by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students will not be asked to pay the full, advertised sticker price of a school. Instead, they will be given a financial aid offer that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The sum total of attendance at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota can sound overpowering, but remember that the majority of students get some type of financial assistance.
Just what financial aid solutions can SMU MN provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep reading to learn just how much financial aid will be open to you.
The amount of financial aid you can receive varies from person to person and will depend on your family’s economic situation. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
Looking at the entering class at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 100% of entering full-time freshmen got some type of financial assistance around 272 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 100% | $35,348 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 100% | $31,615 |
| Federal Pell grants | 31% | $5,678 |
| State/local grants | 26% | $6,404 |
| Federal student loans | 53% | $6,211 |
Grants and scholarships are the most valuable form of aid because, unlike loans, they never have to be repaid. At SMU MN, some 89% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $29,256 (for some 966 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 89% | $29,256 |
| Federal Pell grants | 25% | $5,314 |
| Federal student loans | 46% | $6,437 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $45,676.
Since aid is largely need-based, the real cost of attendance falls steeply for lower-income families.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $14,664 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $14,678 |
| Over $75,000 | $24,816 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
The net price represents the average annual cost a title-IV-receiving student pays after grant aid is subtracted from the full cost of attendance.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $11,704 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $21,034 |
To project your own net price, use SMU MN’s NPC: www.smumn.edu/admission/undergraduate/financial-aid-saint-marys-university-of-minnesota/net-price-calculator/.
Graduating students at SMU MN carry a median federal student debt of $16,099 in federal loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $16,099 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $21,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $227.94/mo |
At a typical 10-year repayment schedule, the median graduate would pay about the monthly figure above.
Percentiles reveal the spread — half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at SMU MN.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,168 |
| 25th percentile | $7,846 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $32,000 |
Median debt varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,500 |
| Middle income | $16,101 |
| High income | $18,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,039 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,463 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $18,946 |
| Independent students | $12,548 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for SMU MN.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. The totals below capture Stafford lending at SMU MN:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 18473 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $527,362,467 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 62 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $414,666 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $6,688 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 14 |
| Total DoD amount | $34,250 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,446 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.