STUDENT FINANCE & COLLEGE PLANNING

Howard University Cost: 2026-27 Tuition, Fees, and Real Cost of Attendance

Updated September 2026 · Figures sourced directly from Howard University’s Office of Student Financial Services

Howard University cost questions usually start with one number and end with a very different one. Howard’s official 2026-27 cost of attendance runs from $57,768 for a student living at home to $66,182 for a student living on campus, built on top of $37,996 in annual tuition. That’s the undergraduate figure — graduate, law, and medical programs at Howard each carry their own separate cost structure. Use the calculator below to pull the exact published number for your situation, then read on for tuition by program, financial aid reality, Howard’s acceptance rate, and the mistakes that trip up families budgeting for this school.

Howard University Cost Calculator

Howard University Tuition for 2026-27

Howard’s undergraduate tuition for the 2026-27 academic year is $37,996, billed at a flat full-time rate regardless of whether a student is a D.C. resident, an out-of-state student, or an international student. Howard doesn’t run the in-state/out-of-state pricing split you’d see at a public university — as a private institution, it charges everyone the same tuition rate. Students taking fewer than a full course load pay per credit hour instead of the flat annual rate; check Howard’s Tuition & Fees page directly for the current per-credit figure, since it’s adjusted separately from the full-time rate each year.

Source: Howard University Student Financial Services, 2026-27 Estimated Cost of Attendance schedule.

Full Cost of Attendance: Direct vs. Indirect Costs

Howard splits its published cost of attendance into two categories, and understanding the difference matters when you’re comparing your financial aid award against what you’ll actually owe.

• Direct costs — charges that show up on your actual university bill: tuition, mandatory fees, and housing/food if you live on campus.
• Indirect costs — estimated allowances that don’t get billed directly but are factored into your aid eligibility: books and supplies, transportation, and personal/miscellaneous expenses.

Here’s Howard’s full official breakdown for 2026-27, by living situation:

The gap between living on campus and off campus is worth noticing: off-campus housing in D.C. actually costs Howard’s own estimate more than the dorm rate, because it includes a fuller transportation and personal-expense allowance for students managing their own apartment. If you’re deciding between the dorm and an off-campus lease purely on cost, the on-campus option is the cheaper one according to Howard’s own figures.

Howard University Cost by School and Program

“Howard University cost” looks very different depending on which of Howard’s 14 colleges and schools you’re asking about. Undergraduate day programs share the flat tuition rate above, but graduate, professional, and health-sciences programs are priced separately, often per credit hour, and typically assume off-campus living in their published cost of attendance.

Graduate programs (Arts & Sciences, Education, Social Work, and similar)

Traditional graduate tuition for 2026-27 is $39,608 with $1,206 in fees, producing an official cost of attendance of $76,434 for a student living off campus. The Graduate School of Education charges $35,346 in tuition with a total COA of $71,906. The online Master of Social Work program runs $38,640 in tuition with a COA of $75,106.

School of Law (J.D.)

Howard Law’s J.D. tuition is $39,780 per year across all three years, plus $1,632 in mandatory fees, bringing the official cost of attendance to $80,594. The LL.M. program carries the same tuition and fee structure.

College of Medicine

Medical school tuition ranges from $58,608 to $59,226 depending on year, with a cost of attendance between $99,428 (years one, two, and four) and $110,940 in the third year, when clinical rotation housing and transportation allowances increase.

College of Dentistry and College of Pharmacy

D.D.S. tuition runs $39,068 for years one through three and $50,232 in the fourth year, with total cost of attendance ranging from roughly $92,740 to $96,513 depending on year and required instrument/equipment costs. Pharm.D. tuition is a flat $38,296 across all four years, with an official cost of attendance of $78,552.

MBA and Executive MBA

The full-time MBA carries $39,410 in tuition and a $76,236 cost of attendance. The Executive MBA and Online MBA both run $28,804 in tuition with a $65,630 cost of attendance.

Howard University Acceptance Rate

Howard’s acceptance rate has generally sat in the mid-30% range in recent admissions cycles, with Howard’s own published admissions profile citing figures around 35%, based on tens of thousands of applications each cycle. Some more recent third-party analyses of Howard’s Common Data Set filings put the figure closer to 40%, reflecting year-to-year swings in application volume and admit numbers — a common pattern at selective universities experiencing rising application counts. Treat any single-decimal acceptance rate you see online as a snapshot of one particular year rather than a permanent number, and check Howard’s own admissions office for the cycle you’re actually applying in.

