by our College Data Analytics TeamMost 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 price tag of going to Brown University can appear overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students obtain some kind of financial aid.
What financial aid options can Brown offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep reading for more information. Keep going to find out what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
Eligibility for aid and scholarships is driven mostly by your household’s income and need. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at Brown University.
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. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at Brown University, 63% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid around 1062 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 52% | $61,392 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 52% | $59,626 |
| Federal Pell grants | 15% | $5,842 |
| State/local grants | 0% | $625 |
| Federal student loans | 12% | $5,135 |
Grants and scholarships are the most valuable form of aid because, unlike loans, they never have to be repaid. At this school, roughly 49% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $59,655 (among about 3808 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 49% | $59,655 |
| Federal Pell grants | 14% | $5,887 |
| Federal student loans | 10% | $5,885 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $62,464.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $130 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $5,902 |
| Over $75,000 | $39,665 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
The net price strips out grant and scholarship aid from the sticker price to show roughly what families really pay.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $25,184 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $26,572 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try Brown’s NPC: npc.collegeboard.org/app/brown.
The middle student in the debt distribution at Brown owes $10,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $10,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $11,428 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $121.16/mo |
At a typical 10-year repayment schedule, the median graduate would pay about the monthly figure above.
The numbers below show the full range, not just the middle of the distribution. The figures below chart the debt distribution at Brown.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,000 |
| 25th percentile | $8,000 |
| 75th percentile | $24,808 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $35,000 |
Median debt varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,847 |
| Middle income | $8,000 |
| High income | $11,076 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $10,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $10,000 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at Brown.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. The totals below capture Stafford lending at Brown:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 10017 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $290,136,727 |
The GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the main federal aid routes for veterans and service members.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 95 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $4,006,496 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $42,174 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 1 |
| Total DoD amount | $4,500 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $4,500 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.