by our College Data Analytics TeamMost students are not billed 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 price tag of going to Williams College can appear overwhelming, but bear in mind that many students obtain some kind of financial aid.
What financial assistance options will Williams offer you, and what will you qualify for? Read on for more information. Read on to learn just how much financial aid will be open 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 Williams College.
Colleges use loans, grants, scholarships and work-study to minimize what students actually pay out of pocket. However, some types of aid are more desirable than others, and some students will receive more than others.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at Williams College, 64% of entering full-time freshmen got some type of financial assistance some 344 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 54% | $68,966 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 53% | $66,894 |
| Federal Pell grants | 17% | $6,012 |
| State/local grants | 1% | $3,825 |
| Federal student loans | 6% | $5,187 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. At Williams, roughly 56% of undergrads got grants or scholarships worth on average $66,207 (covering around 1185 recipients).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 56% | $66,207 |
| Federal Pell grants | 18% | $5,754 |
| Federal student loans | 5% | $6,175 |
On-campus students receiving title-IV aid were awarded grants averaging $67,144.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $-1,784 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $-466 |
| Over $75,000 | $40,742 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
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 | $17,716 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $14,852 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use Williams’s official net price calculator: npc.collegeboard.org/app/williams.
The median federal debt load at Williams comes to $11,667 of federal student loans.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $11,667 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $12,761 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $135.29/mo |
At a typical 10-year repayment schedule, the median graduate would pay about the monthly figure above.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. Use the percentiles below to see the debt range at Williams.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,450 |
| 25th percentile | $6,719 |
| 75th percentile | $19,750 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,000 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $6,043 |
| Middle income | $7,950 |
| High income | $13,203 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,000 |
These indicators are derived from the underlying debt data and summarize the overall picture at Williams.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. The totals below capture Stafford lending at Williams:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 2240 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $24,125,067 |
GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the two federal aid programs targeted at military-affiliated students.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 9 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $413,910 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $45,990 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.