Attending college can be very expensive for both students and their families. High tuition costs coupled with high overall costs of living can stress an individual’s financial circumstance.
According to the most recent data compiled by LendEDU, the average annual price to attend a private four-year college is $50,900, while a public four-year institution is $25,290. Multiply those single year figures by four and you’re looking at a total cost of college in the six figures.
Due to this steep price tag, people often have to get creative in finding ways to pay for college without overextending the amount of student loan debt they incur. One of the best ways to cover the costs is through scholarships and grants, which do not need to paid back unlike federal or private student loans.
States are some of the main providers of need-based scholarships and grants for students. A state may have a massive budget for scholarships and grants depending on the its fiscal policy.
Using financial aid data licensed from Peterson’s, LendEDU has ranked all 50 states and Washington D.C. according to how much each provides in need-based scholarships and grants per student from each state that is seeking out this specific form of funding.
This is valuable information for prospective college students looking to limit their student loan debt by attending an institution in a state that is known for being generous when it comes to scholarships and grants.
In the table below, you will see which states supply the most and least amount of need-based scholarships and grants per student that is deemed to have financial need.
Complete Rankings
Map of Rankings
Methodology
The data in this report comes from the Peterson’s Financial Aid dataset which was licensed my LendEDU. Data from Peterson’s is voluntarily submitted by U.S. colleges and universities themselves. This particular dataset reflects gifted financial aid in the form of need-based scholarships and grants from states.
The average amount of need-based aid given by the state in the form of scholarships and grants received per student was calculated by totaling the amounts of state need-based aid at all schools in each respective state and dividing that sum by the total number of students deemed to have financial need from all schools in each respective state.
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