How good is the financial aid at Duke?

SBR
Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:30:00 +0000

objobs: The number of full ride scholarships awarded by Duke is pretty clear for those that take the time to browse the FA website. It’s under Other Sources under the Undergraduate Aid tab (finaid.duke.edu).

The annual Duke FA budget is also available if you just google it (see my last post). It’s $86 million. If you want a rough estimate of the amount of aid on average, take that number and divide by 3900 (assuming 60% of undergrads get aid). That works out to be about $22000 per student per year on average (again very crude estimate). Compare that with a cost of attendance north of $55000, it’s pretty easy to get a rough idea of what the FA picture is like.

Of course, it’s not going to be printed on a glossy brochure or on the homepage of duke.edu but it’s relatively accessible for anyone who cares to do a little bit of research. Considering how important choosing colleges and applying is, I think that little bit of research is not too much to ask for when I say that applicants need to make an effort to be informed.

Edit: let’s not blindly make judgments on the priorities of Duke students/alumni. Up to now this discussion has been pretty civil and rational but let’s not intentionally wander into subjective opinions that will surely offend (ie let’s not ■■■■■).