What Are My Costs?

Customizing Your Expenses

Use the NIU Planning and Cost Estimator to get a customized estimate of your costs and see how it’s affected by the following:

Number of credit hours
Choice of major or program
Housing and food choices
Costs for books and other fees

The estimator also allows you to enter the amounts of financial aid you receive to calculate the total you may owe to NIU.

You can also use the Federal Net Price Calculator to help estimate your costs.

Cost of Attendance

Cost of Attendance (COA), also referred to as a student budget, is an estimate of the average educationally-related costs a student may incur during their period of enrollment (semester or year). COA includes approximate tuition and fee costs, as well as allowances for the cost of books, course materials, supplies, and equipment, transportation, living expenses, Federal Student Loan Fees (for borrowers), professional licensure expenses, and miscellaneous personal expenses. The total COA represents the maximum amount of financial aid a student may receive during that period of enrollment, including student loans.

Some COA factors vary by student. These include:

Where the student lives (on campus, off campus, or at home with a parent)
The student's program of study. Some colleges or majors have different tuition rates
Number of enrolled hours

Cost of Attendance estimates are used solely for the purpose of financial aid. They are not your actual charges. Use our Planning and Cost Estimator to easily estimate charges based on your individual factors.

Huskie Spotlight

I notice that in this school specifically, the professors don’t only see you as a paying student, but as an individual, first and foremost. They take the time to get to know you and your strengths, and, in turn, help you succeed.

Diana Jarocki, communicative disorders major

Academic Year Cost of Attendance Estimates

2024-2025 Undergraduate Full-time

Tuition¹	$10,230
Fees²	$3,018
Loan Fees	$74
Room and board³	$14,160
Travel	$928
Books and supplies	$1,200
Miscellaneous/personal expenses	$1,420
Total⁴	$31,030

¹Tuition may be higher, depending on a student's program of study. Standard tuition is listed above and is based on full-time enrollment (12+ credit hours per semester). Rates for Nursing, Computer Science, and Engineering majors are listed on the Bursar Office website. Students enrolled in fewer than 12 credit hours per semester will have reductions in all categories of COA.

^aFull-time tuition for Engineering students = $11,430

^bFull-time tuition for Computer Science students = $11,190

^cFull-time tuition for Nursing (excludes pre/intended nursing majors and RN-BS) = $10,590

²Fees do not include the NIU Student Health Insurance (SHI) plan cost. Students enrolled in 9 or more DeKalb-campus credit hours are automatically charged the student health insurance premium. Students may opt out of this insurance coverage and request a cancellation of the fee if they are covered by an insurance plan with benefits equal to or better than the NIU coverage. However, because SHI is mandatory for enrollment, students participating in the NIU plan may request the cost of SHI to be added to their COA by completing the COA Increase Request form.

³Living Expenses are an average allowance for on-campus housing. This allowance includes the Huskie Block 19 meal plan, as well as allowance for 2 additional meals per week. For students living off-campus, living expenses include a modest allowance for rent, food, utilities and other living necessities. Individual expenses will vary. Living expense allowances for students living at home with a parent are reduced to $4,152 for the academic year to acknowledge ongoing family household expenses such as food, utilities, personal use of technology and other household expenses.

⁴This COA reflects an assumption of full-time enrollment and has allowances for transportation and other miscellaneous expenses that may be incurred by some students in your program. Students living with a parent will have a different allowance for housing and travel. In addition, students enrolled less than full-time will have different category and total COA amounts.

2023-2024 Graduate

	Standard Rate for Six Credit Hours	Standard Rate for Nine Credit Hours	Standard Rate for 12 Credit Hours
Tuition	$6,060	$9,090	$12,120
Loan fees	$178	$178	$178
Room and board	$14,080	$14,080	$14,080
Books	$600	$900	$1,200
Travel	$1,296	$1,296	$1,296
Miscellaneous/personal expenses	$2,816	$2,816	$2,816
Total	$25,030	$28,360	$31,060

The cost of tuition for many NIU graduate programs is greater than the standard rate. You can opt out of student health insurance.

2023-2024 Law Full-time

Tuition¹	$23,152
Law Material Fee²	$400
Loan Fees	$208
Living expenses³	$14,100
Books and supplies	$1,810
Travel	$1,296
Miscellaneous/personal expenses	$3,010
Total	$43,976

¹Tuition is listed above, and is based on full-time enrollment (12+ credit hours per semester). Rates are listed on the Bursar Office website. Students enrolled in less than 12 credit hours per semester will have reductions in all categories of COA.

^aFull-time tuition for International students = $39,700

²Fees do not include the NIU Student Health Insurance (SHI) plan cost. Students enrolled in nine or more DeKalb-campus credit hours are automatically charged the student health insurance premium. Students have the option to opt-out of this insurance coverage and request a cancellation of the fee if they are covered by an insurance plan with benefits equal to or better than the NIU coverage. However, because SHI is mandatory for enrollment, students participating in the NIU plan may request the cost of SHI to be added to their COA by completing the COA Increase Request form.

³The living expenses category is an average of the costs for a student to maintain a moderate but adequate standard of living during both the fall and spring semester, generally 16 weeks each or 32 weeks in total. The estimate is based on a one-bedroom apartment, suitable for a law student, in DeKalb. It cannot be increased to include the costs for other family members or individual lifestyle choices. It can only consider the cost for the length of semesters, not including winter or summer breaks.