CampusPin Glossary
Cost of attendance (COA)
The federal government's standardized estimate of one academic year's total cost at a college, including direct and indirect expenses.
Cost of attendance (COA) is the all-in number a college reports to the U.S. Department of Education. It includes tuition and fees, room and board (or off-campus living estimates), books and supplies, transportation, and personal expenses. COA is what financial-aid offers are calculated against — your aid package can never exceed COA.
COA is published in two flavors at most schools: in-state COA (for residents of the school's state, applies mainly at public colleges) and out-of-state COA (for everyone else). CampusPin displays both where reported.
See also
Sticker price
The published total cost of attendance (tuition, fees, room, and board) before any financial aid is applied.
Net price
What a family actually pays out-of-pocket after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the sticker price.
Tuition
The annual fee a college charges for instruction itself — separate from room, board, fees, and other costs of attendance.
CampusPin tools
Find colleges that match your criteria
Use CampusPin's filter-first search to narrow 3,800+ U.S. universities and community colleges by tuition, program, location, acceptance rate, school size, and more.