Body
Overview
Each month you receive an email from noreply@uidaho.edu with a chart and a per-month table showing your Claude usage for the university license year (April 1 through March 31). This article explains, in rough terms, how that number is calculated, using a fictional user, Joe Vandal (jvandal@uidaho.edu), as a worked example.
How the usage is calculated
Your Claude usage has two parts that are added together each month:
Which tier you are in sets your total monthly usage. Each tier is a flat monthly price that already includes the $20 seat:
Monthly Claude tier usage, each including the 20 dollar base seat
| Tier | Monthly total | Includes |
|---|
| Level 1 | $30/month | $20 seat + $10 usage |
| Level 2 | $50/month | $20 seat + $30 usage |
| Level 3 | $100/month | $20 seat + $80 usage |
| Level 4 | $200/month | $20 seat + $180 usage |
| Level 5 | $300/month | $20 seat + $280 usage |
The purchased amount shown on your chart is the up-front, prorated usage for the rest of the license year: it is the sum of your tier's monthly price for each month from when you started through March 31. If you change tiers during the year, the months before and after the change are each priced at the tier in effect for that month. The usage is billed for the full license year from your start month, even if you are later removed from the Claude group.
The Joe Vandal example
Joe Vandal is licensed starting in April 2026. For the first three months (April, May, June) he is in Level 1, and from July 2026 he moves up to Level 3 for the rest of the license year. The chart below is the kind of chart in the monthly email:
The table below is the kind of per-month breakdown that accompanies the chart. On the chart, the green line is the $20-per-month seat, the blue line is the seat plus actual usage, and the red dashed line is the purchased (prorated) amount.
Monthly Claude usage breakdown for the Joe Vandal example license year 2026-2027
| Month | Tier | Seat | Usage | Total |
|---|
| Apr 2026 | Level 1 | $20.00 | $8.00 | $28.00 |
| May 2026 | Level 1 | $20.00 | $10.00 | $30.00 |
| Jun 2026 | Level 1 | $20.00 | $12.00 | $32.00 |
| Jul 2026 | Level 3 | $20.00 | $70.00 | $90.00 |
| Aug 2026 | Level 3 | $20.00 | $75.00 | $95.00 |
| Sep 2026 | Level 3 | $20.00 | $80.00 | $100.00 |
| Oct 2026 | Level 3 | $20.00 | $85.00 | $105.00 |
| Nov 2026 | Level 3 | $20.00 | $90.00 | $110.00 |
| Dec 2026 (projected) | Level 3 | $20.00 | $90.00 | $110.00 |
| Jan 2027 (projected) | Level 3 | $20.00 | $90.00 | $110.00 |
| Feb 2027 (projected) | Level 3 | $20.00 | $90.00 | $110.00 |
| Mar 2027 (projected) | Level 3 | $20.00 | $90.00 | $110.00 |
| License year total | | $240.00 | $790.00 | $1,030.00 |
For Joe, the purchased amount is (3 months x $30 for Level 1) + (9 months x $100 for Level 3) = $990 for the full license year. Through November 2026 (the last completed month), his actual usage is $590.
The projection
The chart and table show actual usage for every completed month, and a projection for the remaining months through March 31. The projection is an estimate, not a charge: it holds your usage flat at the level of your last completed month and carries it forward to the end of the license year. In Joe's case, the months from December through March are projected at Level 3 with November's usage carried forward, so his projected end-of-year total comes out to about $1,030 - slightly above the $990 purchased amount, because his actual usage a little exceeded the Level 3 monthly allotment. The actual total will be different if his usage changes; the projection is just a way to show where the year is heading.
Watching your own usage
You can check your own current-month usage at any time on the Usage page in Claude (Settings > Usage). The example below is what that page looks like for Joe Vandal:
Keep in mind that, separate from the license-year purchased amount shown on your chart, Claude itself enforces a per-month limit on your credit spending. That monthly limit resets on the first of each month, so your available usage allowance renews at the start of every month regardless of where you are in the license year.