For context, admitted students typically report a mean unweighted high school GPA in the mid-3 range and an average SAT composite in the high 1100s where scores are submitted. Howard has operated a test-optional policy for most first-year applicants in recent cycles, so a strong application built on coursework rigor, essays, and recommendations carries real weight even without standardized test scores.

Financial Aid and Net Price at Howard

The sticker cost of attendance is the number that alarms families first, but it’s rarely the number most students actually pay. Howard, like most private universities, awards a mix of need-based aid, merit scholarships, and federal aid (grants, work-study, and loans) based on the FAFSA. Independent reporting on Howard University’s tuition and financial aid generally confirms this same pattern: the published Howard University cost figure is a ceiling, not a typical bill.

Independent tuition trackers analyzing Howard’s federally reported IPEDS data have found that a large majority of Howard undergraduates receive some form of grant or scholarship aid, with average awards covering a meaningful share of the tuition bill for students who qualify. These aggregate figures come from third-party analysis of federal reporting data rather than from Howard’s own marketing materials, and they change from year to year — so treat any specific dollar figure you find as a starting benchmark, not a guarantee for your situation.

The only way to get a number specific to your family is to complete the FAFSA (Howard’s school code is 001448) and run Howard’s official Net Price Calculator, linked from the Tuition & Fees section of Howard’s Student Financial Services site. That tool is the closest thing to a real answer on Howard University cost after aid — everything on this page before that step is a sticker-price estimate, not a personalized one.

Grad PLUS Loan Changes Affecting 2026-27 Borrowers

Howard’s own 2026-27 cost of attendance documentation flags an important federal change directly: the Grad PLUS loan program has been eliminated for new borrowers as of July 1, 2026. This affects graduate, law, medical, dental, and pharmacy students who previously relied on Grad PLUS loans to cover costs beyond federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan limits. If you’re a continuing graduate or professional student who borrowed Grad PLUS loans before that date, your existing borrowing generally isn’t affected, but new borrowers starting or continuing their program after that date need a different financing plan for any gap between the Direct Loan limit and their total cost of attendance.

This is exactly the kind of detail that changes federal financial aid math from year to year. Don’t rely on older articles for current federal loan limits and program rules — confirm directly with Howard’s financial aid office or the Federal Student Aid office at studentaid.gov, since specifics can differ for graduate versus professional (law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy) programs.

How Howard’s Cost Fits the Wider Landscape

Howard’s $37,996 tuition sits well above most public HBCUs, which typically charge in-state students in the low five figures, and below elite private research universities in the Northeast Corridor, many of which now charge $65,000-$70,000 in tuition alone before fees or housing. As a private HBCU with substantial federal and philanthropic support, Howard occupies a distinct middle position rather than competing directly on price with either group. You can cross-check the Howard University cost figures on this page against Howard’s listing on College Board’s BigFuture tuition and costs page — a comparison worth making against your specific short list rather than against national averages.

Howard’s location in Washington, D.C. also shapes its off-campus cost estimates: the $18,664 off-campus housing allowance reflects one of the more expensive rental markets in the country, which is worth factoring in if you’re weighing a dorm year against moving off campus early. If Howard is one of several private universities on your list, the Fordham University cost calculator runs the same kind of official-rate breakdown for Fordham, so you can compare sticker costs side by side before narrowing your choices.

Common Mistakes Families Make Budgeting for Howard

Getting the Howard University cost picture wrong usually comes down to one of these six mix-ups.

• Assuming off-campus living is automatically cheaper. Howard’s own figures show off-campus students have a higher total cost of attendance than on-campus students, mainly due to D.C. rental prices and a larger transportation allowance.
• Confusing direct costs with your full bill. Books, transportation, and personal expenses are indirect cost estimates used for financial aid eligibility — they generally won’t appear as a line item on your actual university bill the way tuition and housing will.
• Not accounting for the Grad PLUS elimination. Graduate and professional students planning to rely on Grad PLUS loans for costs beyond the Direct Loan limit need a new financing plan starting with new borrowing after July 1, 2026.
• Treating one acceptance rate figure as fixed. Howard’s acceptance rate has moved between the mid-30s and low-40s percentage range across recent cycles — check the current year’s data rather than reusing an old number.
• Skipping the Net Price Calculator. Sticker cost of attendance figures are the same for every applicant; your actual net price depends entirely on your FAFSA results and the aid package Howard offers you specifically.
• Forgetting health insurance. Howard notes that its health insurance opportunity is not automatically part of the standard cost of attendance — if you can’t secure comparable coverage elsewhere, you may need to request a cost of attendance adjustment through the Office of Financial Aid.

Frequently Asked Questions