by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students will never be charged 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 Columbus State University can appear overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students obtain some kind of financial aid.
What financing options does CSU offer you, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Keep reading to discover how much school funding could be available to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at Columbus State University.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
Looking at the entering class at Columbus State University, 93% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid approximately 936 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 89% | $9,003 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 22% | $6,074 |
| Federal Pell grants | 57% | $6,170 |
| State/local grants | 57% | $5,333 |
| Federal student loans | 43% | $5,158 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At CSU, roughly 76% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $7,591 (among about 4611 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 76% | $7,591 |
| Federal Pell grants | 45% | $5,688 |
| Federal student loans | 38% | $6,243 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $8,561.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $10,520 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $11,892 |
| Over $75,000 | $15,508 |
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 | $13,115 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $11,889 |
For a customized cost estimate, visit CSU’s online cost calculator: columbusstate.edu/financial-aid/net-price.php.
A typical borrower at CSU leaves with $15,000 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $15,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $26,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $275.64/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
A single median figure conceals how much debt outcomes differ student to student. Use the percentiles below to see the debt range at CSU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $28,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $39,853 |
Outcomes differ by income bracket, by first-generation status, and by whether a student is financially dependent.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,000 |
| Middle income | $15,073 |
| High income | $15,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $14,976 |
| Continuing-generation students | $15,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,000 |
| Independent students | $15,026 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. CSU.
Most undergraduate borrowing runs through the federal Stafford loan program. Below is the annual Stafford program activity at CSU:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 30354 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $732,723,607 |
GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the two federal aid programs targeted at military-affiliated students.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 135 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $213,618 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $1,582 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 7 |
| Total DoD amount | $11,428 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $1,633 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.