by our College Data Analytics TeamMost 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 Meridian Community College can sound overpowering, but remember that the majority of students get some type of financial assistance.
What financing options does MCC offer you, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Keep going to see what amount of financial assistance could be accessible to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at Meridian Community College.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at Meridian Community College, 94% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind some 367 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 94% | $6,244 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 28% | $4,638 |
| Federal Pell grants | 61% | $6,406 |
| State/local grants | 29% | $812 |
| Federal student loans | 7% | $4,056 |
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 MCC, approximately 74% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $4,474 (across approximately 1900 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 74% | $4,474 |
| Federal Pell grants | 39% | $5,695 |
| Federal student loans | 11% | $5,132 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $7,983.
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 | $6,811 |
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 | $6,351 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $6,811 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try MCC’s official net price calculator: meridiancc.edu/become_an_eagle/financial_aid/net_price_calculator/index.html.
The median student at MCC graduates with $4,500 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $4,500 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $5,521 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $58.53/mo |
That monthly figure reflects the median graduate debt repaid on a standard 10-year federal schedule.
The numbers below show the full range, not just the middle of the distribution. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at MCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,028 |
| 25th percentile | $1,750 |
| 75th percentile | $6,813 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $11,913 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $4,000 |
| Middle income | $5,250 |
| High income | $5,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $4,518 |
| Continuing-generation students | $4,187 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $3,250 |
| Independent students | $6,000 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for MCC.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The annual Stafford volume below reflects program activity at MCC:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 7718 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $58,874,272 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 29 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $103,778 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $3,579 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.