by our College Data Analytics TeamMost students are not billed 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 cost of going to College of Western Idaho can seem tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students are given some form of financial help.
What financing options does CWI offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Keep reading to find out what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at College of Western Idaho.
Aid such as grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships helps colleges decrease the real cost of attendance for most students. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at College of Western Idaho, 76% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid some 539 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 58% | $5,580 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 18% | $1,357 |
| Federal Pell grants | 49% | $5,306 |
| State/local grants | 11% | $3,146 |
| Federal student loans | 58% | $3,360 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. Across the undergraduate body at CWI, about 29% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $4,228 (for some 2954 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 29% | $4,228 |
| Federal Pell grants | 22% | $4,003 |
| Federal student loans | 26% | $3,550 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $4,621.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $5,744 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $6,913 |
| Over $75,000 | $10,986 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
The net price represents the average annual cost a title-IV-receiving student pays after grant aid is subtracted from the full cost of attendance.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $8,500 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $7,697 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try CWI’s official net price calculator: cwi.edu/cost-aid/net-price-calculator.
The median student at CWI graduates with $4,823 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $4,823 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $9,720 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $103.05/mo |
That monthly figure reflects the median graduate debt repaid on a standard 10-year federal schedule.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at CWI.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,749 |
| 25th percentile | $2,250 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $15,826 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,250 |
| Middle income | $4,862 |
| High income | $3,799 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $5,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,600 |
| Independent students | $6,146 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at CWI.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The totals below capture Stafford lending at CWI:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 16601 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $125,621,547 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 241 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $612,956 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $2,543 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 36 |
| Total DoD amount | $45,218 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $1,256 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.