by our College Data Analytics TeamMost students are not billed the complete price tag of a school. Rather, they are presented a financial aid deal that includes a mix of loans, grants, scholarships, and possibly work-study opportunities. The price tag of going to Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona can appear tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students obtain some kind of financial help.
Just what financial aid solutions can Penn State Altoona 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 Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
Looking at the entering class at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Altoona, 86% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid some 736 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 78% | $11,088 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 72% | $7,576 |
| Federal Pell grants | 34% | $5,647 |
| State/local grants | 20% | $4,548 |
| Federal student loans | 55% | $5,320 |
Gift aid — grants and scholarships — beats loans every time because none of it has to be repaid. Across the undergraduate body at Penn State Altoona, approximately 73% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $10,865 (across approximately 1767 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 73% | $10,865 |
| Federal Pell grants | 29% | $5,491 |
| Federal student loans | 54% | $6,127 |
On-campus students receiving title-IV aid were awarded grants averaging $10,346.
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 | $17,278 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $20,272 |
| Over $75,000 | $27,791 |
Each amount is the average cost remaining once grant aid is subtracted, by income band.
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 | $22,213 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $24,704 |
To project your own net price, use Penn State Altoona’s NPC: tuition.psu.edu/student-tuition-calculators.
The median federal debt load at Penn State Altoona comes to $19,500 in federal loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $19,500 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $25,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $265.04/mo |
At a typical 10-year repayment schedule, the median graduate would pay about the monthly 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 Penn State Altoona.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,750 |
| 25th percentile | $8,750 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $34,000 |
The figures below break down median federal debt by income tier, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $19,000 |
| Middle income | $20,000 |
| High income | $19,700 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $19,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,500 |
| Independent students | $19,486 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. Penn State Altoona.
Most undergraduate borrowing runs through the federal Stafford loan program. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at Penn State Altoona:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 238368 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $4,885,479,531 |
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 | 50 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $751,019 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $15,020 |
DoD Tuition Assistance activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 1 |
| Total DoD amount | $3,750 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,750 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.