How Aid Works

Student Responsibility

Since you are the primary beneficiary of a Stanford education, we expect you to participate in paying for a portion of your college costs.  You will be responsible for contributing a minimum of $4,500 per academic year, typically from summer and academic year earnings.  If you have assets in your name, you will be expected to contribute 5% of those assets each year toward educational costs in addition to your earnings.  To meet this expectation, you may choose to use job earnings, assets, outside scholarships and/or student loans. 

For examples of how outside scholarships can reduce or eliminate the student earnings expectation, please refer to our Outside Awards page.