- USD’s tuition and costs are in the mid-range of selective private universities nationwide. Over 70% of our students receive some form of financial assistance including merit-based awards, need-based financial aid and athletic scholarships.
- Most of our students graduate in four years, receiving an excellent education as well as highly personal advising and guidance to make sure they stay on track.
- From our most recent graduating student survey, 72% of our graduating seniors already had a job. Another 20% were going to go to graduate school and 8% had other plans, including travel and service opportunities. A USD education is highly regarded in the marketplace and that makes for a great value.
We evaluate your application for admission without considering whether you’ll apply for need-based aid. Merit Scholarships are awarded to students beginning in March and are based on a student’s grades, the quality of their academic program and test scores. An offer of financial assistance is based on evidence of financial need, as determined by the federal calculation, after a family has completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). A financial aid award package is generally composed of scholarships, grants, loans, and work study. We strongly encourage all students who are interested in attending USD to apply for financial aid, regardless of financial circumstances.
As a way to help families understand more about the approximate cost of attending college, the Department of Education now requires all universities to have a financial aid estimator on their web site. Below you will find the link to the University of San Diego’s financial aid estimator. While helpful in getting a general idea of the amount and type of aid that might be available, it is important to remember that this only provides an estimate. Like our holistic admissions review process, financial aid is determined by many factors, only some of which can be built into a tool like this. Just like we cannot tell a student whether they will be admitted or not based on their GPA and test scores alone, we cannot tell a family, with certainty, exactly how much financial aid they may get based on the small sample of questions in the calculator.
To use the calculator below to get your estimate, answer the questions as accurately as you can. Remember that no award package is official until a family has completed the FAFSA by the required date, the student has been admitted to the University, and our financial aid office has thoroughly reviewed all the required documents.
