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Your "cost of attendance" or "budget" for financial aid purposes is the estimated total cost to pursue a degree for the fall and spring semesters. A student's cost of attendance is composed of all educational expenses that a student may accrue while pursuing their education for the semester and/or year which can be reviewed for financial aid purposes. A student's financial aid cannot exceed their cost of attendance.
Institutions are required to provide a fuller picture of what it may cost students to pursue their degree, not just what they will owe to the institution, for a few reasons. First, it helps students plan for other expenses, such as books, that may not be part of their WVU charges. Second, it helps us determine their cost and financial need to determine their aid eligibility. If the student's actual expenses are greater than their projected cost of attendance, they may be eligible to submit a budget appeal to have their costs reviewed. Please refer to our Budget Appeals webpage for deadlines and additional eligibility information.
Various elements can impact a student's estimated cost of attendance such as:
WVU Online offers both "capped" and "uncapped" programs. Students in capped programs will only incur charges per credit hour up to full-time enrollment (12 hours for undergraduates and 9 hours for graduates). However, students in uncapped programs will be charged per credit hour no matter the number of hours enrolled. For more information, please refer to the WVU Tuition website.
If you have not received a financial aid or scholarship offer, your estimated cost of attendance may not be available. Please use the resources available here to estimate your costs and/or financial aid. There are multiple options to estimate billable (direct) costs only or your full cost of attendance.
Students who have been offered financial aid can find their estimated cost of attendance through their WVU Portal. Please remember this is not your balance due. This is your estimated cost for financial aid purposes.
Charges usually are available online through the WVU Portal for students to review in early July for the fall semester and mid-November for the spring semester.
Students who have a balance due after payments and financial aid are also sent billing notifications to their MIX email via their WVU Portal.
For more information on how to view charges online through their WVU MyAccount or pay a balance due, visit our Tutorials webpage.
The estimated cost of attendance includes billable (direct) costs (costs the student would need to pay WVU) and non billable (indirect) costs (other costs a student may have while pursuing their education that are not charged by the institution).
If you are trying to determine how much your balance may be, focus on billable (direct) costs. If you are trying to determine how much your total educational expenses may be - including those you may have that are not charged by the University- use both billable (direct) and non billable (indirect) costs.
Your balance is composed of institutional charges. This can include things like tuition and fees, housing, food, new student ID fees, library fees, materials, instruments, and student health insurance. The balance due is what the student must pay.
A student's estimated cost of attendance is composed of all educational expenses that can be included for financial aid purposes. These are expenses a student may accrue while pursuing their education for the semester and/or year. Since a student's financial aid cannot exceed their cost of attendance, this gives an idea of the maximum amount of financial aid - including loans - that a student could potentially receive if eligible.
This is particularly important when a student wants to take out financial aid - including loans - to cover non billable (indirect) costs. For example, a student may have grants, scholarships, and loans that cover their full cost of attendance. That financial aid will disburse to cover billable (direct) costs (that are billed), then whatever is remaining is refunded to the student to use for non billable (indirect) costs - such as books or housing and food if living off-campus.
If a student's billable costs do not accurately reflect their actual costs, they may be eligible for a cost of attendance or budget review. For full details about our budget appeal process, please refer to our Budget Appeals webpage.
Yes, you can! Since charges are not available until July (fall) or November (spring), it is a good idea to use your estimated cost of attendance to determine what your estimated charges may be or what your estimated overall cost of attendance could be. This will help you determine how much will be due each semester if you want to sign up early for the tuition payment plan or plan ahead for the balance due date. It will also help you determine how much you may need to apply for should you choose to borrow loans.