Tuition and fees account for 67% of the average estimated budget for students living on-campus at private four-year colleges, but only 18% for students not living with parents and commuting to public two-year colleges.

* Average total expenses include room and board costs for commuter students, which are average estimated living expenses for students living off campus but not with parents.

Enrollment-weighted tuition and fees are derived by weighting the price charged by each institution by the number of full-time students enrolled in fall 2008. Public four-year in-state charges are weighted by total fall 2008 full-time enrollment in each institution. Out-of-state tuition and fees are computed by adding the average in-state price to the out-of-state premium weighted by the number of full-time out-of-state students enrolled at each institution. Room and board charges are weighted by the number of students residing on campus.

— Sample too small to provide meaningful information.

Note: Expense categories are based on institutional budgets for students as reported by colleges and universities in the Annual Survey of Colleges. They do not necessarily reflect actual student expenditures.
Source: The College Board, Annual Survey of Colleges.

 Download Excel for this table.     Download Excel for all figures and tables.    This table was prepared in October 2009.