Arizona · Arizona

Arizona Merit Aid

Public Big 12 flagship with a published $4,000–$20,000/year Arizona Tuition Award for non-residents, a separate $2,000–$11,000/year Wildcat Tuition Award for Arizona residents, and a detailed National Scholar package for National Merit Finalists. Outside scholarships displace undisbursed loans first, which makes Arizona one of the more outside-scholarship-friendly public flagships in the country.

Verified Apr 2026Analyst pt-browser

Merit tiers72 automatic on stats

Avg merit award$14,046CDS 2023-2024

Last verifiedApr 2026Analyst pt-browser

Who this school is for

The University of Arizona is the non-resident family's detail-oriented flagship: every layer is published in terms and conditions, and every layer has a combination rule. Non-residents with a 3.25+ unweighted 6th-semester core GPA and a 24+ ACT or 1110+ SAT qualify for the Arizona Tuition Award, which pays $4,000–$20,000/year (comprised of the Excellence and Distinction subtiers, not separately priced). Non-residents can additionally receive the Presidential Scholarship at $10,000/year for highly selective consideration. Arizona residents with the same GPA and test thresholds qualify for the Wildcat Tuition Award at $2,000–$11,000/year. Arizona-resident National Merit Finalists receive a flat $18,000/year National Scholars Tuition Award; non-resident NMFs layer a $3,000/year National Scholar supplement on top of the base Arizona Tuition Award. Franke Honors College admits with a 3.75+ unweighted GPA stack a $10,000/year Honors freshman award plus up to $10,000 in study abroad travel stipends. The non-resident priority deadline is November 1 Early Action. Arizona's outside-scholarship policy reduces undisbursed loans first before touching institutional aid, which is notably generous among public flagships.

Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $61,699 for 2025-2026. Out-of-state on-campus cost of attendance for 2025-2026. In-state on-campus total is $35,369. Tuition and fees alone run $43,068 for non-residents ($41,330 tuition + $1,738 mandatory fees) and $13,906 for Arizona residents. Source

Institutional merit aid tiers

Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.

$4,000–$20,000 per academic year range. Comprised of the Arizona Excellence Tuition Award and Arizona Distinction Tuition Award subtiers, which are not separately priced cell-by-cell on Arizona's published terms and conditions.

Arizona Tuition Award (non-resident)

Automatic8 consecutive semesters (fall + spring only). Initial offers are based on self-reported grades at admission; final awards are finalized after admissions grade verification.

RequirementsGPA 3.25+ · SAT 1110+ · ACT 24+ · Non-resident, first-time, full-time, degree-seeking, first bachelor's degree. Base eligibility requires an unweighted 6th-semester core GPA of 3.25+ AND a 24+ ACT or 1110+ SAT (critical reading + math). Cannot be combined with the Wildcat Tuition Award or the National Scholars Tuition Award.

The Arizona Tuition Award is published as a $4,000–$20,000/year range, not a cell-by-cell GPA × test grid. Awards are comprised of Arizona Excellence and Arizona Distinction components that are combined at award time. The November 1 Early Action deadline is the priority window for maximum consideration. 2026-27 program names are confirmed but dollar amounts are not yet published; 2025-26 figures above should be used for modeling until Arizona publishes the new cycle.

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$2,000–$11,000 per academic year range

Wildcat Tuition Award (Arizona residents)

Automatic8 consecutive semesters (fall + spring only). Renewal subject to the published terms and conditions.

RequirementsGPA 3.25+ · SAT 1110+ · ACT 24+ · Arizona resident, first-time, full-time, degree-seeking. Awards are based on the 6th-semester unweighted core GPA on a 4.0 scale. Comprised of the Wildcat Excellence and Wildcat Distinction subtiers, which are not separately priced. Cannot be combined with the non-resident Arizona Tuition Award.

The in-state Wildcat Tuition Award is published as a $2,000–$11,000/year range. Arizona-resident National Merit Finalists receive the flat $18,000/year National Scholars Tuition Award in place of Wildcat, not in addition to it.

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Arizona residents: $18,000/year flat (replaces the Wildcat Tuition Award). Non-residents: Arizona Tuition Award + $3,000/year National Scholar supplement.

National Scholars Tuition Award (National Merit Finalists)

ApplicationRenewable subject to the published terms and conditions. The total includes college-sponsored, corporate-sponsored, and NMSC-sponsored NMF awards.

RequirementsNamed National Merit Finalist status AND declaration of the University of Arizona as first-choice college with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation by NMSC's deadline.

