Understanding Montana Tech Tuition Costs and Financial Aid Options

Montana Tech of the University of Montana, a public university located in Butte, Montana, offers a variety of academic programs and opportunities for students. Founded in 1900 as the Montana State School of Mines, the university became affiliated with the University of Montana in 1994. In fall 2017, Montana Tech had nearly 2,700 students and 13 campus buildings. It offers 45 undergraduate degrees along with 15 minors, 11 certification degrees, and 10 pre-professional career programs. Understanding the costs associated with attending Montana Tech and the financial aid options available is crucial for prospective students and their families.

Montana Tech: An Overview

Montana Tech is a public institution with a moderate graduation rate of 47% and a high retention rate of 76%. The acceptance rate is 89%. Its website is www.mtech.edu.

Cost of Attendance: Breaking Down the Numbers

Knowing what a school costs is Step #1 in managing college costs. The "Cost of Attendance" is the total amount of money the average student has to pay, WITHOUT any financial aid, to attend a particular school. Think of it as a school’s sticker price. Montana Technological University's tuition is $8,763 for in-state and $26,571 for out-of-state students. For students coming from out of state, the tuition is cheaper than the national average cost of out-of-state tuition of $29,815. Compared with the national average cost of in-state tuition of $12,436, Montana Technological University is cheaper.

These figures include both tuition and fees, also referred to as the sticker price. Fees differ by institution and may fund library services, student gym facilities, student centers, technology resources and campus health centers.

The Cost of Attendance breakdown for Montana Tech of the University of Montana differs depending on whether you’re in-state or out-of-state student - in-state students can expect lower costs for tuition and fees. Because Montana Tech of the University of Montana is an out-of-state public institution, you'd be paying $12142 more than if you were an in-state student.

As you’re comparing costs of different institutions, also consider the total cost and the net price. The total cost is the sticker price, plus the cost of food and housing, books and supplies, and transportation and personal expenses. At Montana Technological University, the total cost is $25,960 for in-state students and $43,765 for out-of-state students.

Factors Influencing the Average Annual Cost

The average cost of attendance for your child will depend on how old they are today, and how much gift aid they will qualify for.

Understanding Financial Aid at Montana Tech

The Cost of Attendance listed above might be intimidating. Let's start with the overall numbers. This is good news - more students getting financial aid means students at Montana Tech of the University of Montana are likely getting a pretty good deal on their education.

Grants and Scholarships: Free Money for College

We’re focusing on grants and scholarships first because they’re the most important forms of financial aid. Grants and scholarships are better than loans because students don’t ever have to pay them back. Although it’s useful to know how many students get grant aid, it’s also important to know how much grant aid people tend to receive. So how much grant money do students at Montana Tech of the University of Montana tend to receive? Altogether, this is mixed news - at Montana Tech of the University of Montana, MORE students get aid, but the ones who do get LESS than average. The grant dollar amounts we’ve seen so far have included aid from all sources - both federal and institutional. To figure out how strong Montana Tech of the University of Montana’s own financial aid program is, we’ll look at how they award their own (non-federal) financial aid dollars. Because more Montana Tech of the University of Montana students get institutional aid, it likely offers relatively competitive financial aid. The amount of money that students actually get is just as important (if not more important) than the percent of students who get grants. Right away, it seems like Montana Tech of the University of Montana offers less institutional aid than other schools. Second, this can also mean that the school just costs less than the typical school of its type.

Student Loans: Borrowing for Education

Up to this point, we've looked entirely at grants for Montana Tech of the University of Montana. Aside from grants, the other major way to pay for college is with student loans. The more student loan money you borrow, the more debt you’ll end up with after graduation. Ideally, you want to minimize your student debt as much as possible. It’s generally a bad sign if a school has many students taking out a lot of loans. First, let’s talk about how many students at Montana Tech of the University of Montana actually have to take out any student loans at all. It’s very common for college grads in the US to graduate with some debt, but high percentages of students taking on loans at a particular school is a big red flag. It’s a good sign that lower numbers of students take out loans at Montana Tech of the University of Montana. We’ll start with federal loans because, in general, federal loans are preferable to private loans. Federal loans tend to have low interest rates, which means they cost less in the long run. High percentages or amounts of federal loans still isn’t a great sign - again, you don’t want to see students burdened with too much debt. At Montana Tech of the University of Montana, 44% of all students take out federal loans. At Montana Tech of the University of Montana, the average annual federal loan amount is $5161.

