Billing & Payments
Your student portal in the Student Information System (SIS) is where you can see your student account, make payments and manage aid. The Office of Financial Aid does not handle billing and payments, but we can answer questions related to the aid you see displayed in the student account section of your student portal. For information about accepting loans in SIS, go here.
The sample budgets below represent average costs for the 2025-2026 academic year, or what is often referred to as the Cost Of Attendance. These budgets are based on 12-18 credits/semester for undergraduate students and 9 credits/semester for graduate students.
Food and housing costs in the budget include a double room, linen service, Silver meal plan and use of study, laundry and recreational facilities. Students are allotted the same amount for living costs (food and housing) whether they live on- or off-campus.
Personal and miscellaneous costs include average amounts for clothing, transportation, personal care, cell phone, recreation, etc.
For a detailed breakdown of tuition, taxes and fees for resident students, go here.
For a detailed breakdown of tuition, taxes and fees for non-resident students, go here.
Please note that there is no allowance in the undergraduate budget for car expenses.
2025-26 Sample Freshman Budget
| Michigan Student | Out-of-State Student | |
| Tuition & Fees | ||
| Tuition | $16,602 | $43,986 |
| Fees & Taxes | $458 | $458 |
| Estimated Living & Other Expenses | ||
| Food & Housing | $12,928 | $12,928 |
| Books & Supplies | $1,420 | $1,420 |
| Personal & Misc. | $3,930 | $3,930 |
| Travel | $1,310 | $2,620 |
| Total Cost of Attendance | $36,648 | $65,342 |
*Tuition and fees for 25-26 are an estimate until the Board of Trustees votes to approve the upcoming year's budget. These numbers may be adjusted slightly after the Board meets at the end of June.
2025-26 Sample Graduate Budget
| Michigan Student | Out-of-State Student | |
| Tuition & Fees | ||
| Tuition | $16,560 | $31,616 |
| Fees & Taxes | $388 | $388 |
| Estimated Living & Other Expenses | ||
| Food & Housing | $18,750 | $18,750 |
| Books & Supplies | $1,998 | $1,998 |
| Personal & Misc. | $3,930 | $3,930 |
| Travel | $1,310 | $2,620 |
| Total Cost of Attendance | $42,936 | $59, 302 |
*Tuition and fees for 25-26 are an estimate until the Board of Trustees votes to approve the upcoming year's budget. These numbers may be adjusted slightly after the Board meets at the end of June.
Michigan State University is committed to using the Principles & Standards of the College Cost Transparency Initiative in its student financial aid offer.
Managing Your Aid in SIS
Accepting loans in your financial aid portal
Your MSU student portal allows you to view your aid and take action to accept your loans.
To accept your loans, log in to your portal (student.msu.edu) and click the Financial Aid tile.
- Navigate to the Financials page and view financial award offer
- To take action on the displayed financial aid select one of the following:
-Adjust my funding
-Update Acceptance - On Step 1 – Awards Summary, select the button stating “Start Loan Acceptance”
- On Step 2 – Accept your Awards, select one of the available options
-Accepting the full amount of loans available
-Accepting a reduced amount of the loans available ***Note: If you select this option you will be prompted to enter the total loan value for the year
-Declining the full amount of the loans available - On Step 3 – Confirm your awards selection the page will differ based on what is selected in step 2. At the end of each option, the student should select continue.
-If you accepted the full amount, you can continue with the award allocation as shown or edit the amounts for each term to the full amount of the award selected in Step 2.
-If you accepted a reduced amount, you’ll determine the split of the award for each term to equal the amount selected in Step 2.
***Note: If the student has both subsidized and unsubsidized loans, they will be required to use the maximum amount of their subsidized loan available prior to funds being allocated to their unsubsidized loan.
-If you declined the loan the possible options are:
*If there is enough aid to cover cost of attendance you can continue to the next step.
*If there is not enough aid to cover cost of attendance you will be prompted to return to previous steps to accept aid. - On Step 4 - E-Sign, students must accept the econsent acknowledgement and sign the page using their student ID and last name.
- On Step 5 – Done, students will receive confirmation of their loan actions.
Submit documents and monitor your aid package
Check your student portal often! If your financial aid application is selected for review, you will receive a notification in your portal. Send all requested documents promptly. Your aid may change as a result of the review and you can monitor those changes in your portal.
Our office must follow federal, state, and MSU guidelines which can affect your financial aid. Things like a change to your residency classification, a graduate assistantship, or other scholarships that you've received can all result in a revision to your aid package. If that happens, you will be notified via a notification in your financial aid portal.
Manage your guests in student.msu.edu
You may have a parent or other individual that is helping you through the financial aid process. You can assist them by creating an account of their own that will allow them to view your information in your student portal (student.msu.edu) and receive a copy of financial aid and billing emails. For more information, visit our Student Information System Guest Access page.