by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot 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 total price of attendance at Southern Maine Community College can feel overpowering, but remember that the majority of students receive some sort of financial assistance.
Just what financial assistance solutions will SMCC provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Read on for answers. Keep going to learn how much school funding will be available to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from Southern Maine Community College.
Financial assistance, available as scholarships, loans, and work-study, is a way schools lower the price of attendance so many students can enroll. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
At Southern Maine Community College, 94% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid around 1400 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 90% | $5,808 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 27% | $1,368 |
| Federal Pell grants | 39% | $5,786 |
| State/local grants | 87% | $2,928 |
| Federal student loans | 14% | $4,595 |
Grants and scholarships are the most valuable form of aid because, unlike loans, they never have to be repaid. At SMCC, some 67% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $5,038 (across roughly 4859 recipients).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 67% | $5,038 |
| Federal Pell grants | 30% | $4,670 |
| Federal student loans | 12% | $5,125 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $7,445.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $9,946 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $11,905 |
| Over $75,000 | $15,765 |
Each amount is the average cost remaining once grant aid is subtracted, by income band.
After grants and scholarships come off the published price, what remains is the net price — the best estimate of true out-of-pocket cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $11,086 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $11,638 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use SMCC’s net price tool: www.smccme.edu/about/consumer-info/net-price-calculator/.
Graduating students at SMCC carry a median federal student debt of $6,046 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $6,046 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $10,331 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $109.53/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
Percentiles reveal the spread — half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at SMCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $1,750 |
| 25th percentile | $3,500 |
| 75th percentile | $12,331 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $21,527 |
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 | $7,070 |
| Middle income | $5,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $6,125 |
| Continuing-generation students | $5,750 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $8,000 |
A handful of calculated indicators summarize the debt outlook at SMCC.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. The annual Stafford volume below reflects program activity at SMCC:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 16209 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $168,718,512 |
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 | 87 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $142,095 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $1,633 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 78 |
| Total DoD amount | $140,159 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $1,797 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.