Plan Your Term or Semester Costs

Paying for college requires careful planning. Once you have an idea of where you want to attend and some information about your financial aid offer, you can start estimating what each term or semester will cost you.

You can use these CAFE tools to map out your costs, one term or semester at a time:

Pick the Right Spreadsheet for You

You will see there are a few options to pick from! Choose the one that best matches your needs.

Do you want to simply look at an upcoming term/semester for your college or university? --> Then choose your campuses "One Term/Semester Paying for College Plan".
Do you want to map out a full academic year for your college or university? --> Then choose your campuses "Full Academic Year Paying for College Plan" option.
Do you want to compare scenarios, like maybe you want to compare one term/semester of the various schools you are considering? -->Then choose your campuses "One term or Semester Comparison of Different Schools" option.

If at anytime you want support with this, then visit cafe.oregonstate.edu and set up an appt. with us!

Follow Instructions within Spreadsheet

Each spreadsheet will have it's own instructions. Follow those to the best of your ability. It should walk you through the steps. Some notes on each one:

"One Term/Semester Paying for College Plan"--> You will want to find the tuition and fee charts (not the COA from financial aid) from the school you are attending or going to attend. You will have a bill from them each term/semester, so you will look at one term and semester at a time.
"Full Academic Year Paying for College Plan"--> You will see 4 term/semester tabs as a full academic year at as term/quarter schools have Summer (optional), Fall, Winter, and Spring Terms and semester schools have Fall, Spring, and Summer (optional) semesters. If you are not attending each term/semester, that is fine, only complete the amount of terms you plan to attend. For example, maybe you complete 3 tabs as you only plan to take classes Fall, Winter, and Spring Term - that is just fine. There will be a tab called "Full AY Analysis" and it will have a side-by-side look at each term you along with annual totals.
"One term or Semester Comparison of Different Schools" --> You will see 4 school tabs meaning you can compare up to 4 schools. If you only use two or three, that is just fine. There will be a tab called "School Comparison" and it will have a side-by-side look at each scenario you did compare.

Estimate Costs and Your Financial Resources

In each spreadsheet, you will see a step where you can estimate costs of your OSU bill.

Billing Costs (Direct Expenses)

You will want to find the tuition and fee charts (not the COA from financial aid) from the school you are attending or going to attend. You will have a bill from them each term/semester, so you will look at one term and semester at a time. You will include housing and dining cost for the term or semester if you are living on-campus, so be sure to search that information as well. These are considered "direct expenses" - as they are the things directly charged to your bill each term/semester. We take billing one term/semester at a time since you will receive a bill for the term/semester charges.

Financial Resources to Pay Towards the OSU Bill

There will be a financial resource section where you will estimate the resources you have that will pay directly towards your bill, one term at a time. Every student has unique resources, so find out what yours are! Common sources of financial aid and resources are: 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. 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.

Gap of Funding or Refund?

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

Direct billing 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.

Next Steps

Once you have your spreadsheet complete, you may be wondering - what next?! There is a section that gives you a list of ideas - so please review those and if you do not know where to start - visit cafe.oregonstate.edu and set up an appointment.Besides your college bill, it’s important to have a plan for the rest of your money coming in and going out. The planner includes a “non-billing” or monthly budget tab to help you think through your everyday expenses.

Additional Resources

CAFE Handout: Financial Planning for College – High School Students
- Find helpful resources and information for your college financial planning journey.
CAFE's module on how to optimize your situation; reducing the gap of funding.
CAFE's module to walk you through steps in creating a budget for the non-billing expenses.