by our College Data Analytics TeamThe majority of 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 price tag of going to Montana State University Billings can appear overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students obtain some kind of financial aid.
Just what financing solutions does Montana State University - Billings provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep scrolling for answers. Keep scrolling to learn what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. The information provided on this page can help you determine how much aid you may receive from Montana State University Billings.
Aid such as grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships helps colleges decrease the real cost of attendance for most students. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
For incoming first-year students at Montana State University Billings, 92% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid roughly 451 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 90% | $7,313 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 78% | $5,041 |
| Federal Pell grants | 41% | $5,259 |
| State/local grants | 16% | $2,769 |
| Federal student loans | 44% | $4,788 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At Montana State University - Billings, some 73% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $4,177 (for some 2766 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 73% | $4,177 |
| Federal Pell grants | 25% | $4,931 |
| Federal student loans | 28% | $6,244 |
On-campus students receiving title-IV aid were awarded grants averaging $3,530.
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 | $12,450 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $14,360 |
| Over $75,000 | $18,336 |
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 | $16,524 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $15,044 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try Montana State University - Billings’s NPC: www.msubillings.edu/finaid/.
Graduating students at Montana State University - Billings carry a median federal student debt of $10,086 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $10,086 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $18,209 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $193.05/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at Montana State University - Billings.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,625 |
| 25th percentile | $4,648 |
| 75th percentile | $19,745 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,889 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $10,296 |
| Middle income | $9,953 |
| High income | $10,250 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $10,342 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $8,750 |
| Independent students | $12,336 |
The Department of Education computes summary indicators that describe debt outcomes at a glance. Montana State University - Billings.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. Below is the annual Stafford program activity at Montana State University - Billings:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 17219 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $289,809,758 |
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 | 98 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $474,822 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $4,845 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 3 |
| Total DoD amount | $8,040 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,680 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.