Financial Profile

Cost of Attendance and Financial Aid

Tuition and fees at CSB/SJU for the 2006-2007 academic year total $24,924, which is nearly identical to the average for all of Minnesota’s private colleges. 

Tuition at Saint Benedict and Saint John’s has risen faster than the average for all of Minnesota’s private colleges in the last ten years.  Since 1996-97, tuition and fees (before financial aid) at CSB/SJU have risen by 78%, compared to a total private college average of 72%. 

Average annual room and board charges at Saint Benedict and Saint John’s typically have exceeded the Minnesota private college average by between $100 and $500.

Comprehensive costs, including tuition, fees, room and board, and expenses total approximately $31,500.

In 2005-06, nearly three-quarters of all CSB and SJU students applied for need-based financial aid.  The number of students applying for need-based aid has declined at both CSB and SJU since the mid-1990s, a reflection of a rising family income profile. 

Fully 30% applied for merit-based scholarships.  In the last decade, the number of students seeking merit-only scholarships has doubled, similar to the trend at private colleges regionally and nationally.  More than 9 in 10 CSB and SJU students receive an institutional grant or scholarship award.

The average ability-to-pay of those seeking need-based financial assistance has more than doubled at both the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in the last ten years. 

Nonetheless, in 2005-06, the average student seeking need-based financial aid was able to pay only 41% of the total cost of attendance (inclusive of tuition, fees, room, board, and expenses) at CSB and 44% of the total cost of attendance at SJU.

In 2005-06, CSB/SJU students received nearly $67 million in financial aid, including grants, loans, and work-study.  Total financial aid awarded has more than doubled since 1995-96. 

The average need-based financial award in fall 2005 totaled $18,400, inclusive of grants, loans, and work-study.

Institutionally-awarded grant aid is the single largest source of assistance for Saint Benedict and Saint John’s students, totaling $36 million in 2005-06 and representing more than half of all financial aid awarded.  Ten years earlier, institutional grants comprised only 38% of all aid received by Saint Benedict and Saint John’s students. 

Together, institutional grants and student loans account for 83% of all financial aid awarded to CSB and SJU students.

Revenues and Expenditures

In fiscal year 2006, combined E&G operating expenses at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University (College of Arts and Sciences) totaled nearly $80 million. 

Nearly two-thirds of all expenditures were for activities related to academic instruction.

Similarly, compensation expenditures – inclusive of employee compensation and student wages – made up about two-thirds of all operating expenditures in FY 2006.

Like most other private colleges, Saint Benedict and Saint John’s receive the majority of their operating income from student tuition.  Tuition typically represents about 70% of budgeted operating income each year. 

Even though financial aid spending has increased significantly, both CSB and SJU have experienced substantial increases in net tuition revenue in the last decade.  Between FY 1997 and FY 2006, total net tuition revenue per student at the colleges grew by 59%.