by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students will not be asked to pay the full sticker price of a school. Rather, they are offered a financial aid plan that includes a mix of loans, grants, scholarships, and possibly work-study opportunities. The sum total of attendance at Mississippi State University can sound overpowering, but remember that the majority of students get some type of financial assistance.
Just what financial aid solutions can Mississippi State deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep reading to discover just how much financial aid could be open 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 Mississippi State University.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. Bear in mind that not all aid is equal, and the amount any one student receives can vary widely.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at Mississippi State University, 97% of the incoming full-time class was awarded financial aid (about 3636 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 96% | $13,852 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 91% | $11,518 |
| Federal Pell grants | 30% | $5,861 |
| State/local grants | 37% | $2,581 |
| Federal student loans | 44% | $5,382 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. Here, around 83% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $12,314 (covering around 15209 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 83% | $12,314 |
| Federal Pell grants | 29% | $5,742 |
| Federal student loans | 39% | $6,677 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $11,672.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $12,292 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $14,710 |
| Over $75,000 | $20,147 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
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 | $17,595 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $15,501 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try Mississippi State’s net price calculator: npc.collegeboard.org/app/msu/start.
The median federal debt load at Mississippi State comes to $16,324 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $16,324 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $22,142 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $234.74/mo |
That monthly figure reflects the median graduate debt repaid on a standard 10-year federal schedule.
A single median figure conceals how much debt outcomes differ student to student. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at Mississippi State.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,083 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $38,000 |
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 | $16,750 |
| Middle income | $15,295 |
| High income | $16,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $16,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $17,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $16,000 |
| Independent students | $17,780 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. Mississippi State.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. Below is the annual Stafford program activity at Mississippi State:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 59002 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $1,451,455,098 |
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 | 423 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $4,215,521 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $9,966 |
DoD Tuition Assistance activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 154 |
| Total DoD amount | $515,018 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,344 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.