See what Asbury University's published rules mean for your student's numbers. Takes 30 seconds.
The merit-aid verdict at Asbury University
Every Asbury applicant automatically gets a GPA-based merit scholarship from $9,000 to $15,000 per year with no separate application; 4.0+ students are invited to a Scholarship Competition to compete for two full-tuition Hughes awards or thirty $5,000 Morrison awards.
Rules that bite at Asbury University
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Asbury University's own published policy, not generic advice.
renewalJohn Wesley Hughes Scholarship (Scholarship Competition): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewed for up to four years or eight semesters provided the recipient maintains a cumulative GPA of 3.60 at Asbury University. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Asbury University
The John Wesley Hughes Scholarship is full tuition but 'No other Asbury gift aid is stackable with this scholarship.' It replaces, not adds to, your automatic GPA award. The Morrison award is the opposite — it stacks up to 100% of tuition.
It is invitation-only. You must already qualify for the top $15,000 (4.0+ GPA) merit scholarship, be a National Merit student, or hold a Governor's Scholarship to be invited; the Hughes and Morrison awards are competitive, with an essay and interview.
The automatic GPA grid needs no application, but Dayton Business, Windgate Art, Alumni, music/worship auditions, and most named awards must be applied for by February 1 of the year you plan to enroll, or you lose them.
Asbury's internal stacking is capped at 100% of TUITION ($34,758 for 2026-27), not total cost of attendance. Housing (~$6,400-$9,700), food (~$2,110-$4,284), and fees ($698) are on top, so even a full-tuition package leaves room-and-board to cover.
Older Asbury pages (the international-admissions page and the academic catalog) show a different grid ($16,000 top tier, a 'SEARCH' competition, Morrison at 60% of tuition). The current 2026-27 undergraduate page lists $9,000-$15,000 bands, a January Scholarship Competition, Morrison at up to $5,000, and Hughes at 100% of tuition. Use the current undergraduate page.
Who this school is for
Christian students looking at a small Wesleyan-Holiness university where merit aid is automatic and GPA-driven; strong applicants (4.0+, National Merit, Kentucky Governor's Scholars) who can stack a competitive Scholarship Competition award up to full tuition.
Federal cost and outcome data
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Asbury University, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Asbury University, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$18,455
$30,001–$48,000
$18,280
$48,001–$75,000
$18,724
$75,001–$110,000
$21,296
$110,001+
$25,958
All income levels (average)
$21,401
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Total cost of attendance (sticker), AY 2021-22
$47,459
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$33,640
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$21,401
That works out to an average 55% discount off the sticker price above — both figures come from the same federal AY 2021-22 Scorecard report, not a number the school itself published.
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
65%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
83%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$24,028 (~$255/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$42,368
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
33%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
49%
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.
No separate application required; awarded to all admitted traditional undergraduates (freshmen and transfers)
Renewal terms
Awarded annually based on recalculated GPA; page states the scholarship is 'automatically added to your financial aid package each year.' Specific college-GPA renewal threshold for the base academic scholarship is not stated on the page.
Notes
Automatic on the GPA Asbury recalculates to a 4.0 scale (AP/IB/Honors weighted). Test scores are not stated as a factor in this base grid. Does not apply to the Online Undergraduate (APS) program.
Traditional undergraduate students who reside outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Renewal terms
Described as an annual scholarship for non-Kentucky residents; renewal terms not stated separately on the live undergraduate page.
Notes
Stacks on top of the automatic GPA scholarship. The Asbury catalog (catalog.asbury.edu) states this award is for students 'who reside anywhere in the world, but outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky.'
National Merit Finalists automatically earn this award and are also invited to Scholarship Competition
Renewal terms
Described as a stackable annual scholarship; specific renewal GPA not stated on the live undergraduate page (the Asbury catalog lists a 3.5 cumulative GPA for the National Merit honors scholarship, but at a different award level — see conflict note in Section C).
Notes
Automatic for National Merit Finalists per the live page. Stackable. NOTE: the older Asbury catalog page describes a 'National Merit Semifinalist/Frances Asbury Honors Scholarship' equal to 60% of tuition for Semifinalists — this conflicts with the live page's flat $5,000-for-Finalists figure; the live undergraduate page is treated as current.
Graduated from a Kentucky high school AND completed the Governor's Scholars Program, the Governor's School for Entrepreneurs, or the Governor's School for the Arts
Renewal terms
Equal to Asbury's top guaranteed academic merit scholarship amount; renewal follows the academic scholarship terms.
Notes
Guarantees the $15,000 top tier regardless of GPA, and also earns an invitation to the Scholarship Competition.
Asbury's awards explicitly stack, capped at 100% of tuition, with one carve-out: the John Wesley Hughes (full-tuition) award is NOT stackable with any other Asbury gift aid. The Morrison, Francis Asbury (National Merit), Windgate, alumni, and competition-participation awards all stack on top of the automatic GPA scholarship up to 100% of annual tuition. No published policy was found on the financial-aid pages describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid; the catalog notes the Governor's Scholarship 'will not affect' KEES or other external sources but this is not a general displacement rule.
Multiple awards are described as 'stackable ... up to 100% of annual tuition.' The Hughes scholarship is the exception ('No other Asbury gift aid is stackable with this scholarship.'). The internal stacking cap is tuition (not total cost of attendance). Outside/private scholarship displacement behavior is not published on the official aid pages and should be confirmed with the Financial Aid Office.
AmountVaries (funded by a $400,000 grant)EligibilityNursing students; funded via the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education Healthcare Workforce Investment Fund.
Per-student amount not published; total grant pool $400,000.
No. Every student who applies to Asbury automatically receives a GPA-based merit scholarship ($9,000-$15,000/year) with no extra application. Asbury recalculates your GPA to a 4.0 scale, weighting AP, IB, and Honors courses, and adds the award to your aid package each year.
What is the scholarship deadline?
Scholarships that require a separate application (Dayton Business, Windgate Art, Alumni, and most named awards) have a deadline of February 1 of the year you plan to enroll. The automatic GPA scholarship and the $3,000 out-of-state award need no application.
Can I stack Asbury scholarships?
Yes, with one exception. Most awards (Morrison, Francis Asbury/National Merit, Windgate, the $2,000 competition award) stack on top of your GPA scholarship up to 100% of tuition. The John Wesley Hughes full-tuition award is the exception: no other Asbury gift aid stacks with it.
How do I get into the Scholarship Competition?
It is invitation-only. You qualify by earning the top $15,000 merit scholarship (a 4.0+ recalculated GPA), being a National Merit student, or holding a Kentucky Governor's Scholarship. At the competition you compete for one of two full-tuition Hughes awards or one of thirty $5,000 Morrison awards; everyone who competes but doesn't win gets a $2,000/year award.
How Asbury University compares across our verified dataset
241 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Asbury University is in a recognizable cluster (241 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
668 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Asbury University is one of them. The cohort minority (82 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
132 of 750 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Asbury University is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Asbury University’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
