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 dining 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 will owe to NIU.

You can also use the Federal Net Price Calculator to 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 and supplies, transportation, food, housing, and 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/off campus, or at home with a parent/relative)
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. 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

2022-2023 Undergraduate Full-Time

Tuition¹	$9,790
Fees²	$2,872
Room and board³	$11,420
Travel	$600
Books and supplies	$1,300
Miscellaneous/personal expenses	$1,840
Total⁴	$27,822

¹Tuition and 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 less than 12 credit hours per semester will have reductions in all categories of COA.

^aFull-time tuition for Engineering students = $10,806

^bFull-time tuition for Computer Science students = $10,566

^cFull-time tuition for Nursing (excludes pre/intended nursing majors and RN-BS) = $9,606

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 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.

³Room and board is an average allowance for on-campus housing. This allowance includes the Huskie Block 12 meal plan. For students living off-campus, room & board includes a modest allowance for rent, food, utilities and other living necessities. Individual expenses will vary. Room & board costs for students living at home with a parent are reduced to $5,000 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.

2021-2022 Graduate

	Standard Rate for Six Credit Hours	Standard Rate for Nine Credit Hours	Standard Rate for 12 Credit Hours
Tuition	$5,960	$8,940	$11,920
Room and board	$13,020	$13,020	$13,020
Books	$600	$900	$1,200
Travel and personal expenses	$2,464	$3,152	$3,152
Total	$22,044	$26,012	$29,292

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

2022-2023 Law Full-time

Tuition¹	$22,158
Law Material Fee²	$200
Living expenses³	$14,400
Books and supplies	$1,800
Travel	$1,810
Miscellaneous/personal expenses	$3,386
Total	$43,754

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 = $38,376

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 18 weeks each or 36 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.