Graduate Cost of Attendance and Living Calculator

The estimates reflect the cost of each living arrangement. The estimate is the rental price at the 40th percentile for Santa Cruz county and is derived from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Market Rents, FY 2026. The estimate is for gross rent that includes cost of shelter and basic utilities like water and gas.
*Note that the rental market in Santa Cruz has high turnover and graduate students reported moving several times in focus groups- which might result in additional moving expenses.
*Note if the total number of occupants is 2, the calculator will enforce a 1 bedroom rental; any more occupants and it will enforce a 2 bedroom rental.

Based on the Low-Cost Food Plan of the United States Department of Agriculture, the estimate includes the majority of meals prepared at home from scratch with occasional meals outside the home, which was the most common arrangement reported in focus groups (conducted in 2020 for the first version of the calculator.) The plan is based on a basic and adequately nutritious diet that accounts for a total of twenty-six items, bought from the market, and used to prepare meals in home (broader categories are grains, vegetables, fruits, milk products, meats and beans, and other foods). The county specific cost for Santa Cruz is derived using a region-specific multiplier from Map the Meal Gap, 2024 data. Estimates for occasional outside meals are taken from the Graduate Cost of Attendance Survey, 2016-17 (adjusted for inflation using Consumer Price Index for March 2026).
*Note: the Low-Cost Food Plan estimate is adjusted for 80% of home cooked meals with the assumption thet one out of five meals will be from outside.

The items in this basket are those that do not fall into the other mentioned baskets but that are necessary for a modest yet adequate standard of living. These items include: clothing and shoes, cleaning products and household items, personal hygiene items, and telephone service. It does not include recreation, entertainment, savings, or debt repayment. Estimates are derived from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Self-Sufficiency Standard. For Broadband, the standard uses Federal Communications Commission Urban Rate Survey Data to calculate a monthly cost for minimally adequate services - a download bandwidth range of 12-100 Mbps. For Cell phone, standard assumes that each adult in a household needs access to a phone device with up to 5 GB of data per month. The cost is derived by averaging the cost per gigabyte with nine United States cell phone plans having widespread coverage. The overall estimate also include average costs of financing a basic cell phone with down payments for two years, and first time costs of a modem and router. The estimates are calculated for June 2024 and have been adjusted to March 2026 using Consumer Price Index.

The estimate for healthcare assumes that the graduate student has GSHIP health care premiums remitted with a 25% FTE appointment (i.e., if the graduate student is working at least 10 hours per week, their premiums are covered). This coverage does not include the cost of co-pays and is limited in its coverage of dental and vision care. We make use of the Self Sufficiency Standard's out-of-pocket health care cost estimate from the national Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, regionally adjusted for Santa Cruz County, which includes co-pays, medical services, drugs and medical supplies. The numbers have been adjusted to March 2026 using the same methodology as described above.
*Note: in focus groups, many graduate students reported significant out-of pocket dental costs, which may not be fully relected in this estimate.

The estimate for recreation is derived from a 2016-17 institutional survey of graduate students. The estimate for an individual was originally $70 and has been adjusted for inflation for March 2026. For each additional member in the household (to account for different family compositions), half the cost of adjusted estimate is added. This basket includes items such as a gym membership or subscriptions to online entertainment services (e.g., Amazon or Netflix).

The estimate for transportation uses the most recent cost provided by the Financial Aid and Scholarships, at University of California, Santa Cruz. The estimate is for the academic year of 2025-26 and assumes a single graduate student including an allowance for traveling to and from home and a pro-rated allowance for vehicle insurance and registration. The estimate does not mention parking costs so the calculator adds A-permit for on-campus parking (staying consistent with previous versions in 2020 and 2022). The transportation cost adds for each adult in the household.

The estimate is derived from the 2025-26 Financial Aid estimated cost for books and educational supplies (a student-specific cost over and above that of standard personal supplies). This roughly includes books, supplies, course fees, data services, software, etc.

The estimate is reflective of child care and family child care center rates for an infant and a preschool in Santa Cruz County. The market cost for decent and equal access for child care is set at the 85th percentile, especially for California, according to the Family Support Act, 1988 and further reaffirmed by The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014. Costs, adjusted for inflation, is based on 2021 Regional Market Survey of Child Care Providers

Graduate Students and their families often face an economically precarious existence with little cushion or unexpected emergencies. In addition, the lack of and uncertainty of 12-month employment further adds to the urgency of relying on savings. This item, drawing from the Self-Sufficiency Standard, is a way to arrive at the most universal of economic security needs after basic needs are met. For California, the median length of job tenure is five years, so savings is done for job loss over a course of five years. The estimate also assumes some accumulation on average savings account interest rate. The estimate has been adjusted for inflation - March 2026.
*Note:
1. With lack of summer session jobs (hence no guarantee of 12-month employment) + the job opportunity at their lowest post completion of Ph.D means that emergency savings has become even more critical for current graduate students.
2.For a two-adult household, it is assumed that a second adult continues to be employed. Hence, savings only need to cover half of the family’s basic living expenses over the job loss period. However, in a household with both adults facing insecurity at the same time means that the estimate is an underestimation for how much graduate students might need to have general economic security.

In the focus-group research, 2020, graduate students reported spending money on several items that are associated with their research or professional development. These items include hardware (e.g, computer), attending conferences, professional organizational dues, and research materials not covered by grant funding. Support for these items, as well as necessity of these items, is likely to vary by department or field. Given that this number is likely to vary widely by person, you can input an estimate that is specific to your circumstances.

Some expenses that were mentioned by graduate students (in focus-groups) but are not included in this estimate because the cost varies significantly by person are expenses associated with visa costs, caring for a pet, traveling to visit family, or providing money to non-dependent family members. Given that this number is likely to vary widely by person, you can input an estimate that is specific to your circumstances.

Taxes are a commonly overlooked cost of attendance and include federal and state income tax as well as deduction for FICA and Medicare. We have made use of the state-specific tax estimates generated by Self-Sufficiency Standard to estimate income and payroll taxes on the incomes required to cover graduate cost of living and attendance expenses for each of the family compositions. Even though our graduate cost of attendance and living are different from the Standard, including specific cost of expenses for graduate students, the overall annual income required for an adequate standard of living in the county of Santa Cruz comes to about the same as that of the Standard (for all family arrangements).