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 sum total of attendance at Howard Community College can sound overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students get some type of financial aid.
What financial aid options can HCC offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep reading for more information. Keep reading to find out 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 Howard Community College.
Aid such as grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships helps colleges decrease the real cost of attendance for most students. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
For freshmen starting at Howard Community College, 61% of entering full-time freshmen got some type of financial assistance (about 488 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 58% | $5,016 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 29% | $1,991 |
| Federal Pell grants | 36% | $5,411 |
| State/local grants | 10% | $2,643 |
| Federal student loans | 9% | $5,050 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. Across the undergraduate body at HCC, roughly 63% of the undergraduate population received grant aid that averaged $3,118 (across approximately 5363 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 63% | $3,118 |
| Federal Pell grants | 27% | $3,904 |
| Federal student loans | 7% | $6,127 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $5,641.
How much a family pays depends heavily on income, because most aid is awarded on the basis of financial need.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $9,265 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $10,211 |
| Over $75,000 | $13,827 |
Each amount is the average cost remaining once grant aid is subtracted, by income band.
Net price is the average annual cost after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the published cost of attendance — the figure closest to what a typical aid-receiving student actually pays.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $11,133 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $10,225 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use HCC’s online cost calculator: www.howardcc.edu/admissions-aid/pay-for-college/financial-aid/net-price-calculator/.
The middle student in the debt distribution at HCC owes $8,250 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $8,250 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $10,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $111.32/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
A single median figure conceals how much debt outcomes differ student to student. Use the percentiles below to see the debt range at HCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,700 |
| 25th percentile | $3,000 |
| 75th percentile | $10,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,000 |
Outcomes differ by income bracket, by first-generation status, and by whether a student is financially dependent.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $7,719 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,585 |
| Continuing-generation students | $6,936 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,500 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for HCC.
Most undergraduate borrowing runs through the federal Stafford loan program. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at HCC:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 9670 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $106,854,142 |
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 | 155 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $463,319 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $2,989 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 29 |
| Total DoD amount | $30,539 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $1,053 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.