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 total cost of going to Grinnell College can seem overpowering, but remember that the majority of students are given some form of financial assistance.
Just what financing solutions does Grinnell deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep scrolling for answers. Scroll down to discover what amount of financial assistance could be accessible 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 Grinnell College.
Financial assistance, available as scholarships, loans, and work-study, is a way schools lower the price of attendance so many students can enroll. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
Looking at the entering class at Grinnell College, 94% of the incoming full-time class was awarded financial aid some 429 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 94% | $49,077 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 94% | $47,513 |
| Federal Pell grants | 19% | $5,920 |
| State/local grants | 3% | $7,411 |
| Federal student loans | 12% | $4,478 |
Because grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid, they are the most sought-after type of financial aid. At Grinnell, around 89% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $48,277 (covering around 1582 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 89% | $48,277 |
| Federal Pell grants | 18% | $5,592 |
| Federal student loans | 13% | $5,438 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $65,792.
The figures below show the average net price — cost after all grant and scholarship aid — broken out by family income.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $6,482 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $6,227 |
| Over $75,000 | $31,632 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
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 | $17,648 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $15,608 |
To project your own net price, use Grinnell’s online cost calculator: npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/grinnell.
The median student at Grinnell graduates with $14,151 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $14,151 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $17,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $185.53/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. The figures below chart the debt distribution at Grinnell.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $7,753 |
| 75th percentile | $19,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $25,500 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,052 |
| Middle income | $13,600 |
| High income | $15,250 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,600 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,813 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for Grinnell.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. The totals below capture Stafford lending at Grinnell:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 2808 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $29,923,097 |
The GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the main federal aid routes for veterans and service members.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 5 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $197,522 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $39,504 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.