Woods College of Advancing Studies Undergraduate Financial Aid
How Need-Based Financial Aid is Determined
Boston College is committed to our philosophy of making education affordable, equitable, and accessible. We believe our role is as a partner in supplementing financial resources available to families as determined through the financial aid process.
Financial need is computed using both a federal and institutional calculation. The calculated contributions from both formulas are used to determine eligibility for financial aid funding. Boston College’s formula for institutional financial need is the difference between your tuition and fees less the calculated contribution. Boston College will meet 100% of institutional financial need with a combination of grants/scholarships, loans, and work-study.
Cost of Attendance
Summary of Costs
| Full Time (12cr/sem) | Half Time (6–8cr/sem)* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Living with Parents/Relatives | Apartment** | Living with Parents/Relatives | Apartment** | |
| Direct Costs: | ||||
| Tuition | $15,120 | $15,120 | $10,080 | $10,080 |
| Registration Fee | $50 | $50 | $50 | $50 |
| Billed Costs Subtotal | $15,170 | $15,170 | $10,130 | $10,130 |
| Indirect Costs | ||||
| Housing | $9,976 | $9,976 | ||
| Food | $2,841 | $5,682 | $2,841 | $5,682 |
| Books | $1,250 | $1,250 | $625 | $625 |
| Misc./Travel | $2,200 | $2,000 | $2,200 | $2,000 |
| Non-Billed Costs Subtotal | $6,291 | $18,908 | $5,666 | $18,283 |
| Total | $21,461 | $34,078 | $15,796 | $28,413 |
*In order to qualify for financial aid, you have to enroll in 6 or more credits.
**Assumes you are responsible for paying living costs in an apartment with roommates.
Direct and Indirect Costs
The cost of attendance (COA) provides an estimate of the costs associated with attending Boston College. There are two main categories of costs used when creating the cost of attendance: direct and indirect costs.
Direct (Billed) Costs
The cost of attendance includes costs that will appear on your bill—tuition, housing, food (if required) and fees. For students living off campus, your direct costs will include tuition and fees. When trying to determine financial responsibilities to Boston College each year, the direct costs are what will appear on your billing statement.
Your first bill for the academic year will likely include a charge for health insurance. Massachusetts law requires that every full-time and part-time student enrolled in a certificate, diploma or degree-granting program of higher education must participate in their school's Student Health Program or in a health benefit plan with comparable coverage. Students that have comparable coverage are able to waive the Boston College health plan by specific deadlines. For additional information on BC's health insurance plan and directions and deadlines to waive the insurance please visit bc.edu/medicalinsurance. The cost for the BC medical insurance for the 24–25 year is $4,281.
Indirect (Non-billed) Costs
The cost of attendance also includes costs that will not appear on your bill. Items included in this category are estimates for books, travel, and miscellaneous/personal expenses. For students that live off campus, an estimate for your housing and food costs will be included in your COA, and are considered indirect costs because you will not be billed by BC for those costs.
Loan fees will also be added when a family receives a federal parent or graduate PLUS loan.
Your cost of attendance will not match your bill because it includes indirect costs that are not billed by Boston College. Students must plan ahead and be prepared to pay for books and/or off-campus living expenses until the funds have been disbursed.
Cost of Attendance Glossary
To help understand the items included in Boston College’s cost of attendance, we have defined each element:
Tuition is determined each year by the Board of Trustees in April of each year. A full breakdown of tuition costs can be found on the Tuition and Fees page.
The fees indicated are the mandatory required fees for every undergraduate student enrolled in the Woods College of Advancing studies. These fees include the following:
- Registration fee: The current year registration fee can found on our Tuition and Fees page
- Medical Insurance: Undergraduate students registered for 9 or more credits may be charged health insurance. For more information on the insurance and waiver process, please visit our Medical Insurance page
Regardless of housing situation (at home with parents, on campus, off campus), all students will have costs related to living while enrolled in college. Living expenses are broken down between two main categories: Housing and Food.
Housing
- Students who live off campus will have an estimated cost of housing added to their cost of attendance calculation. Please note that the off-campus housing cost is based on the 9-month standard academic calendar. We do not use the same 12-month calendar as required by most leases.
- Students who live at home with parents are not expected to have any costs associated with housing.
Food
- Federal regulations require that the food portion of the cost of attendance allow for the ability for a student to eat three meals per day.
- For students that live off campus, the food estimate that is used will be an estimated cost associated with grocery costs to provide three meals per day. This estimated grocery cost is provided by the BC dining office.
- Students that live at home have an estimated food cost.
Undergraduate students will need to purchase books as a part of their educational experience. Additionally, students will incur additional expenses from a variety of categories (toiletries, cleaning products, sports passes, etc.). Boston College creates an estimated value using data provided by the College Board.
Boston College completes a regular review on travel costs required to get to Boston from all 50 states and internationally. The cost of travel is based on the expectation of two round trip tickets per year.
Family Contribution
Boston College does not use the federal Student Aid Index (SAI) determined by the FAFSA to award institutional need-based grants/scholarships. We meet 100% of the need that is based on our determination of your institutional expected family contribution.
