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.

Visit SIS

Estimate Your Cost of Attendance

Cost Calculators
Sample Budgets

MSU Tuition, Fees and Housing Calculator
Provides an estimate of the semester costs for tuition and fees associated with your level and intended academic program.

Tuition and Fee Rates
Information on rates for tuition and fees based on level and program.

Net Price Calculator
Provides an estimate of the amount that students will have to pay in their first year at MSU after subtracting any grants and scholarships for which they may be eligible.

Federal Student Aid Estimator
Provides an estimate of how much federal student aid a student may be eligible to receive.

The sample budgets below represent average costs for the 2026-27 academic year, or what is often referred to as the Cost Of Attendance (COA). These budgets are based on 12-18 credits/semester for undergraduate students and 9 credits/semester for graduate students. If you are enrolled less than full time, your COA may be prorated to reflect actual charges.

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 by residency, visit the Office of the Controller.

Please note that there is no allowance in the undergraduate budget for car expenses.

If a student is enrolled less than half time, MSU must remove allowances for Food & Housing and Personal & Misc. expenses from the COA, limiting the amount of financial aid available to the student.

2026-27 Sample Freshman Budget

	Michigan Student	Out-of-State Student
Tuition & Fees
Tuition	$17,656	$45,040
Fees & Taxes	$466	$466
Estimated Living & Other Expenses
Food & Housing	$13,574	$13,574
Books & Supplies	$1,420	$1,420
Personal & Misc.	$3,930	$3,930
Travel	$1,300	$2,600
Total Cost of Attendance	$38,346	$67,030

2026-27 Sample Graduate Budget

	Michigan Student	Out-of-State Student
Tuition & Fees
Tuition	$17,610	$32,668
Fees & Taxes	$388	$388
Estimated Living & Other Expenses
Food & Housing	$19,688	$19,688
Books & Supplies	$1,998	$1,998
Personal & Misc.	$3,930	$3,930
Travel	$1,300	$2,600
Total Cost of Attendance	$44,914	$61,272

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

Side tabs

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:
1. Adjust my funding
2. 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
1. Accepting the full amount of loans available
2. 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
3. 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.
1. 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.
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.
  1. ***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.
3. If you declined the loan the possible options are:
4. *If there is enough aid to cover cost of attendance you can continue to the next step.
5. *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.