by our College Data Analytics TeamA lot of students will not be asked to pay the advertised price of a school. Instead, they will be provided a financial aid package that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The sum total of attendance at University of Central Arkansas can sound tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students get some type of financial help.
Just what financial assistance solutions will UCA provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Read on for answers. Read on to find out how much school funding will be available to you.
How much aid you qualify for depends largely on your family’s financial circumstances. Continue reading to find information to help you understand just how much assistance you can expect to receive from University of Central Arkansas.
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.
For incoming first-year students at University of Central Arkansas, 97% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid roughly 1676 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 95% | $8,901 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 72% | $5,672 |
| Federal Pell grants | 47% | $5,841 |
| State/local grants | 64% | $2,255 |
| Federal student loans | 48% | $5,434 |
Gift aid — grants and scholarships — beats loans every time because none of it has to be repaid. At UCA, approximately 84% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $9,540 (across approximately 6597 recipients).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 84% | $9,540 |
| Federal Pell grants | 38% | $5,635 |
| Federal student loans | 40% | $7,620 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $8,518.
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 | $14,605 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $16,010 |
| Over $75,000 | $19,924 |
Each amount is the average cost remaining once grant aid is subtracted, by income band.
The net price strips out grant and scholarship aid from the sticker price to show roughly what families really pay.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $16,511 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $16,775 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use UCA’s online cost calculator: uca.edu/financialaid/financial-aid-net-price-calculator/.
The middle student in the debt distribution at UCA owes $13,000 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $13,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $20,346 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $215.7/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 UCA.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,779 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $23,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,992 |
The figures below break down median federal debt by income tier, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,981 |
| Middle income | $13,500 |
| High income | $12,713 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,000 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,465 |
| Independent students | $16,375 |
The Department of Education computes summary indicators that describe debt outcomes at a glance. UCA.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. The totals below capture Stafford lending at UCA:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 38339 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $783,934,459 |
Military-affiliated students can tap the Post-9/11 GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 167 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $1,272,804 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $7,622 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 30 |
| Total DoD amount | $92,165 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,072 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.