Important Notes About COA

DBU’s Cost of Attendance (COA) for Undergraduate, Graduate, and Doctoral Students represent the estimated total cost of enrolling full-time for a standard academic year (fall and spring semesters). It is designed to help students understand and plan for the full range of educational expenses and is used to determine financial aid eligibility. The COA includes standard components applied to most students, such as:

• tuition (per credit hour or block tuition),
• standard fees,
• housing and meal plans (for both first-year and upperclassman students),
• books and supplies,
• transportation,
• personal expenses, and
• the cost of obtaining a first professional credential (if applicable).

Less than full-time enrollment - if a student is less than full-time their COA will be reduced to reflect the student’s enrollment intensity.

Summer enrollment - Because summer enrollment is optional and not required for all students, it is not included in the standard academic year COA. Instead, summer is treated as a separate term with its own Cost of Attendance, calculated independently.

A student’s COA is not a bill, and many students pay less than this estimated amount after scholarships and other forms of financial aid are applied.

Additional Considerations

The standard budget components apply to most students. However, some students may have unique, documented expenses that are not included in the standard Cost of Attendance (COA). In these situations, students may submit a formal appeal for review. Approved appeals may result in case-by-case adjustments to the COA for eligible documented expenses, in accordance with federal guidelines.

• Dependent care
• Disability-related expenses
• Study abroad expenses
• Cooperative education costs
• Online or Study by correspondence
• Confined or incarcerated students
• Less than half-time
• Military Housing (BAH)