Online Master’s Cost Index: November 2026 Catalog Audit

Our November 2, 2026 catalog snapshot contains 13 current, field-evidenced tuition-and-listed-fee scenarios among 97 programs at 25 institutions. Those 13 scenarios, from 4 institutions, have a median of $19,905 and a range of $15,750–$36,840. They are specified planning baselines, not complete personal prices or a national estimate.

What this index measures

A useful cost comparison starts with the amount of study and charges a particular route requires. This index asks a narrower question: which full-degree dollar scenarios are currently documented in our curated program records, and what do those recorded scenarios show? The word index identifies this dated catalog audit. It does not represent a price-change index, a weighted national benchmark or a survey of all online master’s programs.

The population is every one of the 97 public program records in this release, spread across 25 institutions. The three held records were absent from the public snapshot and were not added back. The site’s much larger federal college and field-of-study search is a different collection. Institution-wide or undergraduate College Scorecard tuition never enters this calculation. A program is one row, even when it offers several concentrations.

Coverage comes before the median

The missing totals are a result in their own right. An unknown amount is not zero, an affordability finding or evidence that a university fails to disclose its prices. It means this particular record does not establish a qualifying total under the stated rule. A clear tuition rate can still leave mandatory fees, route length or the applicable year unresolved. We retain those records in the full audit rather than deleting them from the denominator.

The inclusion rule and calculation

A scenario enters the numerical series only when the stored estimated tuition-and-fees total is a nonnegative number in U.S. dollars, its exact field has current verified evidence, and the rate-year field also has current verified evidence. The record must retain a rate period, residency basis and assumptions. Its numeric components must reconcile, or it must identify a university-published combined amount. We do not manufacture a total from a rate during this audit.

Current has a precise meaning here: a field-level check dated no later than November 2 and within the preceding 100 days. Evidence for the academic year cannot silently verify the total, and a general program-page check cannot substitute for the exact cost field. This audits the recorded evidence state. It is not a claim that the writer independently obtained a personalized university bill for every one of the 97 programs.

For the median, we sort the 13 included scenario totals from lowest to highest and select the seventh value. No missing total is imputed and no institution receives a statistical weight. The minimum and maximum describe only that same subset. The downloadable CSV keeps all 97 rows, with a separate inclusion flag and reason, so readers can reproduce both the coverage count and the arithmetic.

The thirteen recorded scenarios

Exact source links and full assumptions accompany each row in the 97-row cost audit CSV. The table preserves the difference between 2026–27 schedules and the published Spring 2027 rates. A check made in November does not turn every figure into a November price or guarantee the same rates for all later semesters.

Read the charges behind a total

Boise State’s Cyber Operations and Resilience cost table supplies a useful example. The listed course charge is $16,500, with $65 for application and $25 for graduation: $16,590 in tuition and those fees. Its broader $18,400 example also includes an estimated $1,810 for books. The two totals answer different questions. Our series uses the former and keeps equipment, living and other personal expenses outside it.

At Gies, the published combined rates reconcile with the student-fee explanation: $375 tuition plus $4 per credit for iMBA, and $900 plus $4 for MSBAi. The stored estimates include that course-linked fee. The iMBA FAQ also makes application-fee waiver conditional. Materials and country-dependent taxes may add charges. We therefore describe these entries as published course-linked baselines, not every applicant’s complete mandatory-charge bill.

UMass Lowell illustrates the effect of a schedule assumption. Using its Spring 2027 business rate and fee table, the recorded 30-credit, six-registration-term scenario is 30 × $655 + 6 × $30 + $75 = $19,905. An additional registration term changes that calculation, as can prerequisites or a different course-rate category. Six terms is the scenario’s input, not a promise about completion or a guarantee of unchanged future charges.

CU Boulder’s dated Coursera MSDS schedule explicitly lists $15,750 for 30 credits and no student fees. Its program FAQ also distinguishes for-credit enrollment from a separately purchased noncredit subscription. The stated route matters: another CU campus or billing arrangement should not inherit the Coursera price. An explicit zero for student fees has evidence behind it; a blank fee cell would not justify zero.

Keep rates, units and duration separate

Across all 97 records, the billing-basis labels are 40 per credit, 5 per term, 6 flat-program entries and 46 unknown. These are labels in the record, not four interchangeable prices. A term amount needs the number of billed terms. An annual amount is not a degree total. A flat-program amount still needs its included-charge and eligibility conditions.

The catalog also contains semester credits, quarter credits, competency units and records whose credit-system classification remains unknown. We do not compare their nominal per-unit rates as if the units meant the same thing. Nor do we multiply a competency-based term price by an assumed fast completion time. A fixed total requires a justified route and billing scenario; a desired finish date is not evidence for one.

What the sample can and cannot support

The numerical series is concentrated in four institutions because only those records currently supply the qualifying scenarios. Institutions with several included degrees contribute several observations, including repeated price levels. The median is program-weighted within this convenience sample. It is not the median institution price, a typical student’s spending or evidence that one subject is intrinsically cheaper than another.

We have one cross-sectional collection, so no price trend is measured. Different rate periods, course loads and preparation routes also prevent a simple claim that the table is a universal low-to-high ranking. Additional foundation study, repeated courses, a later rate increase, travel, lost earnings, materials and personal circumstances can change the amount a learner must finance. This audit does not subtract unconfirmed scholarships or treat borrowing as a discount.

Turn the audit into a personal comparison

For a shortlisted degree, obtain a written route after the university evaluates your background. Record the required units, the courses’ applicable rates, billed terms, one-time and recurring mandatory charges, rate year, residency and any taxes. Keep the institution’s tuition-and-fee scenario separate from books, equipment, travel and living expenses, then combine them into your own financial plan with the assumptions visible.

Use the CSV to identify the specific missing question, rather than treating an empty total as a reason to abandon a program. If a source contradicts a listed amount, send the exact program ID, field, current official URL and applicable period through our corrections process. A future edition should retain its own frozen sample and explain changed coverage before comparing numbers across dates.

Sources and reproducibility

The analysis uses the frozen public catalog collected on November 2, 2026 in America/New_York. The retained collection timestamp is 2026-11-03T00:39:38.402Z. Individual source checks and applicable price periods are separate from that collection time. The downloadable audits preserve the underlying record IDs, values, dates and source links.

• MastersDegreeOnline public curated-program API
• CU Boulder Bursar:2026–27 MS-DS on Coursera
• CU Boulder Coursera MSDS FAQs
• Boise State Cyber Operations and Resilience costs
• Gies 2026–27 tuition and costs
• Gies tuition, student fees and other expenses
• Gies iMBA FAQs: application fee and cost scope
• UMass Lowell Spring 2027 tuition and fees