Arizona's NMF package is structured differently for residents vs non-residents. Residents receive a flat $18,000/year (materially larger than the Wildcat Tuition Award base), while non-residents stack a $3,000/year supplement on top of the Arizona Tuition Award. Families who are Finalists but don't update the first-choice field at NMSC do not receive the National Scholars layer.

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Arizona residents: Wildcat Tuition Award + $1,000/year. Non-residents: Arizona Tuition Award + $1,000/year.

National Merit Semi-Finalist Tuition Award

ApplicationRenewable subject to the published terms and conditions

RequirementsNational Merit Semi-Finalist status.

A $1,000/year supplement layered on top of the base tuition award. Semi-Finalists who are later named Finalists move to the National Scholars Tuition Award instead.

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Arizona residents: Wildcat Tuition Award + $1,000/year. Non-residents: Arizona Tuition Award + $1,000/year.

National Merit Recognition Tuition Award

ApplicationRenewable subject to the published terms and conditions

RequirementsCollege Board recognition program eligibility (African American Recognition, Hispanic Recognition, Indigenous Recognition, Rural and Small Town Recognition, or First-Generation Recognition). Selections are made by the College Board, not by the University of Arizona.

This award is specifically tied to the College Board recognition programs — it is NOT a general merit tier. Students who earn any of the five College Board recognition designations automatically layer a $1,000/year supplement on top of their base tuition award. Families should treat this as a bonus for eligible students, not a tier of Arizona's core GPA × test merit ladder.

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$10,000 per academic year

Presidential Scholarship (non-resident)

ApplicationRenewable subject to the published terms and conditions

RequirementsNon-resident, first-time, full-time. Highly selective. The 2025-26 program is named "Presidential Scholarship"; the 2026-27 cycle renames it "President's Saguaro Scholars Award."

A separate competitive award for non-residents that layers on top of the Arizona Tuition Award. For 2026-27, Arizona has confirmed the program exists under the new name "President's Saguaro Scholars Award" but has not yet published the 2026-27 dollar amount. Families should use the 2025-26 $10,000/year figure for modeling until Arizona updates the terms and conditions page.

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$10,000/year + up to $10,000 study abroad travel stipend

Franke Honors College Freshman Award

ApplicationApproximately 8 awards per year. Requires admission to Franke Honors College and continued Honors participation.

RequirementsGPA 3.75+ · Unweighted HS GPA of 3.75+. Franke Honors College admission required. A separate $2,000 Honors award is available (up to 10 awards) for Honors-participating undergraduates.

Franke Honors stacks on top of the base Arizona Tuition Award or Wildcat Tuition Award depending on residency, so Honors-admitted freshmen effectively layer multiple awards plus a study abroad stipend.

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Outside scholarship stacking policy

The University of Arizona reduces undisbursed loans first when outside scholarships would create an over-award. Arizona Tuition Award and Wildcat Tuition Award cannot be combined with each other or with the National Scholars Tuition Award base. NMF and NMSF supplements layer on top of the base tuition award rather than replacing it.

Arizona's published over-awards policy reduces undisbursed loans first before other awards, which makes the university comparatively generous on outside-scholarship stacking. At the institutional level, Arizona publishes explicit combination rules in its terms and conditions: the Arizona Tuition Award cannot be combined with the Wildcat Tuition Award or the National Scholars Tuition Award base (for Arizona residents the National Scholars Tuition Award replaces Wildcat entirely). The National Merit Semi-Finalist Tuition Award, the National Merit Recognition Tuition Award, and the non-resident National Scholar supplement all layer $1,000–$3,000/year on top of the base tuition award rather than replacing it. Total tuition-specific institutional aid cannot exceed 100% of base tuition in combination.

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Common Data Set snapshot

From the Arizona Common Data Set 2023-2024:

SAT mid-50%1150–135025th / 75th percentile

ACT mid-50%21–2825th / 75th percentile

Average merit award$14,046Across recipients

Source: Common Data Set

Lesser-known scholarships at Arizona

Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.

Baird Scholarship (Franke Honors)

AmountTuition, mandatory fees, and the Honors College fee (approximately $12,900/year). Four-year package value approximately $100,000.EligibilityArizona high school graduates with exceptional academic performance. Franke Honors admission. Competitive selection with a limited cohort.

Baird is one of the most comprehensive in-state Honors packages in the Pac-12 / Big 12 region. It specifically covers the Honors College fee in addition to tuition and mandatory fees, which most peer honors scholarships do not. Families targeting Baird should treat the Franke Honors application as a separate competitive track.

