In discussions of the cost of college in the United States, the cost of attendance (COA) (also known as the price of attendance) is a statutory term for the estimated full and reasonable cost of completing a full academic year (usually, nine months) as a full-time student. The cost of attendance is published by each educational institution and includes: Tuition and fees payable to the institution Books and supplies Room and board Personal costs (medical, toiletries, clothing, laundry) Transportation to and from the school As of October 29, 2011, every post-secondary institution that receives federal financial aid funds is required to post its COA. Colleges are also required to post a Net Price Calculator, that determines for each prospective or current student a personalized Net Price, which is the COA minus need- and merit-based grant aid (not including loans or work-study programs). Financial aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance. Cost of attendance in the United States In the United States, private and public educational institutions use relatively similar models of calculating the cost of attendance, however, private institutions generally have a higher cost of attendance. Research from the CollegeBoard showed that for the 2019 to 2020 academic year, the average cost for an out-of-state student to attend a public four year university was $38,330, while the average in-state cost was $21,950. A student attending a private four year university has an average yearly cost of $49,870. These costs factor in tuition, housing, food, university fees, and supplies such as textbooks, manuals, and uniforms. Two year public universities, such as a community college, factor in tuition and fees, and have an average yearly cost of $3,730. The average tuition and fees for for-profit institutions were 14,600. Trends of US educational costs For most public and private universities in the United States, there has been a drastic increase in the cost of attendance. Many of these institutions increase their costs annually beyond that of economic inflation. Trends have shown that compared to today, colleges, public and private, cost double of what is expected from economic inflation. Camilo Maldonado, a graduate of the Harvard Business School and writer for Forbes, detailed this issue: The National Center for Educational Statistics did a cost analysis over a ten-year period. It found that between 2006 and 2017, undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board rose by 31 percent and 24 percent at public and non-profit institutions,