If you apply for financial aid (we urge every student to apply), your actual cost to enroll at Westmont depends on your family’s financial need and your eligibility for merit- and talent-based scholarships. Westmont commits a significant amount of financial aid ($22.4 million) to scholarships and grants, making our high-quality education affordable to students from a wide range of economic backgrounds.
At Westmont, institutional gift aid represents 63 percent of all aid to students; the national figure is 19 percent. Only 22 percent of aid to Westmont students comes from federal loans compared to 37 percent nationally.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Student Financial Services.
Steps to Apply for Financial Aid
Federal Student Aid ID
A Federal Student Aid ID is used to sign the FAFSA on the Web, as well as to make corrections, complete a renewal FAFSA, and to check on the student loan data. Parents of dependent students must also apply for a Federal Student Aid ID in order to sign their student's FAFSA renewal or corrections.
Submit FAFSA
With the upcoming changes to the FAFSA, Westmont is continuing our commitment to helping students and families make a Westmont education affordable.
We encourage all students and prospective students to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is completed online. This year's FAFSA is scheduled to go live on December 1, 2024. Students that are applying for the Cal Grant need to fill out the FAFSA by March 3, 2025.
While the FAFSA is now live to submit, colleges will not receive family information until mid-March at the earliest, at which point we'll begin returning financial aid estimates as quickly as we can.
The Federal School Code for Westmont College is: 001341
Cal Grant GPA Verification Form
California residents are eligible to apply for a Cal Grant. First-time Cal Grant recipients must have their high school GPA (or college GPA, for transfer students with 24 or more completed college semester units) submitted electronically to the California Student Aid Commission. Most High Schools submit the GPA automatically to the California Student Aid Commission, but the student should make sure this was done. The deadline to submit the GPA to the California Student Aid Commission is March 3, 2025.
Verification
Student Financial Services may request various documents to verify your information provided on the FAFSA. The list of required documents specific to your application will be available on the Financial Aid Student Portal (Net Partner). Financial aid awards are subject to change if information on these forms is different from the information reported on the FAFSA. Priority is given to students whose documents are received by June 1st.
Academic Transcripts for Transfer Students and Recent High School Graduates
Recent high school graduates must submit the final transcript that indicates graduation to the Office of Admission before financial aid will be credited to the student’s account. For transfer students, academic transcripts, through the final semester/quarter, must be submitted to the Student Records Office before Student Financial Services can verify a student’s eligibility for student loans.
Respond to your Financial Aid Package
Once all necessary financial aid application items have been submitted and reviewed by Student Financial Services, students will be sent an email indicating that the “final” financial aid package is ready to be reviewed. At that time, students must access the Financial Aid Student Portal and select “Accepting Your Aid” under the menu. Once there, a student is required to either accept or decline each source of financial aid that is listed. No financial aid will be credited to a student’s account until each fund offered has either been accepted or declined.
A PLUS loan, or Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students, is a federal student loan program in the United States that allows parents of dependent undergraduate students to borrow funds to help cover the cost of their child's education.
Worth the Investment in Your Education
The value of Westmont lies in educating the whole person and caring about every aspect of your life. You’ll find a home in a loving, hospitable community on a beautiful Santa Barbara campus that nurtures your mind, your faith, your character, your purpose, your future and your joy.
Learn to lead and serve in every sphere of society. Through classes, internships, and research with professors, you’ll get hands-on experience that takes you further. Discover a strong network of alums, parents, advisers and friends. Westmont will set you on a path to a profession that fits you. Ninety percent of the class of 2022 found work or enrolled in graduate school within six months of earning their degrees.
We want to work with you to make college affordable. Westmont provided $39 million in grants and scholarships last year, assisting 95 percent of our students. Money’s 2023 Best Colleges rating, which analyzed more than 700 four-year colleges with a focus on quality, affordability and student outcomes, recognized Westmont with four-out-of-five stars. LendEDU ranks Westmont highly in California for helping students afford tuition. Our four-year graduation rate (72 percent) exceeds the four-year national graduation rate (48 percent) by 24 percentage points and the six-year national graduation rate (64 percent) by eight percentage points. Twenty-one percent of Westmont students graduate early.
As one of the nation’s leading Christian liberal arts institutions and the top-ranked school in California and the western United States, Westmont propels students to achieve their potential. Our robust curriculum provides the high-quality, faith-based education of a true honors college. An exceptional approach to learning — small class sizes, expert professors and a focus on research — challenges students to think deeply and learn broadly.
Dig deeper, push your faith, expand your knowledge and search your soul to understand why you believe what you believe. Westmont professors bring their faith into the classroom and challenge you to think like a Christian. Chapel services during the week, small Bible study groups, participation in local churches and volunteer ministry work all help you make your faith your own. Become the person God created you to be. Learn to live with deeper purpose and meaning.
Learn how to make difficult decisions rooted in your faith and values. You’ll explore how to live with integrity and discover deeper purpose in your life. Living in a Christian community like Westmont will shape and refine your character and help you learn how to invest yourself in the people around you. You’ll discover how to lead with integrity — and how to serve —in every sphere of society throughout the world.
Embrace the welcoming and hospitable community at Westmont. Students truly enjoy life on campus! Get involved in clubs, Bible studies, intramural sports, study groups, adventure trips, and more! Immerse yourself in beautiful Santa Barbara. Students embrace the strong sense of community and wide range of vibrant activities locally and all that California offers. Our incredible location in a city rich in Spanish and Mediterranean heritage and culture set between mountains and ocean offers so many opportunities for recreation, the arts, history, inspiration and exploration.
How I Graduated From Westmont
Four years of financial hardship and walking by faith.
By Jenna Nellis Justman ’17
Paying It Forward
Giving loans that transform lives. Jay (Ofori) Diallo ’08 depended on
scholarships to attend Westmont.
of new students at Westmont receive academic scholarships, talent-based scholarships and/or need-based grants
Tuition | $50,500
Fees | $1,240
Room | $9,860
Board | $6,500
Westmont gives away
dollars in financial aid every week.
Cost of Attendance
Your net cost to attend Westmont will likely be much less than our published tuition, fees and living expenses. Here are the tuition & fee estimates before Financial Aid.
See your scholarship eligibility at a glance:
What Westmont scholarship do you qualify for? On the chart below, find your GPA and your SAT and/or ACT scores and discover the size of your scholarship award. With some scholarships, higher test scores can compensate for a lower GPA—and vice versa. This amount doesn't include any need-based aid you may receive on the basis of your FAFSA or talent-based awards such as athletics and music scholarships.
Applying test-optional?
Students applying without ACT or SAT scores are eligible for all our academic scholarship tiers. Merit scholarships are awarded based on the academic criteria available to us. Admission decisions are always made on the basis of a holistic review, including academic credentials, an interview, extra-curricular involvement, demonstrated leadership and more.
Scholarship Criteria
These scholarships are awarded to first-year and transfer students with a distinguished high school or college academic profile. More than 95 percent of first-year and transfer students receive an academic and/or talent-based scholarship. A combination of academic GPA, SAT or ACT scores and overall quality of the application determine the scholarship amount. Students eligible for academic scholarships are notified within their offer of admission.
Connect With Your Counselor
Have a more general admissions-related question? Your counselors would love to help. Find out who your counselor is and how you can reach out via phone, email, and even meet with them in person when you visit campus or at your local college fairs.
Contact Us
If you have any specific financial aid-related questions, you can call our Student Financial Services at (805) 565-6063 or email sfs@westmont.edu to schedule an appointment to speak with a financial aid counselor.