I know that since wustl is a private university that the price goes way up, to about 60k per year. I just want to know if most people get scholarships or aid that lessens the cost significantly? My parents said that they will pay for any college that I go to, but I also don’t want to break the bank!! I am a pretty good student, with a 5.45 gpa out of 5 and a 31 act (32 with superscore) but I am trying to get it up. I have taken almost all honors or ap classes and have done well on the exams. I am also in 2 varsity sports, gymnastics and track, and manage the boy’s gymnastics team. I play clarinet in my school’s band along with the orchestra. I am the vp of NHS at my school and I like to volunteer whenever I can. I think I have a chance to get into wustl for engineering, plus I’m a girl, so that helps! Do you think I could knock down the price at all? Thank you so much, you guys rock!!
Google “net price calculator Washington University St. Louis”.
Fill it out with your parents.
^^yes
You are a full payer unless a) you qualify for need as defined by the institution or b) you get merit aid at a merit granting institution
I couldn’t find WUSTL’s most recent Common Data Set but the one from the 2012/2013 academic year says that they awarded merit aid to 150 students out of a class of 1,600 averaging $10,000/year. WUSTL is getting more and more difficult to even get admitted to these days never mind winning merit aid. So 10% of the students who do not qualify for financial aid are awarded merit aid. Compare your stats to those of admitted students on a website like Parchment.com and figure out if you think you are strong enough relative to the applicant pool to be a good candidate for merit aid. Just about every private universities total cost of attendance is going to be within a few thousand dollars of $60K. The only difference is what students actually end up paying. At CWRU or GW a student like you would probably be awarded $15K or more/year in merit aid. At WUSTL, probably not
hi! I currently attend WashU and I pay betwen 3000 and 5000 a semester, depending on how many work-study hours i work. My parents have a combined income of around 110k a year, and I get full tuition in need-based aid, plus some outside scholarships. I get an unusual amount of aid because when I was at Discovery Weekend for seniors, the person giving the presentation on financial aid told us to tell ALL financial grievances to your financial aid counselor. For instance, My dad makes a healthy amount of money, but he works in a different state in which he lives so he rents an extra house. My older brother also attended college. Our house flooded in 2014. My mother has outstanding legal fees and hospital bills. Telling your counselor things like this might buy you more need-based aid.
I did not win or even reach the finals for any merit scholarships, and I had a 35 superscore ACT, 4.6/4 GPA, full IB schedule, ranked 12th/500, VP of NHS, and was in around 6 other clubs. My best friend did, however, and he had a 31 ACT, 4.65/4 GPA, full IB schedule, SGA president, in about 6 other clubs, and was valedictorian. He’s also hispanic, and won full tuition through the Rodriguez scholarship program which is mainly hispanic but not entirely. A major difference in our scholarship applications was I took the questions very literally and answered in an almost bullet point format (with flowery words). My friend wrote his in a more personal, narrative like form. Just thought I’d share my tips/experience 
I literally made this account to answer your question LOL so if you want to chat about anything involving admissions, applications, or WashU you can email me, jessiecolston@gmail.com!! I’m not a professional or anything, but I did get in and I did get a fair amount of money LOL!
oh can you not post websites/contact details? OOPS, sorry! but thats gmail in the address 