Overview of Your Package

The Financial Aid Office administers available funds uniformly and equitably in accordance with the existing regulations and policies. If a student feels that his or her request was not given proper or adequate consideration, he or she may appeal the decision. In such cases the student should contact the Financial Aid Office for more information.

Not every student who demonstrates financial need will be given institutional scholarship assistance, given the large number of applicants for aid and the limited scholarship funds that are available. The College may decide that the applicant’s academic credentials, in spite of financial need, do not warrant scholarship aid for the entry year at Bard. A favorable decision for future years would depend on the applicant’s academic record at Bard and the availability of funds. Families need to consider their ability to cover educational expenses for the full four years that the student will be attending Bard College. If the family finds that they have income and assets to cover only a portion of that time, they should apply for aid for the student's first year of attendance. Consideration for aid for families not receiving it initially will be on a case-by-case basis and will depend on available funding in subsequent years. A committee that meets in June and December of each year will review these later applications.

An offer of financial aid, unless otherwise stated, is made on the assumption that the applicant will be a full-time student and will incur full-time tuition and room and board charges at Bard. If these assumptions are wrong, the applicant should expect a revision of the financial aid offer.

All Bard College financial aid is awarded for study at the College’s campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. It cannot be applied to the payment of tuition and fees for programs at other institutions in the United States or for study abroad.

Notification of financial aid awards for new students begins in the last week of March and continues through the middle of April. Packaging and notification for returning students is completed by May 1.