Expected Parental Contribution
Federal Methodology includes factors such as:
- Income (prior-prior tax year)
- Assets (excluding home equity, family-owned small business/farm equity)
- Family size
- Number of dependent children enrolled in college or graduate school
Institutional Methodology includes factors such as:
- Income (prior-prior tax year)
- Assets (including home equity, all business/farm equity)
- Family size
- Number of dependent children who are full-time undergraduates*
- If parents are separated, divorced, or were never married, financial information for both biological parents is reviewed
*Boston College does not include graduate siblings in the number in college. Boston College verifies sibling enrollment each fall semester through the Sibling Enrollment Verification process.
Expected Student Contribution
Federal Methodology includes factors such as:
- Income (prior-prior tax year)
- Assets
- Family size (if student is considered independent)
- Number in college (if student is considered independent)
Institutional Methodology includes factors such as:
- Income (prior-prior tax year) or minimum contribution*
- Assets
- Family size (if student is considered independent)
- Number in college (if student is considered independent)
Constructing Financial Aid Awards
In order to create financial aid awards, we utilize your full cost of attendance for the federal evaluation. The institutional awards are based on the costs of tuition and fees. From that, we subtract your federal and institutional contributions to determine your eligibility for federal and institutional funding. This is what is known as financial need. Boston College is committed to meeting each student's full institutional need.
How to Apply for Financial Aid
Deadline for 2024–2025 Academic Year: Rolling
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form is used by Boston College to determine your federal aid eligibility.
Boston College’s school code is 002128.
- Available online after October 1
- Allow 2 weeks for processing
- The IRS Data Retrieval tool is a feature of the FAFSA that enables the automatic transfer of tax return data from the IRS directly to your online application. It is strongly encouraged that you use this feature if it is available to you. For more information, visit studentaid.gov/resources/irs-drt-text.
- Note: You will need an FSA ID to electronically sign your FAFSA or Renewal FAFSA. If you do not have or do not remember your FSA ID, visit studentaid.gov/fsa-id/sign-in/landing.
As a part of our file review process, Boston College requires all financial aid applicants to submit copies of their federal tax returns. Tax information is required from students and both biological/adopted parents.
Submit the following:
- a signed copy of student's 2022 federal or foreign tax return, including all schedules and W-2 statements
- a signed copy of your parents' 2022 federal or foreign tax return, including all schedules and W-2 statements
- If your biological/adopted parents are divorced, separated, or unmarried living separately, a signed copy of your noncustodial parent's 2022 federal or foreign tax return, including all schedules and W-2 statements
If you or your parent(s) are not required to file tax returns, an Income Tax Non-filer Verification Form should be submitted. Forms may be found at www.bc.edu/financialaidforms.
- copies of 2022 U.S. federal business tax returns (1065, 1120, 1120S) with K-1s and all schedules
- A copy of the business tax return is required for each business owned
- If you, your parent(s), or your noncustodial parent own all or a portion of a farm, please submit the Business/Farm supplement (BFS)
- The BFS must be submitted for each farm owned.
- If a question does not apply, note “N/A” in the space provided. Questions left blank will delay the review of your file.
If your biological parents are divorced, separated, or unmarried living separately, you must submit the Noncustodial Parent’s Profile through the CSS Profile website. Your noncustodial parent must complete every question on the Profile form.
- In addition to the Noncustodial Parent Profile, Boston College also requires the noncustodial parent signed copies of:
- 2022 federal or foreign tax return, including all schedules and W2
- 2022 business tax returns (1065, 1120, 1120S) for all businesses (if applicable)
If the whereabouts of your noncustodial parent are unknown, or if there are extenuating circumstances regarding your situation, please complete the Noncustodial Parent Waiver Petition. Refusal of your noncustodial parent to provide information or support does not constitute a waiver.
Do I need to submit parent information?
For federal aid purposes, a student is considered independent and will qualify for federal aid (Pell Grant, Direct Loans) based on that status if he/she is:
- 24 years old
- married
- serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces
- a veteran
- a parent with dependents
- an emancipated minor
- homeless
- assigned a legal guardian before the age of 18
For institutional aid purposes, all undergraduates at Boston College are considered dependent. We recognize there are extenuating circumstances in which a student may believe they are independent but not meet the above criteria. We will only consider students independent in extreme circumstances. The student should submit a letter appealing dependency status to the Office of Student Services. The appeal letter should outline the student's relationship with his/her parents. We also require a letter from a third-party (counselor, teacher, social worker, or lawyer for example) in support of the claim.
Submit all required documents to www.bc.edu/finaidupload.
Please note that it will take 48–72 hours for your documents to be added to your financial aid file.
Please remember to write your assigned Eagle ID Number on every page of all documents you submit.
Upload Limitations and Restrictions
- File size is limited to 5 MB per document. If your document exceeds this size, consider the following:
- Do not use a camera to create images of the documents
- Do not attempt to upload color copies
- Use a lower resolution setting when scanning documents
- Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and .tiff documents are not acceptable. Conversion options are usually available for any file type that is not in an accepted file format.
