Cost of Attendance

Terms to Know

• Cost of Attendance (COA) - Estimated expenses to attend the University including tuition, fees, housing, meals, average loan fees (for students receiving a Federal Direct Loan), etc. The COA does not necessarily reflect your actual billing, because some components are not billed at the University. Rather, the COA is your budget for Financial Aid and is the maximum amount of aid that may be received. Your total aid package cannot exceed your COA.
• Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) - Amount a family can be expected to contribute toward a student's college expenses, determined based on your answers on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Your EFC is used to determine the need for federal and state assistance such as Pell Grants, Stafford loans (Subsidized and Unsubsidized), Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Perkins loans, and Federal Work Study (FWS).
• Financial Need - COA minus EFC.
• Federal & State Financial Eligibility - COA minus EFC, minus non-federal aid (such as private or academic scholarships).

Your financial aid award is based on your COA. Each student may log into AP OneStop to view their COA, as well as actual charges once the billing cycle for the term has begun. Use our Estimated Cost Calculator to estimate charges for a future semester.

The COA is based on criteria such as in-state or out-of-state, undergraduate or graduate, and/or living on or off campus. The University uses rules established by the federal government when determining COA.

All students are initially packaged with a full-time COA. COA's are recalculated according to actual enrollment beginning one week prior to memo of aid. It is then recalculated daily until the first day of class and again at the census date. If you are not enrolled full-time on any recalculation date, your financial aid may be reduced and a billing created to your student account.

Example student COA for an in-state, on-campus, undergraduate student:

As an overview: