At least nine in 10 students receive grant aid at these 25 schools, with average scholarships starting at $25,000 per year.
By Alex Perry, Contributor
Affordability is among the top factors—if not the top factor—many students consider when selecting a college. High costs loom as a barrier for some students, particularly those who fear taking on too much student debt. But scholarships, grants and other financial assistance that doesn’t have to be repaid can play an important role in offsetting the increasingly high cost of attendance.
Private colleges, some charging north of $50,000 per year just for tuition, are rarely viewed as an affordable option in higher education. Yet, in an effort to woo prospective students, many private schools tout that very few—if any—students pay the full sticker price because a large portion of the tuition fees are covered by financial aid awards from the college. More than $140 billion in federal, state and institutional grant aid was awarded to undergraduate and graduate students during the 2021-22 academic year, according to the College Board. Over the past decade, the data shows, institutional grant aid grew substantially in real terms—from $50.2 billion (adjusted for inflation) to $74.4 billion.
Hendrix College is one example of a private institution that goes the extra mile to make its education affordable. For example, the Arkansas college, which enrolls about 1,100 undergraduates, offers one scholarship program that discounts its tuition all the way down to the list price for tuition at the flagship university of a recipient’s home state. At Kentucky-based Berea College, students are not charged any tuition to attend the school thanks to funding from endowments and other donations—a tradition that has been honored since 1892.
As part of this year’s America’s Top Colleges list, we identified 25 excellent private colleges that put their money where their mouth is. To start, we divided the average grant aid for full-time, first-time undergraduates by the total price for students living on campus. This number told us the share of the annual cost of attendance per student, on average, that is paid for by institutional grants. We then multiplied that figure by the percentage of undergraduates at the college that receive such institutional grant aid—this left us with 25 colleges that not only dole out tens of thousands in individual aid awards, but do so for a vast majority of their students. Check out the gallery below to learn more about them.
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