by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students are not billed the full sticker price of a school. Rather, they are offered a financial aid plan that includes a mix of loans, grants, scholarships, and possibly work-study opportunities. The price tag of going to Amherst College can appear overpowering, but remember that the majority of students obtain some kind of financial assistance.
What financing options does Amherst offer you, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Keep going to discover what amount of financial assistance could be accessible to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. The information provided on this page can help you determine how much aid you may receive from Amherst College.
Financial aid, in the form of loans, grants, work-study, and scholarships, is one way colleges reduce the cost of attendance so most students can actually afford to attend. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
For freshmen starting at Amherst College, 66% of the incoming full-time class was awarded financial aid (about 324 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 59% | $68,591 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 59% | $66,598 |
| Federal Pell grants | 18% | $5,708 |
| State/local grants | 4% | $3,156 |
| Federal student loans | 8% | $5,285 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At Amherst, some 62% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $67,234 (for some 1176 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 62% | $67,234 |
| Federal Pell grants | 20% | $5,949 |
| Federal student loans | 8% | $5,397 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $64,273.
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 | $1,881 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $4,032 |
| Over $75,000 | $45,715 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
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 | $23,367 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $18,246 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see Amherst’s official net price calculator: npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/amherst.
Graduating students at Amherst carry a median federal student debt of $12,000 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $12,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $13,740 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $145.67/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at Amherst.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,200 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $19,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,500 |
The figures below break down median federal debt by income tier, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,100 |
| Middle income | $11,561 |
| High income | $12,718 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,501 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. Amherst.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at Amherst:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 1668 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $17,217,489 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 12 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $513,114 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $42,760 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.