by our College Data Analytics TeamMost 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 price tag of going to University of Colorado Boulder can appear tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students obtain some kind of financial help.
What financial aid options can CU - Boulder offer you, and what will you qualify for? Keep reading for more information. Keep reading to discover how much school funding could be available to you.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. Continue reading to find information to help you understand just how much assistance you can expect to receive from University of Colorado Boulder.
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. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
For freshmen starting at University of Colorado Boulder, 67% of the incoming full-time class was awarded financial aid (about 4970 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 53% | $11,225 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 53% | $8,563 |
| Federal Pell grants | 15% | $5,573 |
| State/local grants | 11% | $5,106 |
| Federal student loans | 30% | $5,185 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. Here, roughly 49% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $12,072 (among about 15849 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 49% | $12,072 |
| Federal Pell grants | 14% | $5,682 |
| Federal student loans | 25% | $6,208 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $12,338.
Since aid is largely need-based, the real cost of attendance falls steeply for lower-income families.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $11,787 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $15,002 |
| Over $75,000 | $29,462 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
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 | $25,346 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $21,480 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see CU - Boulder’s online cost calculator: ofa.colorado.edu/NetPriceCalculator/.
A typical borrower at CU - Boulder leaves with $13,000 of cumulative federal debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $13,000 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $19,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $206.73/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. Use the percentiles below to see the debt range at CU - Boulder.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $5,500 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $30,750 |
Outcomes differ by income bracket, by first-generation status, and by whether a student is financially dependent.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $13,000 |
| Middle income | $13,000 |
| High income | $13,000 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,887 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,250 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,801 |
| Independent students | $16,837 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for CU - Boulder.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. Below is the annual Stafford program activity at CU - Boulder:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 59348 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $1,158,468,996 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 1026 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $17,075,720 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $16,643 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 19 |
| Total DoD amount | $49,250 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,592 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.