by our College Data Analytics TeamMany 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 total cost of going to Messiah University can seem overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students are given some form of financial aid.
Just what financial aid solutions can Messiah deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep going to learn what amount of financial assistance will 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. Continue reading to find information to help you understand just how much assistance you can expect to receive from Messiah 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. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
Looking at the entering class at Messiah University, 100% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind approximately 595 freshmen).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 100% | $26,576 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 100% | $24,042 |
| Federal Pell grants | 22% | $5,394 |
| State/local grants | 32% | $3,875 |
| Federal student loans | 63% | $6,019 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At this school, some 90% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $24,893 (for some 2333 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 90% | $24,893 |
| Federal Pell grants | 20% | $5,038 |
| Federal student loans | 54% | $9,027 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $29,373.
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 | $23,342 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $22,942 |
| Over $75,000 | $30,344 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
After grants and scholarships come off the published price, what remains is the net price — the best estimate of true out-of-pocket cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $26,502 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $27,686 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use Messiah’s online cost calculator: www.messiah.edu/info/21387/net_price_calculator.
A typical borrower at Messiah leaves with $21,911 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $21,911 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $25,621 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $271.63/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 Messiah.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,000 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
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 | $21,946 |
| Middle income | $23,084 |
| High income | $21,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $22,585 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $22,037 |
| Independent students | $17,500 |
A handful of calculated indicators summarize the debt outlook at Messiah.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The annual Stafford volume below reflects program activity at Messiah:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 9129 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $173,840,839 |
GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the two federal aid programs targeted at military-affiliated students.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 33 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $1,113,133 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $33,731 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.