Waterville, ME · 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 Colby College
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
$57,032
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $4,300.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Colby College, $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 Colby College
| Full price | $100,047 |
| After grants, at your income | $15,206 |
45% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $66,729 on average.
At this income, 0 of Maine's other 7 colleges cost less after grants, and 7 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Colby College's promise. Colby College 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 Colby College, our scenarios for Maine households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $3,000 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →What Colby College commits to
Colby College says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay.
“We pledge to meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need without loans.”
Colby College (Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, afa.colby.edu — 'The Colby Commitment', the school's canonical aid-policy page) — verified 2026-07.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- You must demonstrate financial eligibility and be enrolled FULL TIME to receive aid at all: “Colby offers financial aid to admitted students who demonstrate financial eligibility and are enrolled full time.” (2025-26 Colby College Course Catalogue)
- Aid applicants must file both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA — plus the Non-Custodial CSS Profile if applicable. International students must file the International Student CSS Profile.
- Aid application deadlines: before Nov. 15 for Early Decision I, before Jan. 17 for Early Decision II, and before Jan. 17 for Regular Decision.
- If you do not apply for aid before you are admitted, you lose Colby grant eligibility for TWO award years: “Students who do not complete a financial aid application prior to admission will not be considered for Colby grant assistance for two award years unless their family financial circumstances change substantially, unexpectedly, and unavoidably.”
- Colby’s published income ladder caps the parent/guardian contribution at $0 / $10,000 / $15,000 / $20,000 by income band. It does not band packaged student loans — those are $0 at every income level, so there is no hidden loan tier. The full ladder is listed under published guarantees.
- The 100% pledge governs the aided minority, not the whole student body: “More than $73 million in grant funding is awarded annually to approximately 42 percent of the student body.”
- Colby frames the commitment as: “No fees. No loans. No barriers.”
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.
The Colby Commitment / Fair Shot Fund — parent or guardian contribution cap, band 1 (income $75,000 or less)
Household income up to $75,000. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“If your family has a total income of $75,000 or less and typical assets, we’ve ensured they will have a parent or guardian contribution of $0.”
The Colby Commitment / Fair Shot Fund — parent or guardian contribution cap, band 2 (income $75,001–$100,000)
Household income up to $100,000. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“For families with a total income of $75,001 to $100,000 and typical assets, your parent or guardian contribution will be no more than $10,000.”
The Colby Commitment / Fair Shot Fund — parent or guardian contribution cap, band 3 (income $100,001–$150,000)
Household income up to $150,000. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“For families with a total income of $100,001 to $150,000 and typical assets, your parent or guardian contribution will be no more than $15,000.”
The Colby Commitment / Fair Shot Fund — parent or guardian contribution cap, band 4 (income $150,001–$200,000)
Household income up to $200,000. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“For families with a total income of $150,001 to $200,000 and typical assets, your parent or guardian contribution will be no more than $20,000 — which may make Colby cost less for you than any other four-year college or university.”
Weiland Welcome Grant
Household income up to $75,000. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
“The Weiland Welcome Grant awards $1,250 to eligible first-year students whose families earn $75,000 or less per year with typical assets and are eligible for $0 parent or guardian contribution.”
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 Colby College 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. For a family that lives in Maine, it also counts Maine's tax deduction for money you put through its 529 plan.
The $3,000 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Colby College's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in Maine, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Colby College 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 Colby College, 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 Colby College →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year, because the Scorecard publishes about two years behind. The full price is the college’s tuition, fees, housing and food on campus, and books. Each price after grants is the full price less the average grant families at that income received. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
The U.S. Department of Education's own figure for a year at Colby College, carried forward the same way, is $96,468, or $21,454 after the average grant. It averages the living costs of students on campus, off campus and at home, and counts costs the college doesn't bill for, such as travel and personal spending. Our full price is what the college charges a student who lives on campus.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Colby College. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Colby College$15,206 a year
- University of Maine at Presque Isle$16,187 a year
- University of Maine at Farmington$16,985 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every Maine college →