by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students are not billed 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 total cost of going to Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College can seem tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students are given some form of financial help.
What financing options does Penn State Erie offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Keep going to discover how much school funding could be available to you.
The amount of financial aid you can receive varies from person to person and will depend on your family’s economic situation. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College.
Aid such as grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships helps colleges decrease the real cost of attendance for most students. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
For incoming first-year students at Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College, 89% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid roughly 760 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 76% | $10,760 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 71% | $6,954 |
| Federal Pell grants | 32% | $5,523 |
| State/local grants | 26% | $4,671 |
| Federal student loans | 63% | $5,300 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. At this school, approximately 74% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $11,249 (for some 2383 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 74% | $11,249 |
| Federal Pell grants | 29% | $5,544 |
| Federal student loans | 55% | $6,219 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $9,523.
How much a family pays depends heavily on income, because most aid is awarded on the basis of financial need.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $14,804 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $17,282 |
| Over $75,000 | $28,016 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
Net price is the cost remaining after grant and scholarship aid is subtracted from the sticker price, and it is the most useful single number for estimating real cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $24,558 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $22,951 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see Penn State Erie’s net price calculator: tuition.psu.edu/student-tuition-calculators.
The median federal debt load at Penn State Erie comes to $19,500 of federal student 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 numbers below show the full range, not just the middle of the distribution. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at Penn State Erie.
| 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 |
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 | $19,000 |
| Middle income | $20,000 |
| High income | $19,700 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| 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 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for Penn State Erie.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The annual Stafford volume below reflects program activity at Penn State Erie:
| 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 | 67 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $931,850 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $13,908 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 8 |
| Total DoD amount | $36,000 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $4,500 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.