Estimate Your OSU Costs and Funding

The first step in financing your education is understanding what expenses you need to cover. The Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE) created tools to help you estimate your direct costs (your OSU bill) - these are the things directly charged to your OSU bill and compare your financial resources term-by-term. You can use these spreadsheets to calculate one term at a time, compare scenarios (for example, different credit loads or housing options), and customize categories to match your situation.

Step 1: Start with the Instructions Tab

Open the spreadsheet and begin with the Instructions tab. This tab explains how the tool is set up and which parts you can customize. Then review the academic year (AY) tabs. You can rename tabs to match your planning timeline (for example, “Upcoming Year” or “2026–27”).

Note: If you receive the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) scholarship, you can estimate how much you may receive in an upcoming term based on your anticipated registration.

Step 2: Calculate Your Direct Expenses (Your OSU Bill)

Your direct expenses are the charges billed through OSU (tuition, fees, and on-campus housing/meal plans if applicable). You will complete this one term at a time.

Best practice: Build this estimate using an academic plan created with an academic advisor so your course plan reflects your goals and program requirements.

2A. Complete the Academic Plan Section

Enter the classes you expect to take for the term.
Your credit total and course format (in-person vs. Ecampus) affect tuition and fee costs.

2B. Estimate Term Charges Using OSU Cost Tools

Find the Term table in the AY tab you’re using.
Use the spreadsheet links to access OSU tuition and fee tools and estimate your tuition/fees for that term.
Complete only the line items that apply to you (and edit categories as needed).

Important notes:

If you take a mix of in-person and Ecampus courses, you may need to run the tuition and fee estimate more than once to reflect both formats.
If you are a DPP student, you will estimate your community college tuition and fees separately. The spreadsheet includes a place to enter these costs.

2C. If You Live On Campus: Add Housing and Dining

If you live on campus, use the housing and dining links for your campus (Corvallis or Cascades) to estimate residence hall and meal plan charges for that term.

Step 3: Estimate Your Financial Resources (One Term at a Time)

Next, locate the Financial Resources section. This is where you estimate what will help pay your bill during that term (for example: financial aid, scholarships, family support, savings, employer benefits, or other funding).

Each funding source has its own rules and requirements. For example, some resources:

pay once vs. renew across terms/years,
require a minimum number of credits,
require a minimum GPA,
pay out at specific times (not always at the start of the term).

Every spring, financial aid offers are typically sent to students’ OSU email accounts. Scholarship decisions may also be available through ScholarDollars. Using the information you currently have, estimate what will pay out for the term you are planning.

Tip: If a category doesn’t fit your situation, edit it. If it doesn’t apply, leave it blank or remove it.

Step 4: Review Your Results (What’s “Out of Pocket”?)

As you add your costs and resources, the spreadsheet will calculate:

OSU bill costs − financial resources = estimated out-of-pocket amount for the term

Negative (often shown in green): Your estimated resources exceed your bill, and you may receive a refund.
Positive (often shown in red): You may have a remaining amount due that you will need to plan to pay.

Additional Notes: Planning Beyond the OSU Bill

Direct costs (your OSU bill) are only part of your full financial plan. You also need to plan for indirect expenses—costs outside of the OSU billing system.

The OSU Office of Financial Aid includes estimated indirect expenses in the Cost of Attendance, such as:

books and course supplies,
transportation,
personal and miscellaneous expenses.

These estimates can be a helpful starting point, but your real costs may differ. Consider expenses such as:

a new computer or required technology,
travel costs (for example, flights home),
eating out, clothing, and personal spending,
any recurring costs you know you will have.

The more detailed your plan is, the more prepared you’ll be. Next, we’ll walk through building a student budget for indirect expenses and strategies to optimize your plan (increase resources, decrease expenses, and plan for surplus funds).