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 price tag of going to Helena College University of Montana can appear tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students obtain some kind of financial help.
Just what financing solutions does Helena College deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep scrolling for answers. Read on to find out how much school funding will be available to you.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at Helena College University of Montana.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
For freshmen starting at Helena College University of Montana, 72% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind (about 92 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 60% | $5,862 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 26% | $3,322 |
| Federal Pell grants | 44% | $5,453 |
| State/local grants | 20% | $985 |
| Federal student loans | 34% | $5,080 |
Because grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid, they are the most sought-after type of financial aid. At Helena College, approximately 72% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $1,783 (for some 1065 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 72% | $1,783 |
| Federal Pell grants | 18% | $4,243 |
| Federal student loans | 17% | $5,943 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $4,226.
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 | $12,680 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $14,713 |
| Over $75,000 | $16,808 |
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 | $11,593 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $14,455 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see Helena College’s NPC: helenacollege.edu/netpricecalculator/npcalc.htm.
The median federal debt load at Helena College comes to $9,500 in federal loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $9,500 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $14,580 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $154.57/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. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at Helena College.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,900 |
| 25th percentile | $3,750 |
| 75th percentile | $19,912 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,500 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $10,500 |
| Middle income | $9,500 |
| High income | $6,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,000 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $7,000 |
| Independent students | $11,873 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. Helena College.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at Helena College:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 4553 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $67,631,526 |
The GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the main federal aid routes for veterans and service members.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 30 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $95,320 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $3,177 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.