2008-09 POLICIES HANDBOOK - Colorado College

Determining the Financial Aid Package — A Four-Year Commitment

It is the goal of the financial aid office to make Colorado College affordable to students who apply for assistance. We award Colorado College grant assistance based on the student’s financial aid eligibility and admission credentials. Once we have determined the official eligibility for CC grant and scholarship funds, the college will make a four-year commitment to the family. For students who remain in good academic standing, we will renew the CC grant automatically each year at the same level plus an amount that reflects the percentage increase in tuition. This will assist families in planning college financing during the four undergraduate years at Colorado College.  (Trustee, CC Scholar, Presidential Scholar, National Merit, and WES awards are continued at their face value each year, or as determined by annual policy.) 

If a student is not enrolled at CC or otherwise not receiving their four-year affordability plan for more than one full semester, the financial aid office will require a re-application to determine continued eligibility for financial aid. Students who study away from CC up to one year with an educational consortium agreement at a non-affiliated program, or students who study abroad at a CC exchange program generally will resume their four-year award upon their immediate return to CC. Students pursuing any type of leave should consult with the financial aid office regarding the impact of a leave on the four-year affordability plan.

For those students who receive a CC affordability plan, it usually includes self-help (employment and loan) and gift aid (scholarship and grant). In general the affordability plan may contain a self-help award as high as $7,600 although most incoming students will have lower self-help amounts.  The self-help amounts will stay the same during each of the four award years if the family’s federal eligibility for aid does not change. The original amount of self-help aid and the proportion of gift aid to self-help aid vary depending on several factors, including the family’s level of income and assets and the student’s admission credentials. Some students will receive lower self-help levels and higher grants to meet the calculated eligibility for aid.

Self-help requires students to work or borrow to help pay for a part of the educational expenses. Gift aid does not require work or repayment. Students do not have to accept aid offered in the form of self-help to receive gift aid from the college. However, the college will not replace the self-help expectation with scholarship or grant assistance if the student decides not to borrow or to be employed on campus.

Based on borrowing $5,500 per year, a student entering Colorado College in the 2008-09 school year could incur loans up to $22,000 over four years of college. The monthly payment over ten years on a Federal Stafford Loan of this size at the current repayment interest rate of 6.8 percent would be approximately $253. Our goal is to provide affordability plans that help prevent students from borrowing excessive or unmanageable amounts to finish their undergraduate degree. The average undergraduate student loan debt for CC student borrowers is approximately $16,400 with an average monthly repayment of $189.

Late applicants, independent students, or those whose materials are not complete by the priority deadline generally receive a higher level of self-help or will not have their financial eligibility met. In these cases, awards are based upon the availability of funds.

In rare cases we will provide a financial aid award that is not a four-year affordability plan. In these cases we will provide a traditional one-year award and require the student to submit a complete financial aid application in subsequent years.