Open award details for Academic Merit Grid — High School (Presidential / Dean's / Founders)
Who qualifies
Automatically considered on the admission application; one award per student; notified in acceptance letter
How to keep it
Renewal requires full-time enrollment and an Augustana cumulative GPA: Presidential 3.0, Dean's 2.75, Founders 2.5. Students who miss the renewal GPA may receive a LOWER scholarship; awards never exceed the first-year amount in later years (no growth).
Worth knowing
Test scores are historical/typical (Augustana is test-optional). Recalculated GPA and class rank drive the award.
Transfer Merit Grid (Bell Tower / Blue and Gold / Denkmann / Carlsson) + PTK$22,000-$29,000AutomaticRenewable
Published awardAcademic thresholds
Transfer Merit Grid (Bell Tower / Blue and Gold / Denkmann / Carlsson) + PTK
$22,000-$29,000
Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.
GPA
Bell Tower 3.6+; Blue and Gold 3.3+; Denkmann 3.0+; Carlsson 2.75+ (transferable college GPA); minimum 2.75 to qualify
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Transfer Merit Grid (Bell Tower / Blue and Gold / Denkmann / Carlsson) + PTK
Who qualifies
Full-time enrollment; no separate application
How to keep it
Renewal requires full-time enrollment and Augustana cumulative GPA: Bell Tower 3.0, Blue and Gold 2.75, Denkmann 2.5, Carlsson 2.0. PTK ($3,500) renewal requires 3.0.
Worth knowing
Transfer scholarships range $22,000-$29,000 by college GPA. Phi Theta Kappa members get an additional $3,500 that CAN stack with the transfer merit award.
Quad City Promise$2,000Not automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
Quad City Promise
$2,000
Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Quad City Promise
Who qualifies
New applicants from Scott County (IA) and Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer counties (IL)
How to keep it
Renewable for up to four years.
Worth knowing
Local-residency BONUS award (not a gate) for the Quad Cities area; stacks with merit.
Published rangeNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Out-of-State Award
Who qualifies
Students who live outside Illinois and graduate from a U.S. high school
How to keep it
$1,000 per year (up to $4,000 over four years).
Worth knowing
Out-of-state residency bonus.
Lights up against Augustana (IL)'s published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office. Award terms and residency rules change; some awards differ for in-state and out-of-state students. Always confirm at the school’s source page.
Free Merit Check
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“it told me what to ask and what the renewal GPA looked like, which I was not going to find on my own”Melissa
The fine print
Renewal ruleAcademic Merit Grid — High School (Presidential / Dean's / Founders): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewal requires full-time enrollment and an Augustana cumulative GPA: Presidential 3.0, Dean's 2.75, Founders 2.5. Students who miss the renewal GPA may receive a LOWER scholarship; awards never exceed the first-year amount in later years (no growth). A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
Aid capHard $66,208 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Augustana (IL) cannot push the package past $66,208. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
What makes Augustana (IL) different
Augustana College (Rock Island IL, Lutheran) auto-awards a recalculated-GPA/rank merit grid (Founders $28,000 to Presidential $32,000) with tiered renewal-GPA floors and an explicit no-growth (erosion) rule — your award never exceeds the first-year amount. (DRAFT)
Merit tiers42 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
More than one award path
Separate the two paths.
Some awards use published academic thresholds. Others have different selection criteria. A score chart does not describe every award at this school.
Match the published criteria
Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.
Check the application dates
Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.
Know what happens next year
Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.
The fine print / Three questions to carry forward
Before you count on it.
Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.
Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.
Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.
A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.
See what could change an award+
What families often miss
Regardless of Augustana cumulative GPA, scholarships will NOT exceed the first-year awarded amount in later years — the award is capped at its initial value (no growth/erosion against rising costs).
Renewal floors are tiered: Presidential 3.0, Dean's 2.75, Founders 2.5 (transfer: Bell Tower 3.0, Blue and Gold 2.75, Denkmann 2.5, Carlsson 2.0). Missing your tier's floor can drop you to a lower scholarship amount.
