by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students will never be charged 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 South Arkansas College can appear overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students obtain some kind of financial aid.
What financial aid options can SouthArk offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep reading for more information. Keep scrolling to find out what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. The information provided on this page can help you determine how much aid you may receive from South Arkansas College.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
At South Arkansas College, 95% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid approximately 144 freshmen).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 84% | $5,493 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 44% | $2,490 |
| Federal Pell grants | 59% | $5,644 |
| State/local grants | 14% | $976 |
| Federal student loans | 13% | $3,626 |
Gift aid — grants and scholarships — beats loans every time because none of it has to be repaid. Here, approximately 56% of the undergraduate population received grant aid that averaged $4,820 (across roughly 672 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 56% | $4,820 |
| Federal Pell grants | 41% | $4,914 |
| Federal student loans | 17% | $4,884 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $5,446.
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 | $6,022 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $6,792 |
| Over $75,000 | $12,138 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
The net price represents the average annual cost a title-IV-receiving student pays after grant aid is subtracted from the full cost of attendance.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $7,486 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $6,235 |
To project your own net price, use SouthArk’s net price calculator: www.southark.edu/page/net-price-calculator.
The median federal debt load at SouthArk comes to $7,000 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $7,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $11,153 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $118.24/mo |
At a typical 10-year repayment schedule, the median graduate would pay about the monthly figure above.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. Use the percentiles below to see the debt range at SouthArk.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,827 |
| 25th percentile | $3,467 |
| 75th percentile | $14,767 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,867 |
The figures below break down median federal debt by income tier, first-generation status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,705 |
| Middle income | $6,718 |
| High income | $6,195 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $7,162 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,748 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $8,952 |
A handful of calculated indicators summarize the debt outlook at SouthArk.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The totals below capture Stafford lending at SouthArk:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 4087 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $53,223,370 |
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 | 8 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $18,275 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $2,284 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.