How much money should I set aside for the whole TCM degree?

What it costs to complete a degree at Five Branches, and what it takes to live while you do it

Anyone weighing this is really asking two questions at once — the tuition itself, and whether you can actually afford to live during the years it takes. Both matter, so here's the shape of each.

Tuition is billed per academic/clinical unit, paid trimester by trimester rather than all at once — that structure alone makes a $70k+ total far more manageable than it looks, because you're never paying it in one sum. As Five Branches' DAcHM Catalog showed it when we checked in 07/2026:

On top of tuition, the same catalog estimated required books at ~$1,000 total and room/board/miscellaneous at ~$2,000/month — those are living costs, not school fees, and they're where campus choice matters:

(MIT Living Wage Calculator, county data as of 02/2026 — a broad benchmark for a single adult's full cost of living, not a Five Branches figure.)

None of this includes financial aid, which the school does participate in federally, or the fact that many students work part-time or keep an existing job while studying — trimester billing and part-time pacing exist precisely so this doesn't have to be paid or lived all at once. For the exact current per-unit rate and fee schedule, the school's own Tuition & Fees page is the live source to check.

Are you thinking about this full-time, or trying to see how it'd fit alongside work?