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 cost of going to Spelman College can seem tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students are given some form of financial help.
Just what financial assistance solutions will Spelman 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.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. The information provided on this page can help you determine how much aid you may receive from Spelman College.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
Looking at the entering class at Spelman College, 97% of entering full-time freshmen got some type of financial assistance around 703 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 96% | $10,614 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 95% | $6,788 |
| Federal Pell grants | 39% | $6,101 |
| State/local grants | 22% | $5,793 |
| Federal student loans | 70% | $5,664 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. At Spelman, some 63% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $16,546 (covering around 2285 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 63% | $16,546 |
| Federal Pell grants | 28% | $6,138 |
| Federal student loans | 48% | $6,570 |
For students living on campus and receiving title-IV aid, grants averaged $11,985.
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 | $31,923 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $33,292 |
| Over $75,000 | $40,206 |
Each figure is the net price after grants and scholarships, not the published sticker price.
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 | $38,967 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $36,828 |
For a customized cost estimate, visit Spelman’s net price calculator: www.spelman.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator.html.
The median federal debt load at Spelman comes to $21,750 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $21,750 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $25,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $265.04/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
A single median figure conceals how much debt outcomes differ student to student. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at Spelman.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $13,500 |
| 75th percentile | $31,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $40,000 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $22,796 |
| Middle income | $22,469 |
| High income | $21,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $22,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $21,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $21,750 |
| Independent students | $22,000 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. Spelman.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. The annual Stafford volume below reflects program activity at Spelman:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 10859 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $245,836,886 |
If you are a veteran or active-duty service member, the GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the primary federal programs you can use at this school.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 57 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $1,296,349 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $22,743 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.