by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students will not be asked to pay 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 University of California-Merced can feel overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students receive some sort of financial aid.
Just what financial assistance solutions will UC Merced deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Read on for answers. Read on 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. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at University of California-Merced.
Financial aid, in the form of loans, grants, work-study, and scholarships, is one way colleges reduce the cost of attendance so most students can actually afford to attend. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
For incoming first-year students at University of California-Merced, 91% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind some 2192 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 89% | $27,292 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 84% | $12,518 |
| Federal Pell grants | 60% | $6,193 |
| State/local grants | 79% | $12,557 |
| Federal student loans | 29% | $4,673 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. At UC Merced, around 85% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $24,780 (across roughly 7145 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 85% | $24,780 |
| Federal Pell grants | 59% | $6,068 |
| Federal student loans | 29% | $5,399 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $27,682.
The figures below show the average net price — cost after all grant and scholarship aid — broken out by family income.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $8,957 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $10,515 |
| Over $75,000 | $24,191 |
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 | $11,983 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $13,144 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use UC Merced’s NPC: finaidcalc.ucmerced.edu/.
The median federal debt load at UC Merced comes to $12,750 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $12,750 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $16,144 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $171.15/mo |
Spreading the median graduate debt over a standard 10-year repayment schedule works out to roughly the monthly payment shown above.
Percentiles reveal the spread — half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles. The percentiles below describe the cumulative federal debt distribution for borrowers at UC Merced.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $24,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $29,000 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,270 |
| Middle income | $12,000 |
| High income | $15,991 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,500 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,750 |
| Independent students | $13,785 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at UC Merced.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. Below is the annual Stafford program activity at UC Merced:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 13777 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $201,301,822 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 9 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $87,251 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $9,695 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.