.

While Mark Cuban is a proud and supportive alumni of his collegiate alma mater, he initially chose the school for a very specific reason.

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As an undergraduate, Cuban attended Indiana University, graduating in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business.

Cuban "chose [IU's] Kelley School of Business sight-unseen because it had the least expensive tuition of all the business schools on the top 10 list," according to a report on the business school's website.

Cuban confirmed to Business Insider that IU's low price was the reason he originally attended the university's well regarded business program.

"It was true," Cuban told BI. "I could barely afford IU."

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Once in college, Cuban reportedly found creative ways to pay his bills. The now-billionaire set up a chain letter to pay for one semester at IU, also giving disco lessons to campus sorority members for $25 an hour, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Additionally, before starting his senior year at IU in 1980, Cuban and some friends opened a local bar called Motley's Pub. Deadspin has some pictures of Motley's from its glory days - complete with narration from Cuban - and it seems to be a campus hotspot and home to many rowdy rugby parties.

More recently, Cuban has become an outspoken critic of the cost of higher education, describing it as "the college implosion."

Cuban said that the thought process that led him to Indiana is still sound today, and he would give the same advice to someone choosing a college now.

"I tell people all the time to not buy more than they can afford," he said.

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