by our College Data Analytics TeamA large number of students will never be charged the full, advertised sticker price of a school. Instead, they will be given a financial aid offer that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The sum total of attendance at Sonoran Desert Institute can sound tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students get some type of financial help.
Just what financial aid solutions can Sonoran Desert Institute deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Read on to discover just how much financial aid could be open to you.
Eligibility for aid and scholarships is driven mostly by your household’s income and need. Use the information below to understand how much financial assistance you may get from Sonoran Desert Institute.
Financial assistance, available as scholarships, loans, and work-study, is a way schools lower the price of attendance so many students can enroll. Bear in mind that not all aid is equal, and the amount any one student receives can vary widely.
For freshmen starting at Sonoran Desert Institute, 39% of entering full-time freshmen got some type of financial assistance (about 320 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 35% | $5,493 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 0% | — |
| Federal Pell grants | 34% | $5,479 |
| State/local grants | 0% | $5,140 |
| Federal student loans | 30% | $7,407 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. Across the undergraduate body at Sonoran Desert Institute, around 33% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $4,677 (across approximately 1560 recipients).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 33% | $4,677 |
| Federal Pell grants | 33% | $4,651 |
| Federal student loans | 28% | $7,471 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $4,888.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $19,279 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $20,203 |
| Over $75,000 | $23,224 |
Each figure is the net price after grants and scholarships, not the published sticker price.
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 | $20,678 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $20,009 |
To project your own net price, use Sonoran Desert Institute’s online cost calculator: www.sdi.edu/npcalc/.
The middle student in the debt distribution at Sonoran Desert Institute owes $7,786 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $7,786 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $9,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $100.72/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 Sonoran Desert Institute.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,229 |
| 25th percentile | $2,509 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $17,360 |
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 | $7,449 |
| Middle income | $8,303 |
| High income | $8,208 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,889 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,244 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $4,030 |
| Independent students | $8,225 |
A handful of calculated indicators summarize the debt outlook at Sonoran Desert Institute.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at Sonoran Desert Institute:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 3004 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $28,010,280 |
GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the two federal aid programs targeted at military-affiliated students.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 3665 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $26,045,244 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $7,106 |
DoD Tuition Assistance activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 1089 |
| Total DoD amount | $3,223,313 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,960 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.