by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot 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 total price of attendance at Elgin Community College can feel overpowering, but remember that the majority of students receive some sort of financial assistance.
What financial aid options can ECC offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep reading for more information. Keep going to see just how much financial aid could be open to you.
The amount of financial aid you can receive varies from person to person and will depend on your family’s economic situation. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at Elgin Community 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.
For incoming first-year students at Elgin Community College, 72% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid around 654 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 69% | $5,178 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 17% | $1,583 |
| Federal Pell grants | 52% | $4,555 |
| State/local grants | 49% | $1,650 |
| Federal student loans | 5% | $4,057 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. At ECC, about 29% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $5,058 (for some 2774 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 29% | $5,058 |
| Federal Pell grants | 22% | $4,251 |
| Federal student loans | 3% | $4,496 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $4,382.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $4,531 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $5,536 |
| Over $75,000 | $8,521 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
Net price is the cost remaining after grant and scholarship aid is subtracted from the sticker price, and it is the most useful single number for estimating real cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $6,026 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $5,778 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try ECC’s official net price calculator: elgin.edu/collegecostcalculator.
Graduating students at ECC carry a median federal student debt of $4,790 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $4,790 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $7,390 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $78.35/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at ECC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,300 |
| 25th percentile | $2,088 |
| 75th percentile | $7,871 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $13,545 |
Outcomes differ by income bracket, by first-generation status, and by whether a student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $5,153 |
| Middle income | $4,430 |
| High income | $4,981 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,722 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,179 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,400 |
| Independent students | $5,518 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for ECC.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at ECC:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 7329 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $55,544,549 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 94 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $224,953 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $2,393 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 7 |
| Total DoD amount | $9,892 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $1,413 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.