Guidance for Living Expenses

College Board's nine-month and twelve-month living expense budgets for the years of 2025-26 and 2026-27 show living expense costs by region and metropolitan area. Both a moderate and a low budget are provided. The budgets reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index (calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) of 3.4 percent for 2023 and 2.9 percent for 2024.

Keep in Mind

The Purpose of Budgets

These budgets are provided to assist financial aid officers in developing living expense budgets for their independent, off-campus students.

Budgets vs. Actual Expenses

The budgets should not be confused with the actual boarding expenses experienced by an on-campus student.

Budgets as Guidelines

These budgets are intended as broad guidelines or starting points which should be adjusted to local economies, individual situations, and Department of Education Cost of Attendance guidelines.

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