Wondering what exactly cost of attendance means? MEFA’s Associate Director of College Planning Jonathan Hughes explains everything you need to know about the cost of attendance at a college and all the expenses that cost of attendance includes, both direct and indirect.
Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.
[00:00:00] Jonathan for me fit here, and I’m gonna be your translator today In the language of financial aid, bringing down some common terms in lingo often heard when talking about paying for college. Today’s translation is cost of attendance.
Cost of attendance is the total cost to attend one year at a particular college before financial aid and scholarships are applied. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, hold on a minute. You see cost of attendance has two parts. The simple part is the amount that just shows up on a bill, like tuition fees and health insurance.
Those are called direct or bill expenses. They’re literally billed to you. The complicated part is that there are expenses that don’t show up on a bill at all, but you’ll still have to pay things like books, transportation to and from college, and living expenses throughout the year. All of these expenses together fall under the term cost of attendance.
It’s everything. Thing. Colleges will [00:01:00] have different cost of attendance and each student will have different cost of attendance at the same college. So one more time. Cost of attendance is the estimated overall amount that a student pays to attend one year of college. Good luck and if you have any questions, here’s where you can find us.
