by our College Data Analytics TeamA large number of 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 Colby-Sawyer College can sound overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students get some type of financial aid.
Just what financial assistance solutions will Colby - Sawyer deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Read on for answers. Read on to find out just how much financial aid will be open to you.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from Colby-Sawyer 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. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at Colby-Sawyer College, 100% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid (about 172 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 100% | $11,098 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 100% | $9,519 |
| Federal Pell grants | 23% | $5,088 |
| State/local grants | 15% | $1,972 |
| Federal student loans | 76% | $5,208 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. Here, some 83% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $11,464 (across roughly 696 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 83% | $11,464 |
| Federal Pell grants | 23% | $5,133 |
| Federal student loans | 66% | $6,758 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $11,096.
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 | $15,821 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $18,566 |
| Over $75,000 | $29,280 |
Each amount is the average cost remaining once grant aid is subtracted, by income band.
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 | $27,431 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $25,857 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see Colby - Sawyer’s online cost calculator: colby-sawyer.edu/net-price-calculator.
The median student at Colby - Sawyer graduates with $19,500 in federal loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $19,500 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $27,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $286.24/mo |
That monthly figure reflects the median graduate debt repaid on a standard 10-year federal schedule.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at Colby - Sawyer.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
Median debt varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,750 |
| Middle income | $22,543 |
| High income | $19,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,905 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $12,500 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for Colby - Sawyer.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at Colby - Sawyer:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 4227 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $63,765,261 |
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 | 7 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $71,252 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $10,179 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.