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 total cost of going to Wake Forest University can seem overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students are given some form of financial aid.
Just what financial assistance solutions will Wake Forest University deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Read on for answers. Keep reading to learn how much school funding will be available to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. Continue reading to find information to help you understand just how much assistance you can expect to receive from Wake Forest University.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
Looking at the entering class at Wake Forest University, 43% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid approximately 599 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 35% | $63,117 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 34% | $60,402 |
| Federal Pell grants | 12% | $5,909 |
| State/local grants | 5% | $6,459 |
| Federal student loans | 14% | $4,989 |
Gift aid — grants and scholarships — beats loans every time because none of it has to be repaid. At Wake Forest University, approximately 41% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $50,961 (across roughly 2257 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 41% | $50,961 |
| Federal Pell grants | 10% | $5,992 |
| Federal student loans | 14% | $6,083 |
On-campus students receiving title-IV aid were awarded grants averaging $58,780.
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 | $9,250 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $9,253 |
| Over $75,000 | $48,032 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
After grants and scholarships come off the published price, what remains is the net price — the best estimate of true out-of-pocket cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $28,719 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $28,746 |
For a customized cost estimate, visit Wake Forest University’s NPC: npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/wfu.
A typical borrower at Wake Forest University leaves with $19,500 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $19,500 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $21,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $227.94/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
A single median figure conceals how much debt outcomes differ student to student. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at Wake Forest University.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,500 |
| 75th percentile | $29,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $36,500 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,371 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $20,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,593 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for Wake Forest University.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. The totals below capture Stafford lending at Wake Forest University:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 15193 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $613,359,310 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 98 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $2,135,297 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $21,789 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.