Saint Paul, MN · 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 Macalester 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
$132,603
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $7,800.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Macalester 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 Macalester College
| Full price | $97,034 |
| After grants, at your income | $34,739 |
87% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $41,439 on average.
At this income, 13 of Minnesota's other 13 colleges cost less after grants, and 0 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Macalester College's promise. Macalester 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 Macalester College, our scenarios for Minnesota households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $6,200 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 Macalester College commits to
Macalester College says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay.
“Macalester is one of few colleges that is committed to providing a financial aid package that meets 100% of every admitted student’s demonstrated need for financial aid AND offers a robust merit-based scholarship program”
Macalester College financial aid office — verified 2026-09.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- The same sentence says Macalester also offers merit scholarships.
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.
Macalester Tuition Promise: a full-tuition scholarship for admitted U.S. students with a family income of $100,000 or less
Household income up to $100,000. Covers tuition. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
- It is for admitted U.S. students with typical financial assets.
“For admitted U.S. students with a family income of $100,000 or less and typical financial assets, Macalester College will provide a full-tuition scholarship.”
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 Macalester 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 Minnesota, it also counts Minnesota's tax deduction for money you put through its 529 plan.
The $6,200 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Macalester College's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in Minnesota, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Macalester 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 Macalester 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 Macalester College →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Macalester College's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing and food, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. Books are the College Scorecard's. 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 Macalester College. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Bethel University (Minnesota)$28,085 a year
- University of St Thomas (Minnesota)$34,282 a year
- Macalester College$34,739 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every Minnesota college →