- Password-protected documents cannot be accepted
If you experience any issues while attempting to upload your documents, please contact the Office of Student Services at 1-800-294-0294 or at studentservices@bc.edu.
Documents may also be submitted to the following PO address as a secondary option:
Boston College Financial Aid Processing Center
PO Box 1482
Portsmouth, NH 03802
Types of Aid
Frequently Asked Questions
Students who wish to be considered for financial aid must apply each year. To apply for financial aid as a Boston College student, there are several forms that must be completed:
- To apply for federal and/or state aid, you need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Federal aid includes Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Direct Loans, both subsidized and unsubsidized, Nursing loans, and Work-Study. State aid varies by state. Once the FAFSA is completed, you may be selected by the Federal Processor for a process called Verification, which means you will have to provide additional requirements to verify actual tax data. For more information, visit the Policies and Eligibility web page.
- By completing only the FAFSA, Boston College is not able to determine your eligibility for institutional need-based grants. In order to be considered for all institutional need-based aid as well as all federal and state aid, you must complete the FAFSA and additional forms, if applicable to your situation.
You may check the status of your application at bc.edu/finaidapp.
If you did not file a tax return and deposit to Boston College, an additional form will be collected sometime in mid-May to verify your tax filing status. You may also submit the student Income Tax Non-Filer Verification form.
Boston College is committed to meeting your full demonstrated institutional financial need throughout your undergraduate years. However, your need may change from year to year. Circumstances in which your need may change could include an increase or decrease in the parent's or student's income or assets, family size, or number of family members attending college. Your financial aid award will change to reflect these changes in circumstances. If the family's circumstances remain relatively constant over the years of attendance, the total financial aid received should not change significantly. Self-help expectations (Federal Work-Study and Federal Loan amounts) may change with grade level advances.
All students are encouraged to seek outside scholarships to help with the cost of their education. To ensure the outside scholarship will benefit the student as much as possible, it is our policy to replace the loan and work study portion of the student’s financial aid offer before adjusting any Boston College grant or scholarship funds. Because BC meets full demonstrated institutional need, the total grant funding, including outside scholarships, cannot exceed that determined need. The financial aid offer will be adjusted as needed to keep the offer within institutional financial need.
Sources for outside scholarships can include high schools, civic organizations, vocational rehabilitation programs, National Merit, etc. Boston College also treats any outside resource, like tuition reimbursement or employment-based education benefits from other institutions, as outside scholarships.
Reporting and Mailing Scholarships
The federal government requires that students inform the Office of Student Services directly of any scholarships or other education benefits received from sources outside of BC. This information should be reported for all scholarships, even if the funds are paid directly to the student. You should report this information on your financial aid portal, as well as upload the outside scholarship award letter(s) to the BC document upload portal. Ensure all uploaded outside scholarship information has the student's name and Eagle ID Number included.
Please mail all outside scholarship check payments to:
Boston College
Office of Student Services
Lyons Hall, Room 103
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Finding Outside Scholarships
Outside scholarships can help students reduce potential debt with funds that do not have to be repaid. There are numerous scholarship opportunities available. The Office of Student Services does not keep an internal listing of outside scholarship opportunities, but there are a variety of popular search engines that students may want to utilize. BC is not affiliated with any of these sites and listing them here should not be construed as an endorsement. Also use caution if using a paid scholarship search provider.
Other Potential Sources
- High school (Boosters, PTA, band, etc.)
- Students' or parents' employers
- Local businesses
- Town governments
- Religious organizations
- Ethnic and cultural organizations
- Military associations
- Private foundations and charities
Search Safely!
There are a variety of scholarship scams on the internet. Remember you should not have to pay to submit a scholarship application or to be considered for funding. You should also not have to share secure personal information like a Social Security number. When in doubt, research the company or scholarship provider to ensure they are a legitimate agency. For additional helpful tips to search for scholarships safely, please visit the Federal Trade Commission site.
Your scholarship, grants, and/or loans will pay your bill or direct expenses first. If your financial aid covers more than the charges on your bill, a refund can be requested and funds may be used to pay for your indirect expenses such as books and personal and travel expenses. If your total scholarships, grants, and/or loans are less than the total charges on your bill, your expected family contribution is used to cover the remaining balance and all of the indirect expenses.
Boston College’s formula for institutional financial need is the difference between your tuition and fees less the calculated contribution. For many students, there is no remaining eligibility to qualify for institutional grant funding after federal and state grants and loans.
The costs included for food and housing are based on average rental information provided to our office. If your actual expenses are higher, you can submit a budget appeal to have your actual costs included in the COA. Please note that increasing your COA does not necessarily increase your opportunity to be awarded institutional grant funding. It does provide increased limits for borrowing outside loan programs. For more information about the budget appeal process, please reach out to your financial aid counselor.
Contact
Financial Aid Counselor for Undergraduate WCAS
For questions about undergraduate financial aid, please email studentservices@bc.edu for assistance.