Whittier College invests in affordability with more than $60 million in scholarships and merit awards granted to students admitted for fall 2023. More than 85% of Whittier students receive some type of aid from the College, which can be critical to their decision to enroll.
“It definitely was a huge factor, because college is expensive,” said first-year student Amelie Tapia, a sociology major. “It wasn't the only school I was accepted to, but they weren't offering as good of financial aid packages as Whittier did.”
Tapia received the John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarship, Theatre Scholarship — a subset of the school's Talent Scholarship — Gateway Scholarship, and a Pell Grant.
For the 2022-23 academic year, the average out-of-pocket tuition cost per Poet was about $20,00 per year, in contrast with the $48,924 price tag of tuition alone. Financial aid is often a combination of federal funding, work-study, state scholarships and other grants.
Whittier College consistently earns top marks on affordability, ranked as a 2024 Best Value School and a Top Performer on Social Mobility (tied for No. 8 nationally) by U.S. News & World Report.
The largest scholarship Whittier awards is the John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarship. Honoring the College and town’s namesake, all admitted first-year and transfer students are automatically considered for this scholarship. John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarships range from $20,000 to $36,000 per year and are renewable annually if the recipient maintains full-time enrollment and good academic standing.
First-year student Calvin Morgenstern, a John Greenleaf Whittier Scholarship recipient, said financial aid played an important role in his ability to attend Whittier.
“If I didn't get a good enough scholarship, I might not have been able to attend college,” he said.
Morgenstern also receives the Gateway Scholarship, Cal Grant, Pell Grant, and Theatre Scholarship, paying less than $1,000 a year out of pocket.
Auditioning for and then receiving the Theatre Scholarship turned out to be instrumental for Morgenstern’s academic future.
“I was able to go in declared as a theatre major,” Morgenstern said. “Before, I might not have been too sure of it as a career path.”
The Talent Scholarship was recently renamed the Creative Arts Scholarship for incoming students. It has expanded its eligibility criteria by adding new disciplines this fall: writing and film.
Visit Whittier.edu/FinancialAid for more information.
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