by our College Data Analytics TeamThe majority 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 cost of going to University of Wisconsin-River Falls can seem tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students are given some form of financial help.
Just what financing solutions does UW - River Falls provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep scrolling for answers. Read on to see what amount of financial assistance could be accessible to you.
Eligibility for aid and scholarships is driven mostly by your household’s income and need. The information provided on this page can help you determine how much aid you may receive from University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
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. Note that some aid is more valuable than the rest, and individual awards are far from uniform.
Looking at the entering class at University of Wisconsin-River Falls, 93% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind around 971 students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 81% | $4,176 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 72% | $1,753 |
| Federal Pell grants | 26% | $5,145 |
| State/local grants | 19% | $2,334 |
| Federal student loans | 52% | $4,981 |
Grants and scholarships are the most valuable form of aid because, unlike loans, they never have to be repaid. At UW - River Falls, approximately 53% of the undergraduate population received grant aid that averaged $5,527 (for some 2479 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 53% | $5,527 |
| Federal Pell grants | 21% | $4,830 |
| Federal student loans | 43% | $5,905 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $5,727.
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 | $10,166 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $12,857 |
| Over $75,000 | $17,686 |
Remember these are net prices — what families pay after gift aid, not before.
Net price is the average annual cost after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the published cost of attendance — the figure closest to what a typical aid-receiving student actually pays.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $14,054 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $14,714 |
To project your own net price, use UW - River Falls’s net price calculator: students.uwrf.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator.
A typical borrower at UW - River Falls leaves with $14,865 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $14,865 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $20,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $217.33/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at UW - River Falls.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,273 |
| 25th percentile | $6,171 |
| 75th percentile | $26,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $31,000 |
Median debt varies by family income, by first-generation status, and by dependency status.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $12,500 |
| Middle income | $15,225 |
| High income | $15,016 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $15,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $14,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $14,865 |
| Independent students | $14,875 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. UW - River Falls.
Most undergraduate borrowing runs through the federal Stafford loan program. The totals below capture Stafford lending at UW - River Falls:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 19557 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $308,763,031 |
GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the two federal aid programs targeted at military-affiliated students.
Post-9/11 GI Bill activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 65 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $409,345 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $6,298 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 15 |
| Total DoD amount | $56,875 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $3,792 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.