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Arizona Flinn Scholars

Amount$16,500/year (funded by the Flinn Foundation, not the University of Arizona)EligibilityArizona residents selected by the Flinn Foundation through a competitive statewide process. Open to top public-university applicants in Arizona. Renewal requires 12 units/semester and a 3.20 cumulative GPA.

Flinn is a third-party private-foundation scholarship that flows to the University of Arizona when the scholar chooses to enroll here. Because Flinn is an outside scholarship, families should report it to the U of A scholarships office early — even though the university published a reference to Flinn, it is not an institutional award and is sequenced under outside-scholarship policy.

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Common mistakes at Arizona

Missing the November 1 Early Action priority deadline.
Arizona's scholarship priority window closes on November 1 Early Action. Late applicants who still meet the GPA and test-score floor may receive a reduced award, but the maximum-consideration pool closes on the published priority date. Non-residents should treat November 1 as the hard gate for the Arizona Tuition Award and any competitive layers.
Assuming the Arizona Tuition Award and Wildcat Tuition Award are stackable.
Arizona's published 2025-26 terms and conditions explicitly prohibit combining the Arizona Tuition Award with the Wildcat Tuition Award. Non-residents get Arizona Tuition Award; residents get Wildcat Tuition Award. The National Scholars Tuition Award further replaces — not stacks with — Wildcat for Arizona-resident NMFs. NMF and NMSF supplements do layer on top of the base tuition award.
Modeling the National Scholar supplement at +$5,000/year.
Arizona's 2025-26 terms and conditions publish the non-resident National Scholar supplement at $3,000/year on top of the Arizona Tuition Award, NOT $5,000/year. Older references to +$5,000 are stale. Arizona-resident National Merit Finalists receive a flat $18,000/year (which replaces Wildcat), not a supplement.
Planning around an outside-scholarship displacement hit.
Arizona's published over-awards policy reduces undisbursed loans first before touching institutional aid. That makes Arizona comparatively generous on outside-scholarship stacking — families can layer outside awards on top of institutional merit without giving up institutional dollars, as long as undisbursed loans remain available to absorb the reduction. Report outside awards early so the office can apply the loan-first sequencing cleanly.

Arizona merit aid FAQ

What's the floor to be considered for the Arizona Tuition Award?
Non-residents need an unweighted 6th-semester core GPA of 3.25+ AND a 24+ ACT or 1110+ SAT (critical reading + math). Arizona residents need the same 3.25+ GPA and 24+ ACT / 1110+ SAT combination for the in-state Wildcat Tuition Award. Below either the 3.25 GPA floor or the 24 ACT / 1110 SAT floor, students can still be admitted but are not eligible for the base-tuition merit ladder.
Can the Arizona Tuition Award be combined with the Wildcat Tuition Award?
No. Arizona's published 2025-26 terms and conditions explicitly state that the Arizona Tuition Award cannot be combined with the Wildcat Tuition Award, the National Scholar Tuition Award, the National Merit Recognition Tuition Award, or the National Merit Semi-Finalist Tuition Award. Families modeling the merit stack need to pick the higher award — the two ladders are mutually exclusive, not additive.
How does the University of Arizona handle National Merit Finalists?
Arizona runs separate NMF packages by residency. Arizona residents receive the National Scholars Tuition Award at $18,000/year flat, which replaces the Wildcat Tuition Award entirely. Non-resident Finalists receive the Arizona Tuition Award ($4,000–$20,000/year range) plus a $3,000/year National Scholar supplement layered on top. The first-choice designation is made through NMSC, not through the University of Arizona directly, and must be submitted by NMSC's own deadline to activate the National Scholars layer.
What does the Franke Honors College add on top of base merit?
Franke Honors-admitted freshmen with an unweighted 3.75+ GPA can earn a $10,000/year Honors freshman award plus up to $10,000 in study abroad travel stipends, with approximately 8 awards per year. A separate $2,000 Honors award is available for Honors-participating undergraduates (up to 10 awards). Franke Honors stacks on top of the base Arizona Tuition Award or Wildcat Tuition Award depending on residency — the Honors awards are separate from the base-tuition ladder's non-combination rules.
Will an outside scholarship reduce my University of Arizona aid?
Arizona publishes an over-awards policy that reduces undisbursed loans first when outside scholarships would push total aid above the student's budget. That makes Arizona comparatively generous on outside-scholarship stacking — institutional merit is preserved while loans absorb the reduction. Total tuition-specific institutional aid is still capped at 100% of base tuition in combination, so very large institutional awards can still be adjusted if they push the institutional-only subtotal over that line.