The information you need to estimate your college expenses
Budgeting for college? The DU Cost of Attendance budget represents your estimated college costs at Davenport University.
When it comes to how to budget for college, you don’t want to guess at your college expenses. With the DU Cost of Attendance (COA) budget, you get the estimated college costs for attending Davenport for two semesters.
From tuition and fees for college to living expenses for college, the COA budget helps you estimate all of your college expenses.
Review this page and if you have any questions, please contact us at financialaid@davenport.edu or call us at 866.744.0004.
DU Cost of Attendance covers a variety of college expenses
The DU Cost of Attendance covers a broad range of college costs. However, the COA budget is only meant to provide you with an estimate so you know how to budget for college.
The COA Budget includes these college expenses:
- Davenport University tuition
- College registration fees
- Living expenses for college
- Transportation
- Personal school-related expenses
The COA is based on the average college expenses of all students. Depending on your personal spending habits and how many courses you take, your college costs may be more or less. Keep that in mind as you’re budgeting for college.
Please note: The DU Cost of Attendance budget is based on a student being enrolled in two consecutive semesters. We will adjust the estimates if you enroll in only one semester or in three semesters. The Federal Government allows institutions to include a variety of college expenses, such as Davenport University tuition, but not all. Please see charts at bottom of this page that estimate total tuition as well as books and living expenses for college.
DU Cost of Attendance definitions
When it comes to budgeting for college, you need to be clear about not just your college costs, but what exactly those costs cover. Here, we outline the definitions of tuition and fees for college, living expenses for college and more. Only courses that are part of a students program of study (CPOS) will be included in the COA budget.
Davenport University tuition and fees are based on your enrollment status (full-time, three-quarter time, half-time and less than half-time). Your advisor can assist you with establishing a more specific estimate for Davenport University tuition. Please refer to the current tuition and fees for college.
Books are a key part of your college expenses. The books estimate reflects the typical cost of all of your books and supplies for attending DU courses at a specific enrollment status (full-time, three-quarter time, half-time and less than half-time). Davenport generally estimates $250 to $600 per semester for books and supplies. Part-time students enrolled in one or two courses typically have expenses ranging from $250 to $350 per semester. Full-time students typically have expenses ranging from $300 to $600 per semester. Some programs may have higher or lower book costs. To keep your college costs lower, it may be possible to obtain books below those estimates, and you’re encouraged to consider other alternatives, such as used books, textbook rental, e-books, etc.
Room and board account for a major part of your college expenses. Davenport estimates room and board costs for different categories of students, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for the state of Michigan, incorporating national data where appropriate. The room and board budget component includes basic housing and food costs for the amount of calendar time in the period of enrollment. For a standard two semester COA budget, this is approximately eight months. For a one semester COA budget, this is approximately four months.
If you’re enrolled during a semester but attending only one session of the semester, you’ll have a reduced room and board component to reflect the actual period of enrollment. Therefore, if you attend only session one and have no attendance in session two, you’ll have a room and board component that reflects two months of living expenses for college.
This reflects the typical cost of traveling to attend class. This again is an average and your actual experience may be different based upon your transportation choices. We can’t include transportation-related costs, such as:
- Vehicle purchase
- Insurance
- Major repairs
When it comes to personal college expenses, Davenport includes an estimate for the time that you’re enrolled. These college costs are averages. Your actual experience depends upon your personal choices. Personal college expenses include:
- Hygiene items
- Clothing
- Minor housekeeping expenses
- Cell phone usage
- Social activities
- Other personal needs
Final Note: It’s important to keep in mind that you control many of your college expenses and can make adjustments to make sure that you can cover your college costs.
When determining your eligibility for financial aid, the Government allows Davenport to include direct costs like:
- Davenport University tuition
- Books
- Fees
We can also include indirect costs like:
- Transportation
- Room and board
- Personal expenses
To determine these college costs, Davenport must establish average college expenses for all students. We base the averages on living expenses for college statistics from the federal government. Davenport does take into account the fact that many of our online students live across the United States. Once your financial aid award is complete, you will see your estimated DU Cost of Attendance.
It is important to keep in mind that these college costs are averages across the entire university and that you have control over many of these college costs. You can adjust your college expenses to keep your costs under control. Although student loans are available, Davenport encourages you to keep borrowing to a minimum.
Generally COA budgets are for one or more full semesters with estimated expenses based on your level (undergraduate or graduate), campus and enrollment status. If your individual enrollment does not span the length of the semester, federal regulations require the university to reduce the expected college expenses in the COA budget based on the length of your expected enrollment. For example, if you take two courses in session one of a semester and no courses in session two, the COA will be reduced to include expected costs only for the two months associated with session one.
Since budgets are determined based upon your enrollment status, DU must make some assumptions at the time the financial aid is packaged if you are not registered for courses. If you’re not registered you’ll be assigned a budget that reflects the average enrollment status for the campus you’re attending. Once you’re registered, the financial aid office will adjust the COA accordingly to match your enrollment status.
Below, see the numbers for some components of certain COA budgets based upon student categories and full-time enrollment for the entire semester. Tuition and fees are not included in the chart since that is based upon the student's expected charges based upon registered courses. Please note, these represent a year of enrollment (two semesters). Numbers will be halved if you attend only one semester.
2020-2021 academic year
Estimating book and living expenses
STUDENT |
BOOKS |
LIVING EXPENSES |
Undergraduate (on-campus) | $916 | $13,930 |
Undergraduate (off-campus, Dependent) | $916 | $11,938 |
Undergraduate (off-campus, Independent) | $916 | $23,650 |
Graduate | $350 | $23,736 |
2020 - 2021 academic year by semester
Estimating total tuition
Graduate, session-only, half-time (3 credits) | |
Direct Costs (tuition, fees, estimated books) | $3156 |
Indirect Costs (personal, transportation, room & board) | $5988 |
Total Semester COA | $9144 |
Graduate, full-semester, full-time (6 credits) | |
Direct Costs (tuition, fees, estimated books) | $5772 |
Indirect Costs (personal, transportation, room & board) | $11868 |
Total Semester COA | $17640 |
Undergraduate, full-semester, full time (15 credits) | |
Direct Costs (tuition, fees, estimated books) | $12898 |
Indirect Costs (personal, transportation, room & board) | $11825 |
Total Semester COA | $24723 |
Undergraduate, full-semester, full time (12 credits) | |
Direct Costs (tuition, fees, estimated books) | $10483 |
Indirect Costs (personal, transportation, room & board) | $11825 |
Total Semester COA | $22308 |