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Financial Aid Office

Office Hours

Open Monday – Friday, 8am – noon and 1pm – 4:30pm Central time.

2024-2025 FAFSA

The 2424 FAFSA is now available at fafsa.gov. Although prospective students will need to complete the FAFSA at some point before enrolling, we use the CSS Profile to determine a student’s total eligibility for financial aid. For returning students, we request that you complete the FAFSA by May 15.

Please note that colleges will not start receiving FAFSA information until mid-March. If you have completed the FAFSA, you will not see it marked as received by Macalester until late March.

Here is more information about the changes to the 2024-2025 FAFSA.

Admitted Students: If you applied for need-based financial aid and are awaiting financial aid results from other colleges or universities due to the FAFSA delay, see our Dates & Deadlines page for information about deposit deadline extensions.

Prospective Students

Congratulations to all admitted students for the 2024-2025 academic year! If you indicated an intent to apply for aid and you completed your financial aid application, we have posted a financial aid letter to your application portal and mailed a copy to your home address.

If you indicated an intent to apply for aid but have not completed your application, please do so as soon as possible. We will continue to award financial aid as applications are completed. Please check your application portal for missing items and review our aid application process.

Financial aid letters include documents with details about your financial aid package and available financing options. You can also contact us with any questions. We are eager to answer your questions and provide any additional information you might need.

Communication From Our Office

In an effort to conserve resources, we will limit the number of paper financial aid eligibility notifications sent from our office. Students will receive initial eligibility notifications in the mail and electronically. Subsequent notifications will be electronic only. Paper notifications are sent to the permanent address on file with the Registrar.

If you would prefer to receive paper notifications (sent to your SPO during the academic year), please send an email to [email protected].

2022-2023 Key Facts and Figures

63% of students receive need-based financial aid

Average need-based financial aid package: $57,801

The average financial aid package includes the following:

Grants/scholarships: 86%
Loans: 9%
Student Employment: 5%

Merit Scholarship Opportunities

More than half of Macalester students are recipients of a merit-based scholarship (many of those students also receive need-based financial aid). All applicants for admission are considered for Macalester’s merit scholarships; no additional scholarship application is required. Merit scholarship awards range from $8,000 to $100,000 over four years. More information about Macalester’s Merit Scholarships.

COVID-19 Information

View Macalester’s COVID-19 page


The resources your family needs to learn about and apply for financial aid at Macalester are on this site. If you have any additional questions or are unable to find the information you are looking for, please feel free to contact us.

The Admissions and Financial Aid Offices are physically located at 62 Macalester Street.