Grinnell meets 100% of every student’s demonstrated financial need. But what does "demonstrated financial need" mean?
Demonstrated financial need can be summarized as follows:
cost of attending Grinnell - your family’s contribution = demonstrated need
Grinnell meets each student’s demonstrated need using a combination of scholarships, grants, and student employment. This approach to financial aid assumes that students and their families are primarily responsible for paying for college to the extent that they are able, and Grinnell helps to fill in the gap.
There are multiple tools to help you estimate your need-based financial aid eligibility.
Family Share of Expenses
Grinnell uses information from your financial aid application to estimate how much your family can contribute toward college costs. The resulting family contribution is our estimate of how much your family can pay for college. There are typically two parts of your family's contribution: a parent contribution and a student contribution.
Parent contribution: Parents are responsible for paying for college to the extent their income and assets permit. The parent contribution is determined by first deducting taxes and basic living expenses from parent income. Parents are then expected to use a portion of their remaining income and assets to pay for college.
Student contribution: Students are also responsible for covering part of the cost of college. Grinnell expects students to contribute from summer job earnings, work on campus during the school year, and/or savings. Student loans are available if you want to use those in place of work or in addition to work.
The Office of Financial Aid primarily uses data from the CSS Profile to determine how much your family will pay to attend Grinnell. The family contribution we use to determine your eligibility for Grinnell's financial aid is likely to differ from the Student Aid Index (SAI) determined by the FAFSA.
Parent Refusal to Pay
Grinnell assumes that both parents, regardless of their marital status, are primarily responsible for paying for their child's college education. Grinnell cannot require parents to contribute the amount determined. However, Grinnell will also not use its financial aid resources to compensate for what parents choose not to provide.
To be fair to all our students, we can only base our financial aid decisions on parents' ability and not willingness to pay.
Independent Status
Students who believe they may be independent for financial aid purposes should contact the Office of Financial Aid before completing their financial aid applications. Students who start at Grinnell College as dependent students will remain dependent for financial aid from Grinnell regardless of age or marital status.