Your Aid Offer
We determine your financial aid by subtracting your family contribution from Duke's cost of attendance:
Cost of Attendance (Total Costs)
- Expected Family Contribution
= Aid Offered
There are three types of aid: loans, work-study, and grants/scholarships.
Loan
If your family's total income is above $65,000, part of the aid offered to you will be a federal loan. Federal student loans are typically the best loans available to a student.
The amount of loans in your aid offer is determined by your family's total income, with $5,000 as the maximum initially included. Of course, if you would like to request additional loans, you can contact us.
Work Study
Students typically have work study in their financial aid offer.
If you're eligible for Federal Work Study, we'll include it in your aid offer, and amounts vary depending on your year in school and the results of your aid application. You may receive either Federal Work Study or Duke Work Study, depending on the results of your FAFSA application.
Grant
Once we've squared away your loans and work study, the rest of your financial aid offer will be grant/scholarship aid. So if you're receiving $50,000 in aid, we'll subtract any federal loans and work-study included in your offer, and the rest of the amount you'll need to cover your cost will be issued in grants or scholarships.
Your grant/scholarship aid may be called "Duke Grant" or have a different name, depending on what you're eligible to receive from Duke, the state, or the federal government.