What this page is. An account of what the United States charges an international student, built only from figures a United States authority actually publishes. Where no authority publishes a number, this page says so instead of inventing an average. We earn nothing from where you apply, and we link no university, agent or recruiter. See our editorial policy and how education agents earn.
What this page got wrong before 5 August 2026
Until today this page published nine money figures that no publisher stood behind. They were not stale. They were unsourced, which is a different and worse fault, because a stale figure can be corrected against its source and an invented one cannot. Every one of them has been withdrawn rather than adjusted. Here is what was on the page, and why it is gone.
- “$35,000 to $70,000 per year in total” and “$140,000 to $280,000 for a four year bachelor’s degree”. No United States agency publishes a total cost of study for an international student. Withdrawn.
- “$25,000 to $45,000” for public university tuition and “$60,000 or more” at elite private universities. The federal statistical agency publishes averages for all full time undergraduates. It does not publish a band for international students, and it does not publish a band for a set of institutions defined by reputation. Withdrawn, and replaced by the published table below.
- “$12,000 to $18,000” for room and board. The federal table publishes tuition, fees, room and board as one combined figure. Room and board alone is not published nationally. Withdrawn.
- “$1,500 to $3,500” for health insurance. Student health cover is priced by each institution and by private insurers. There is no federal figure. Withdrawn.
- “$500 to $1,200 a month” for off campus rent, “$100 to $200” for utilities, “$1,000” for books and supplies. No education or immigration authority publishes any of these. Withdrawn.
Two figures survived, because a government publishes them and we read the publisher today. Both are in the fee table below with their source and the date we read it.
The fees the United States government charges you
These are set by the agencies that collect them, published on their own websites, and changed only by notice. They are the most reliable money figures on this page and the only ones that apply to every applicant regardless of where they study.
| Charge | Published figure | Who publishes it, and when we read it |
|---|---|---|
| I-901 SEVIS fee, F or M applicant | $350 | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I-901 SEVIS fee. Read 5 Aug 2026 |
| I-901 SEVIS fee, J exchange visitor | $220, or $35 for subsidised categories | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I-901 SEVIS fee. Read 5 Aug 2026 |
| Visa application processing fee, F and M | $185 | U.S. Department of State, fees for visa services. Read 5 Aug 2026 |
Two details about these that matter more than the amounts. The SEVIS fee is paid before the visa interview, not at it, and the receipt is a document the consular officer expects to see. And the visa application fee is not refunded if the application is refused, which is why the fee is a sunk cost you should treat as spent the moment you book.
The only national tuition figures with a publisher
The National Center for Education Statistics is the federal statistical agency for education. Its Digest of Education Statistics, table 330.10, gives the average charged to full time undergraduates in current dollars. The most recent year in the table is 2023 to 2024.
| Institution type | Tuition and required fees | Tuition, fees, room and board |
|---|---|---|
| Public four year | $9,750 | $23,396 |
| Private non profit four year | $29,033 | $52,389 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics table 330.10, 2023 to 2024 academic year, current dollars. Verified 5 August 2026.
Read that table for what it is. It is an average across every full time undergraduate at those institutions, the overwhelming majority of whom are American. NCES publishes no separate figure for international students, and at a public university a non resident is normally charged a different rate from a resident of that state. So the public four year number is a floor for the sector, not a price you will be quoted. Treat it as a way of telling whether an offer you receive is unusual, not as a forecast of your own bill.
The document that carries your real number
There is exactly one document in the American system that states what your year will cost, and it is not published by any government. It is the cost of attendance, issued by the institution that admitted you. It is the same figure your Form I-20 is built from, which is why it is also the figure your financial ability evidence has to match.
A cost of attendance has a fixed anatomy, and knowing the anatomy is what lets you compare two offers that look nothing alike:
- Direct costs. Tuition, required fees, and, if you live on campus, housing and the meal plan. These are billed to you by the institution and are the only part you can hold it to.
- Indirect costs. Books, transport, personal expenses, and off campus housing where applicable. These are the institution’s estimate of what you will spend elsewhere. Two universities in the same city can publish indirect costs that differ by thousands, and neither is lying: they are estimating.
- Health insurance. Usually mandatory, usually billed unless you demonstrate an approved alternative, and often listed apart from tuition so that it does not appear in the headline.
When you compare two American offers, compare the direct costs line by line and treat the indirect costs as a statement of the institution’s assumptions rather than a statement about you. Our college cost calculator exists to do that arithmetic on your own numbers rather than on ours.
Why a funds requirement is not a budget
The financial ability evidence you show for an F-1 visa is derived from the cost of attendance on your I-20, so in the American system the immigration test and the price of the year are the same number. That is unusual. In most countries they are two separate things, and confusing them is the single most common budgeting mistake we see. A funds requirement is a threshold a government uses to decide whether to issue a permission. A budget is what you will actually spend. The first is a floor set by an authority; the second is a forecast you make. Our guide to proof of funds sets out the three shapes a funds test can take, and the costs by country table shows which countries publish a threshold at all.
Where the money goes that nobody warns you about
The costs that hurt are rarely the large ones, because the large ones are on a document you read in advance. The ones that hurt are structural, and they behave the same way every year regardless of what the figures do.
- The fee that is quoted per credit hour, not per year. A year is a number of credit hours you choose. Take a heavier load and the bill rises, which is exactly the opposite of the flat annual fee most applicants are used to.
- The gap between the offer and the first pay date. Assistantship stipends are paid in arrears. Between arriving and being paid there can be six weeks in which you are spending and not earning.
- The deposit stack. Housing deposit, utilities deposit, and often a security deposit equal to a month or more of rent, all payable before you have a credit history in the country.
- Currency movement between the offer and the payment. A tuition figure quoted to you in dollars is a moving figure in your own currency. Our currency converter for students exists for exactly this.
What we could not source, and are not going to guess
- An international tuition average. No federal agency publishes one. Institutions publish their own.
- A living cost figure for any American city. No education or immigration authority publishes one. Institutions publish estimates inside their cost of attendance, which is where the figure belongs.
- Health insurance premiums. Set by institutions and private insurers.
- On campus work hour limits and the length of practical training. These are set in federal regulation rather than on a guidance page, and the two federal pages we tried today did not state them in a form we could quote. They are stated in 8 CFR 214.2(f). We would rather link the regulation than restate a number without its conditions.
Before you commit to a United States offer
Print this and work through it against the actual documents, not against this page.
Keep reading
Compare this against the countries that do publish a threshold: the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands and France. If cost is the deciding factor, start with the countries where tuition is low or absent and the by country comparison. If you are still choosing, compare destinations side by side or read how to choose a country. For funding, how scholarships get won and what fully funded actually covers. For the visa itself, how to get a student visa and what each government publishes about processing times.
This page explains process and published figures. It is not immigration advice and it is not financial advice. Figures are published by the authorities named, on the dates stated, and authorities change them without notice.
