Actual Cost of MS in EE at Duke

I am an international student and I have been accepted at Duke for Fall 2015 for MS in Electrical Engineering without funding. In the web site the cost has been specified as $35661 (Tuition Fees $23795, Room $3740, Boarding 2028 and the rest misc). It also says in the next line that Estimated cost for room, board, local transportation, personal, and misc $2,012 per month.

Can somebody pls. explain to me what is the actual total cost for 2015 - 2016.

It would also help if some body can say what is would be the expected cost for the next year.

If you attend for the next year as well, then the costs should be about the same. Often there is up to 3% increase per year.

So the fixed costs are up through the recreation fee. Then you have books and supplies estimate, which depends on the classes and professors. You won’t have a loan so no loan fee. The room & board is hopefully based on university housing costs, you will have to inquire to see. Sometimes students live off campus so your cost could be less if you find a better arrangement, or more depending on what is available and what you choose. The transportation is only a guess, you may not use that much locally, seems high. You will have to add international travel expense. Personal is just an estimate of what a typical student may want to spend.

I don’t know why they repeat the cost estimate on monthly living expenses. This is not in addition. Already those costs are in the main list and add up to about 18k, which is 2k per month for nine months.

So, without any aid or stipend or earnings from some university job, the estimate without loan fee is 70k per year. Ouch. Actual can vary a little depending on what you actually spend for living expenses.

2015–2016 Cost of Attendance for Master’s Students

Fall 2015   Spring 2016 9 Months

Tuition $23,795 $23,795 $47,590
Transcript Fee (one-time charge) $40 $40
Health Fee $376 $376 $752
Health Insurance $2,163 $2,163
Activity Fee $17 $17 $34
Graduate Student Services Fee $10 $10 $20
Recreation Fee $130 $130 $260

Books & Supplies $620 $620 $1,240
Estimated Loan Fees * $462 $462 $924

Room $3,740 $4,675 $8,415
Board $2,028 $2,535 $4,563
Local Transportation $760 $950 $1,710
Personal & Miscellaneous $1,520 $1,900 $3,420
Master’s Students Total $35,661 $35,470 $71,132

Estimated cost for room, board, local transportation, personal, and misc $2,012
per month

  • – Only applicable to domestic master students