Cost of Attendance

There are two components to your COA:

Direct Costs – These are the costs you pay to the College directly, including tuition, required fees, and program fees. Your award typically includes an estimate of your tuition and fee costs for the year, as program fees vary by program and by semester.  Always refer to your semester Course and Fee statement after you have registered to review your actual charges.

Indirect Costs – These are the expenses you may have while pursuing your education, but they are not charged by or determined by the College. These costs can vary greatly from one student to another. Indirect costs also include eligible fees that may be paid to the College, but are not assessed to all students (e.g. Health Insurance fees).

• In a standard COA, these costs include Books and Supplies, Housing, Food, Miscellaneous Personal Expenses, Transportation, and an average loan fee charged to student borrowers at QCC.  Students enrolled in fewer than 6 credits each semester may not have Housing and Food included unless professional judgment is used.
• There are other eligible indirect costs that may be added to a student’s COA by request as well, such as Child Care, Educational Technology (such as a laptop), and required Health Insurance fees.

QCC uses a standard amount for indirect costs in the Cost of Attendance based on a student’s dependency status from the FAFSA. The amounts are based on a review of average expenses in the central Massachusetts area for a single person. You may find that your indirect costs differ from these estimates, which is common. These costs are determined each academic year.

2024-2025 Cost of Attendance

If your expenses exceed these amounts or if you have eligible expenses that you would like to add (such as Dependent Care expenses), you may request an adjustment to your COA. You will need to provide a signed letter outlining the type and amount of your monthly expenses to the Financial Aid Office. You may also be asked to provide documentation, such as a utility bill or receipts. 

Please note that a change in your COA does not necessarily mean you will receive more grant aid. In most cases, an increase to the COA will allow you to borrow more of your annual federal maximum student loan eligibility or may move some of an unsubsidized loan to subsidized, if you have not already received your annual or lifetime subsidized loan limit. In many cases, there would be no change to your financial aid award at all. We recommend you contact the Financial Aid Office before submitting a request for a Cost of Attendance increase so that we can help you understand how it may or may not affect your financial aid eligibility.