by our College Data Analytics TeamA large number of students will not be asked to pay 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 total price of attendance at School of the Art Institute of Chicago can feel overpowering, but remember that the majority of students receive some sort of financial assistance.
What financial assistance options will School of the Art Institute of Chicago offer you, and what will you qualify for? Read on for more information. Keep going to see just how much financial aid could be open to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. Use the information below to understand how much financial assistance you may get from School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Financial assistance, available as scholarships, loans, and work-study, is a way schools lower the price of attendance so many students can enroll. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
For freshmen starting at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 99% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid (about 668 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 99% | $20,050 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 99% | $18,265 |
| Federal Pell grants | 20% | $5,949 |
| State/local grants | 6% | $8,277 |
| Federal student loans | 41% | $5,516 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. Here, around 93% of the undergraduate population received grant aid that averaged $18,877 (among about 2569 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 93% | $18,877 |
| Federal Pell grants | 19% | $5,789 |
| Federal student loans | 37% | $7,023 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $25,835.
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 | $43,973 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $47,076 |
| Over $75,000 | $54,894 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
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 | $49,790 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $49,822 |
For a customized cost estimate, visit School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s NPC: saic.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx.
The median federal debt load at School of the Art Institute of Chicago comes to $19,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $19,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $27,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $286.24/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
The numbers below show the full range, not just the middle of the distribution. The percentiles below describe the cumulative federal debt distribution for borrowers at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $4,700 |
| 25th percentile | $8,500 |
| 75th percentile | $29,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,000 |
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 | $21,363 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $18,456 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $20,701 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,495 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,000 |
| Independent students | $24,250 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The annual Stafford volume below reflects program activity at School of the Art Institute of Chicago:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 10665 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $291,847,680 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 30 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $673,925 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $22,464 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.