by our College Data Analytics TeamMost students are not billed 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 Georgia Southwestern State University can feel overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students receive some sort of financial aid.
Just what financial aid solutions can GSW deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep scrolling to learn just how much financial aid will be open to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from Georgia Southwestern State University.
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. Bear in mind that not all aid is equal, and the amount any one student receives can vary widely.
For incoming first-year students at Georgia Southwestern State University, 96% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind approximately 497 freshmen).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 91% | $9,104 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 35% | $3,730 |
| Federal Pell grants | 68% | $6,479 |
| State/local grants | 50% | $5,039 |
| Federal student loans | 51% | $5,286 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At GSW, some 74% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $7,064 (for some 2054 recipients).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 74% | $7,064 |
| Federal Pell grants | 43% | $5,813 |
| Federal student loans | 37% | $6,343 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $8,465.
Because need-based aid scales with family income, what students actually pay differs sharply across income brackets.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $10,734 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $12,126 |
| Over $75,000 | $15,178 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
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 | $12,019 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $12,052 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see GSW’s official net price calculator: gsw.edu/financial-aid/files/netpricecalc2023.
The median federal debt load at GSW comes to $11,000 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $11,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $18,851 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $199.85/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 GSW.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,750 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $23,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,093 |
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 | $11,115 |
| Middle income | $11,750 |
| High income | $10,090 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $11,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $11,000 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $11,000 |
| Independent students | $11,227 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at GSW.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at GSW:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 12856 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $254,070,485 |
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 | 39 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $120,560 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $3,091 |
DoD Tuition Assistance activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 14 |
| Total DoD amount | $29,126 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,080 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.