by our College Data Analytics TeamThe majority 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 Willamette University can appear overpowering, but remember that the majority of students obtain some kind of financial assistance.
What financial assistance options will Willamette offer, and what will you qualify for? Read on for more information. Keep scrolling to see how much school funding could be available to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. Read on to get a sense of the financial assistance available at Willamette University.
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. Bear in mind that not all aid is equal, and the amount any one student receives can vary widely.
At Willamette University, 100% of new full-time first-years were awarded at least some aid roughly 504 new students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 100% | $38,080 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 100% | $35,821 |
| Federal Pell grants | 23% | $5,512 |
| State/local grants | 8% | $6,347 |
| Federal student loans | 44% | $5,121 |
The best aid is gift aid: grants and scholarships that carry no repayment obligation. Here, around 97% of undergraduate students received gift aid averaging $35,423 (across roughly 1518 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 97% | $35,423 |
| Federal Pell grants | 24% | $5,461 |
| Federal student loans | 39% | $5,817 |
For on-campus title-IV students, average grant aid came to $42,380.
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 | $14,747 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $15,954 |
| Over $75,000 | $29,422 |
Each figure is the net price after grants and scholarships, not the published sticker price.
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 | $25,121 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $23,663 |
For an estimate tailored to your family circumstances, see Willamette’s net price tool: willamette.edu/offices/finaid/undergraduate-students/net-price-calculator/index.html.
The median student at Willamette graduates with $18,913 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $18,913 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $21,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $227.94/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. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at Willamette.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $5,500 |
| 25th percentile | $11,000 |
| 75th percentile | $29,250 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $37,000 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $17,959 |
| Middle income | $19,500 |
| High income | $18,500 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $19,352 |
| Continuing-generation students | $18,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $19,000 |
| Independent students | $11,000 |
A handful of calculated indicators summarize the debt outlook at Willamette.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at Willamette:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 8282 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $264,960,494 |
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 | 20 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $448,041 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $22,402 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.