Augustana is test-optional; the SAT/ACT ranges are described as 'in past admissions cycles' / 'typically' — recalculated GPA and class rank drive the award, not a hard test cutoff.
The $2,000 Quad City Promise (Scott/Rock Island/Henry/Mercer counties) and the $1,000/yr Out-of-State Award are residency BONUSES that layer on top of the academic merit award.
The Mission and Meaning $1,000 application must be completed by Dec. 15, 2025 for fall 2026 entrants, and the FAFSA Filers Grant requires the FAFSA received by Nov. 15 — both are easy money with firm deadlines.
Academic or other Augustana scholarships could be adjusted through the awarding of an Augustana endowed scholarship — your published merit figure may be partly funded by an endowed award rather than added to.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
High school students with a 3.2+ recalculated GPA (top third) win an automatic $28,000+ award scaling up to $32,000 for top-10% 3.8+ students; transfer students with a 2.75+ college GPA get $22,000-$29,000. (DRAFT)
Published yearly cost: Approximately $66,208 for 2025-2026. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Augustana (IL), what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Augustana (IL), academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$15,787
$30,001–$48,000
$16,525
$48,001–$75,000
$16,865
$75,001–$110,000
$22,405
$110,001+
$28,086
All income levels (average)
$22,736
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$51,598
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$22,736
That works out to roughly a 64% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $63,553 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
73%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
82%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$27,000 (~$286/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$62,971
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
25%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
52%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Augustana typically leaves other grants, scholarships, work-study, and federal loans untouched when a student receives an outside scholarship; aid is reduced only if total aid from all sources exceeds financial need and/or cost of attendance, and then in order starting with work-study, then loans, then institutional grants, with scholarships cut last.
Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Typically, your other grants, scholarships, federal work study, and federal loans will not be reduced if you receive an outside scholarship. However, awards will be reduced if the total aid from all sources, including loans, work, scholarships and grants exceeds federal need and/or COA. In such a case, aid will be reduced beginning with work, followed by loans, institutional grants and finally scholarships. Separately, the school's own award-stacking rules: PTK stacks with the transfer merit award; residency/visit/FAFSA bonuses (Quad City Promise, Out-of-State, Campus Visit, FAFSA Filers, Housing/Meal awards) layer on top of merit. (per https://www.augustana.edu/admissions/scholarships)
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
Amount$1,000/year (up to $4,000)EligibilityAll fall applicants; complete the four-part scholarship application; fall 2026 entrants complete by Dec. 15, 2025
Renewable up to four years; recipients notified by Jan. 7, 2026.
AmountUp to $4,000 ($1,000/year)EligibilityVisit campus between Jan. 1 of junior year and May 1 of senior year (transfers by Aug. 1 fall / Jan. 15 spring)
Do I need to apply separately for merit scholarships?
No — students are automatically considered for academic merit scholarships based on the admission application. Some talent and named awards require auditions or a separate application with their own deadlines.
What are the renewal requirements?
Full-time enrollment plus a tier-specific Augustana cumulative GPA: Presidential 3.0, Dean's 2.75, Founders 2.5 (transfer: Bell Tower 3.0, Blue and Gold 2.75, Denkmann 2.5, Carlsson 2.0). Missing the floor can lower your award.
Will my scholarship increase over time?
No. Scholarships will not exceed the first-year awarded amount in subsequent years, regardless of your Augustana GPA.
What's the cost of attendance?
For 2025-26 the comprehensive fee is $66,208 (tuition $53,186 + standard housing and meals $12,862 + health/clinic fee $160). Note: the scholarship amounts above are for students first enrolling in 2026-27.
See sources and other schools+
How Augustana (IL) compares
235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Augustana (IL) is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Augustana (IL) is one of them. The cohort minority (84 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Augustana (IL)’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
