by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students are not billed the full sticker price of a school. Rather, they are offered a financial aid plan that includes a mix of loans, grants, scholarships, and possibly work-study opportunities. The total price of attendance at St Olaf College can feel tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students receive some sort of financial help.
Just what financial aid solutions can St. Olaf provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep scrolling to learn how much school funding will be available to you.
The amount of financial aid you can receive varies from person to person and will depend on your family’s economic situation. Continue reading to find information to help you understand just how much assistance you can expect to receive from St Olaf College.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
For incoming first-year students at St Olaf College, 100% of the incoming full-time class was awarded financial aid approximately 822 freshmen).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 100% | $45,098 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 100% | $42,375 |
| Federal Pell grants | 21% | $5,801 |
| State/local grants | 20% | $6,992 |
| Federal student loans | 41% | $4,969 |
Gift aid — grants and scholarships — beats loans every time because none of it has to be repaid. At St. Olaf, around 99% of the undergraduate population received grant aid that averaged $44,394 (for some 3036 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 99% | $44,394 |
| Federal Pell grants | 21% | $5,608 |
| Federal student loans | 42% | $6,101 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $47,969.
How much a family pays depends heavily on income, because most aid is awarded on the basis of financial need.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $10,570 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $13,743 |
| Over $75,000 | $29,415 |
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 | $23,874 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $22,752 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see St. Olaf’s net price tool: wp.stolaf.edu/financialaid/net-price-calculator/.
The middle student in the debt distribution at St. Olaf owes $23,250 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $23,250 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $26,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $275.64/mo |
That monthly figure reflects the median graduate debt repaid on a standard 10-year federal schedule.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. The percentiles below describe the cumulative federal debt distribution for borrowers at St. Olaf.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $12,632 |
| 75th percentile | $27,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,000 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $18,276 |
| Middle income | $21,500 |
| High income | $25,000 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $22,497 |
| Continuing-generation students | $23,707 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. St. Olaf.
Most undergraduate borrowing runs through the federal Stafford loan program. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at St. Olaf:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 7076 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $103,602,405 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 16 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $346,124 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $21,633 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.