by our College Data Analytics TeamA large number of students are not billed 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 Wisconsin-Milwaukee can appear overpowering, but remember that the majority of students obtain some kind of financial assistance.
What financial aid options can UWM offer you, and what will you qualify for? Keep reading for more information. Keep going to find out what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Aid such as grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships helps colleges decrease the real cost of attendance for most students. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
For incoming first-year students at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 93% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid roughly 3090 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 91% | $6,347 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 82% | $1,992 |
| Federal Pell grants | 40% | $5,621 |
| State/local grants | 43% | $2,884 |
| Federal student loans | 46% | $5,120 |
Gift aid — grants and scholarships — beats loans every time because none of it has to be repaid. At UWM, about 67% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $7,028 (across roughly 12114 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 67% | $7,028 |
| Federal Pell grants | 33% | $5,254 |
| Federal student loans | 42% | $6,378 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $7,742.
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 | $11,375 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $13,917 |
| Over $75,000 | $20,627 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
Net price is the cost remaining after grant and scholarship aid is subtracted from the sticker price, and it is the most useful single number for estimating real cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $15,014 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $16,177 |
For a customized cost estimate, visit UWM’s net price calculator: uwm.edu/onestop/finances/net-price-calculator/.
A typical borrower at UWM leaves with $15,250 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $15,250 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $23,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $243.84/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at UWM.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,954 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $28,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,367 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $16,500 |
| Middle income | $15,492 |
| High income | $14,750 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,625 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,808 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $15,000 |
| Independent students | $15,954 |
A handful of calculated indicators summarize the debt outlook at UWM.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at UWM:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 86791 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $1,902,717,565 |
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.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 468 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $3,837,118 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $8,199 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 6 |
| Total DoD amount | $15,250 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,542 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.