by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students will not be asked to pay the full sticker price of a school. Rather, they are offered a financial aid plan that includes a mix of loans, grants, scholarships, and possibly work-study opportunities. The sum total of attendance at East Carolina University can sound tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students get some type of financial help.
What financial assistance options will ECU offer you, and what will you qualify for? Read on for more information. Keep going to see how much school funding could be available 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 East Carolina University.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
For freshmen starting at East Carolina University, 77% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid around 3006 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 55% | $9,776 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 52% | $3,695 |
| Federal Pell grants | 37% | $5,884 |
| State/local grants | 32% | $3,330 |
| Federal student loans | 50% | $5,317 |
Grants and scholarships are the most valuable form of aid because, unlike loans, they never have to be repaid. At ECU, around 53% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $9,033 (among about 11284 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 53% | $9,033 |
| Federal Pell grants | 32% | $5,552 |
| Federal student loans | 39% | $6,370 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $8,128.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $11,579 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $14,515 |
| Over $75,000 | $22,163 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
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 | $15,739 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $16,514 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try ECU’s net price tool: shoppingsheet.com/Shopping/Landing/ecu.
The median student at ECU graduates with $17,500 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $17,500 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $22,750 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $241.19/mo |
The 10-year payment estimate assumes a standard federal repayment plan and the median graduate debt amount.
The numbers below show the full range, not just the middle of the distribution. The percentiles below describe the cumulative federal debt distribution for borrowers at ECU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,000 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,000 |
The figures below break down median federal debt by income tier, first-generation status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,750 |
| Middle income | $17,750 |
| High income | $16,223 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $18,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $16,247 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,500 |
| Independent students | $18,000 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at ECU.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. The totals below capture Stafford lending at ECU:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 78511 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $1,888,182,158 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 714 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $4,476,525 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $6,270 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 95 |
| Total DoD amount | $338,223 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,560 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.