by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students will not be asked to pay the advertised price of a school. Instead, they will be provided a financial aid package that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The total price of attendance at Colby College can feel overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students receive some sort of financial aid.
What financial assistance options will Colby offer, and what will you qualify for? Read on for more information. Read on to find out how much school funding will be available to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. Use the information below to understand how much financial assistance you may get from Colby College.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
At Colby College, 48% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid (about 293 freshmen).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 45% | $69,201 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 45% | $66,729 |
| Federal Pell grants | 17% | $6,208 |
| State/local grants | 3% | $2,500 |
| Federal student loans | 8% | $5,240 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. Across the undergraduate body at Colby, around 44% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $64,417 (for some 1010 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 44% | $64,417 |
| Federal Pell grants | 14% | $5,988 |
| Federal student loans | 9% | $6,252 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $68,240.
Because need-based aid scales with family income, what students actually pay differs sharply across income brackets.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $3,125 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $1,799 |
| Over $75,000 | $43,796 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
Net price is the average annual cost after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the published cost of attendance — the figure closest to what a typical aid-receiving student actually pays.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $17,180 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $23,939 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use Colby’s net price calculator: npc.collegeboard.org/app/colby.
The median student at Colby graduates with $15,000 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $15,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $19,157 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $203.1/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. The figures below chart the debt distribution at Colby.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,500 |
| 25th percentile | $8,790 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,495 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $4,525 |
| Middle income | $12,210 |
| High income | $19,313 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,689 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,750 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for Colby.
The Stafford loan program is the largest source of federal direct loans to undergraduates. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at Colby:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 2167 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $26,718,964 |
GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the two federal aid programs targeted at military-affiliated students.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 6 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $31,114 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $5,186 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.