Guidebook

Financial Aid

Eliot 202

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday (closed noon to 1)

Email: financial.aid@reed.edu
Financial aid office website

Higher education is a valuable investment. Reed College believes that the student and the student's family, as beneficiaries of that investment, have the primary responsibility for paying for college costs. The college assumes that the student and family will make every effort to contribute to the fullest extent possible from income and assets. The college recognizes, however, that a family's resources may be insufficient to fully fund the cost of a Reed education. Reed is committed, therefore, to providing a comprehensive financial aid program that seeks to bring the college's educational opportunities within reach of all qualified students.

Believing that everyone at the college benefits from having a diverse student population from a wide range of economic and social backgrounds, Reed College is committed to the philosophy that financial aid should be awarded on the basis of financial need to allow the greatest number of students access to an education. Reed offers no institutional aid based solely on merit. About half of Reed's students receive some type of financial assistance. Reed's financial aid program includes federal, state, and institutional funding sources. Financial aid may be in the form of grants, loans, and employment opportunities. The details of these funds are described in the Reed College catalog.

A student's financial need is the difference between the total cost of attendance and the calculated expected family contribution. Components of the cost of attendance include tuition, student body fees, room and board, books, incidental expenses, and a travel allowance. The expected family contribution is determined by using institutional and federal need analysis procedures and policies to review the information submitted on the CSS's Profile and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), as well as parent and student IRS income tax returns and W-2 and 1099 statements. When the calculated family contribution is less than the cost of attendance, the student has demonstrated financial need. The college will do its best to provide the financial support necessary for the student to attend Reed.

Families that have unique, documentable circumstances that affect their ability to contribute toward educational expenses may request that the financial aid office reevaluate their eligibility for assistance based on those circumstances. Requests for reevaluation must be in writing and must included a detailed description of the family's unique circumstances.

Financial aid recipients must reapply for financial assistance each academic year. Deadline information and application packets are available in the financial aid office each December. Reed is committed to meeting 100 percent of a student's demonstrated financial need (that is, the need as determined by the student's application for financial aid) for all undergraduate students, provided the student completes the financial aid application process annually by our stated deadlines (January 15th for entering freshman, March 1st for entering transfers, and May 1st for continuing students), and the student maintains  satisfactory academic progress (minimum of 6 Reed units and a 2.0 GPA annually). Satisfactory academic progress for federal funds at Reed College also requires that the bachelor's degree be completed within a maximum of six years; for institutional funds, the maximum time frame for completion of the bachelor's degree is four years. These progress requirements will be reviewed at the end of the academic year or every two semesters.

(Page last modified: November 29, 2023)