Other loans, or private loans, are the last resource students turn to when paying for college. At Montana Tech of the University of Montana, 2% of students take out private loans. Just as important as the percentage of students with private loans is the average loan amount. The average private loan amount at Montana Tech of the University of Montana is $12465. The percentage of students getting federal loans is greater than those getting private loans, which is a good sign.

Net Price: What You'll Actually Pay

Finally, we get to the bottom line: what will Montana Tech of the University of Montana actually cost YOU? Above, we've covered Montana Tech of the University of Montana's Cost of Attendance (tuition, room and board, books, and more). The Net Price is the total cost minus the total aid given. In other words, this is the price you have to pay to the school out of pocket. We'll cover two ways to get your Net Price for Montana Tech of the University of Montana - the fast way, and the precise way. If you want a quick, general idea of your annual Net Price at Montana Tech of the University of Montana, here's a handy chart showing the net price of real students. Most schools have an updated Net Price calculator available.

Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

Once you have a Net Price estimate, you’ll want to figure out whether your family can afford to pay Montana Tech of the University of Montana tuition and costs. Once again, the Net Price is the total cost of attending, minus the aid you can expect to get (grants and scholarships). The US government has come up with a standardized way to calculate how much a typical family can afford to pay without help. As an example, a family that brings home $80,000 in income before taxes, with no assets and no other children in college, has an EFC of around $7,000. Colleges use this number as a guideline to decide how much aid to give you, but it's just a guideline. So we're going to calculate your EFC and compare it to Montana Tech of the University of Montana's Net Price. If the Net Price is higher than the EFC, the school will cost more than you can typically afford. This tool will calculate your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC. In order to calculate this amount, we need just 4 pieces of information from you. According to the information you’ve entered above, your Expected Family Contribution should be about $. This is the amount that the federal government thinks you can afford to pay for school. Please note this tool is only an approximation, and your personal situation may cause your EFC to vary.

Saving for College: A Proactive Approach

Most families will aim to save less than 100% of their total projected college costs. Your child may receive grants or scholarships towards college, and you may use loans or current income to pay a portion of the costs. The chart below illustrates the monthly contributions necessary to meet different targets, and how much they increase each year you wait to start saving.

A smarter way to reduce your child's future monthly payments is to start saving money well before college. Every dollar you save for your child will reduce the amount they will have to borrow and pay back with interest.

Student Debt and Future Income

The more you save for your child before college, the less they will have to pay back after college. A good rule of thumb is to keep total debt less than your child's expected annual income. That way they should be able to afford to repay their loans in 10 years or less.

You'll also want to compare your child's monthly payments to their monthly income. Anything less than 10% is considered affordable, 15% is a stretch, and anything over 20% is not recommended.

Is Montana Tech a Good Value?

Chances are, college won't be cheap. Have you considered a range of private and public schools? What if you didn't attend college at all? Here's our take: college will be a really important stage in your development. Going to a better, more reputable college will usually pay off in the long run. To determine the value of Montana Tech of the University of Montana, we're going to rely on reputable ranking lists. As a regional school, Montana Tech of the University of Montana may not have the national reputation of schools like Stanford or Boston University, but it's still considered to be one of the best schools in its class. This means your classmates will be well above average and you'll belong to an exciting community. On the value ranking lists we used, Montana Tech of the University of Montana didn't appear in the rankings. This usually means that, compared to other schools of its reputation, the net price is relatively high. Overall, we still believe attending Montana Tech of the University of Montana is a good value, and it's likely to be a good investment in the long run.

Exploring Alternatives

Your next step should be to get a better idea of costs and aid availability at similar schools. If you’re interested in Montana Tech of the University of Montana, you should check out some other high-value schools that could give you more bang for your buck. Get started here to check both in-state and out-of-state schools that might provide a better value. Finally, we're going to look at schools that might offer a better value than Montana Tech of the University of Montana. To compile this list, we first find schools at similar academic levels, so you have a similar chance at getting in. It’s hard to know exactly what schools will be a great value for you without information on your family income. There are a lot of potential financial benefits that come with attending a school close to home. For example, in-state public schools tend to have subsidized tuitions for state residents.

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