by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students are not billed the advertised price of a school. Instead, they will be provided a financial aid package that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The sum total of attendance at James Madison University can sound overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students get some type of financial aid.
Just what financial assistance solutions will JMU deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Read on for answers. Read on to discover just how much financial aid could be open to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at James Madison 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 James Madison University, 58% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind some 2832 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 33% | $12,114 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 27% | $7,731 |
| Federal Pell grants | 14% | $5,374 |
| State/local grants | 15% | $7,681 |
| Federal student loans | 33% | $5,154 |
Grants and scholarships are the most valuable form of aid because, unlike loans, they never have to be repaid. At this school, approximately 42% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $10,140 (for some 8818 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 42% | $10,140 |
| Federal Pell grants | 17% | $4,446 |
| Federal student loans | 29% | $5,924 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $8,413.
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 | $11,257 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $15,249 |
| Over $75,000 | $27,536 |
Each amount is the average cost remaining once grant aid is subtracted, by income band.
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 | $23,322 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $21,816 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use JMU’s online cost calculator: www.jmu.edu/financialaid/calculators/index.shtml.
Graduating students at JMU carry a median federal student debt of $17,272 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $17,272 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $20,093 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $213.02/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
The numbers below show the full range, not just the middle of the distribution. Use the percentiles below to see the debt range at JMU.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,338 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $26,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,680 |
Median debt varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $15,500 |
| Middle income | $16,161 |
| High income | $17,963 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $17,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $17,500 |
| Independent students | $12,500 |
The Department of Education computes summary indicators that describe debt outcomes at a glance. JMU.
Most undergraduate borrowing runs through the federal Stafford loan program. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at JMU:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 36372 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $597,841,932 |
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 | 482 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $5,505,755 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $11,423 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 20 |
| Total DoD amount | $61,738 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,087 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.