Pasadena, CA · Private · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for California Institute of Technology
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$123,353
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $6,000.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for California Institute of Technology, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at California Institute of Technology
| Full price | $98,439 |
| After grants, at your income | $32,397 |
53% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $68,019 on average.
At this income, 53 of California's other 64 colleges cost less after grants, and 11 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. No merit aid program. All scholarships and grants are based on financial need, and the award depends entirely on how much help a family needs.
California Institute of Technology's promise. California Institute of Technology says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay. The conditions ↓
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At California Institute of Technology, our scenarios for California households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $3,900 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
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Put your schools side by side →Merit scholarships
What California Institute of Technology says it awards for grades and test scores.
No merit aid program. All scholarships and grants are based on financial need, and the award depends entirely on how much help a family needs.
What California Institute of Technology commits to
California Institute of Technology says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay.
“We meet 100% of a student's demonstrated financial need through grants, scholarships, work-study, and loans.”
California Institute of Technology — Undergraduate Admissions — verified 2026-07.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- Admission is need-blind for domestic students but need-aware for international students, whose finances can affect the decision: “Caltech Admissions is need-blind for domestic students (including undocumented and DACA students who graduate from a U.S. high school).” and “We are need-aware for international students because the total amount of financial aid funds for international students is limited.”
- Need is met with a package that INCLUDES loans and work-study, not grants alone — Caltech’s own wording lists “grants, scholarships, work-study, and loans”. Expect to borrow and to work.
- The package composition is guaranteed for four years only: “However, Institute policies and funding levels change over time, so the general components of a student’s financial aid package are guaranteed for four years only.” (2025-26 Financial Aid Offer Guide)
- The commitment is institution-wide. The 2025-26 Financial Aid Offer Guide states: “Caltech is committed to meeting the full need of each student by providing a financial aid package consisting of scholarships, grants, student employment and/or loans.”
These are the school’s own qualifiers. A commitment quoted without them is not the commitment they made.
Published guarantees you may qualify for
We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.
No-loan aid package for families with income under $100,000
Household income up to $100,000. Covers tuition, fees, housing, food. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“Most students from families making less than $100,000 (with typical assets) can expect a no-loan financial aid package that covers tuition, fees, housing, and food”
Tuition-covering aid package for families with income under $200,000
Household income up to $200,000. Covers tuition. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“Most students from families making less than $200,000 (with typical assets) can expect an aid package that covers tuition”
Expanded undergraduate aid investment, under-$100,000 band, effective with the Fall 2024 entering cohort
Household income up to $100,000. Covers tuition, fees, housing, food.
“Most students with family income of less than $100,000 are offered grant aid packages (meaning no loans, no repayment) that fully cover the cost of tuition, fees, housing, and food”
Expanded undergraduate aid investment, under-$200,000 tuition band, effective with the Fall 2024 entering cohort
Household income up to $200,000. Covers tuition.
“students with family income of less than $200,000 are offered grant aid packages that fully cover the cost of tuition.”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what California Institute of Technology reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit.
The $3,900 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in California Institute of Technology's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in California, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price California Institute of Technology at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from California Institute of Technology, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for California Institute of Technology →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: California Institute of Technology's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by California Institute of Technology. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- University of the Pacific$30,827 a year
- University of Southern California$31,472 a year
- California Institute of Technology$32,397 a year
- Dominican University of California$32,955 a year
- The Master's University and Seminary$35,187 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every California college →