Financial Aid at BCB

Applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• funds available in our programs,
• the number of individuals requesting these funds,
• your financial need as measured through uniform analysis of the financial data submitted in your financial aid application and/or FAFSA (only for US citizens/permanent residents), and
• financial aid available to you from other sources.

You will receive a notification detailing any offered aid after a successful admissions decision. An offer of financial aid is generally made on the assumption that you will be a full-time student and incur on-campus fees at Bard College Berlin. If these assumptions are wrong, your offer may be revised accordingly.

When enrolling, you must accept your institutional financial aid offer via an online form to have it applied to your student account. Once accepted, it will be applied twice per academic year, once in the fall and the spring. 

Financial aid is generally offered at the same amount for up to four consecutive academic years, contingent upon the timely submission of required documents, the demonstration of a similar level of financial need, and the maintenance of good academic standing. For transfer students, the duration of your award will be adjusted in line with your projected graduation semester following your official credit transfer. For further information on how to renew financial aid, please visit our Financial Aid/Scholarship Renewal page.

Bard College Berlin is committed to supporting as many students as possible. We expect you and your family to assume primary responsibility for educational costs, contributing from both income and assets. However, we cannot always meet every applicant’s demonstrated need due to limited resources in our programs. We encourage you to explore outside resources, such as public and private grants, scholarships, and loans.

All US citizens and permanent residents seeking aid must also submit a FAFSA to Bard College, NY (school code 002671). US federal aid will be coordinated between staff in New York and Berlin.

Please note that:

• US federal aid cannot be used for one-year programs such as the Academy Year or Project Year. Nevertheless, Academy Year applicants seeking institutional financial aid should submit a FAFSA for the assessment of their financial need.
• US federal aid will not be reflected as a credit on your student account until all required documentation is received and all verification processes are completed.  
• All loans will be disbursed in at least two payments, typically once in the fall and the spring. If you fail to enroll for any period for which the loan was intended, the disbursement for that loan period will be canceled and returned to the lender.
• If your FAFSA is selected for review in a process called verification, you will receive a worksheet and instructions from Bard College in Annandale. This is a routine process that serves to validate the information provided on your initial application. All requested documentation should be returned as soon as possible. 
• For continued federal aid, you must accumulate ECTS toward a degree according to the following schedule:

 

Academic year completed	ECTS completed
1	64
2	128
3	192
4	256