Avila's merit anchor is one automatic, stats-based award — the Avila Achievement Scholarship of $25,000-$30,000/year set on GPA and ACT at the time of admission — at a small Catholic university where 100% of first-year students receive a scholarship or financial aid.
Verified Jun 20268 days ago· CC
Merit tiers73 automatic on stats
Last verifiedJun 2026Analyst CC
Rules that bite at Avila
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Avila's own published policy, not generic advice.
renewalAvila Achievement Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Page states 'All Avila financial aid is renewable as long as a student is enrolled full-time, meets renewal criteria, and/or continues to demonstrate financial need.' No specific renewal GPA is published. 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 Avila
Several aggregator sites publish an Avila Presidential Scholarship and tiered $18K-$30K GPA/ACT grids — but those figures are NOT on Avila's official pages and they contradict each other. Avila officially publishes one band: the Avila Achievement Scholarship at $25,000-$30,000 set on GPA and ACT. Treat any grid you didn't see in your award letter as unconfirmed.
Avila combines a recruited athlete's academic and athletic awards into a SINGLE scholarship set by the coach. They are not added on top of one another, and the page warns that not all grants/scholarships stack with academic and athletic awards.
The Avila Achievement Scholarship is merit-based (GPA + ACT), but note one third-party listing wrongly tags it 'restricted to those with financial need.' The official page bases it on cumulative GPA and ACT scores, not need.
Avila's first-time full-time tuition & fees total is $41,540/yr, but the off-campus total is listed as $57,018, and on-campus students add housing ($5,000-$9,000/yr) plus a meal plan ($936-$5,116/yr), books, and the $1,000 campus fee. International students must also carry health insurance.
Outside scholarships must be reported to the Financial Aid Office and can affect eligibility. The upside: when Avila must adjust, it reduces need-based loans or work-study BEFORE touching gift aid — so reporting an outside award usually replaces debt, not your scholarship.
Who this school is for
Students looking at a small, faith-based Kansas City university who want a sizable automatic GPA/ACT-based discount off Avila's sticker price; budget-focused families should note Avila publishes one merit band, not a full GPA/ACT grid, so the exact award is confirmed only in the admission offer.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $41,540 for 2026-2027. 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.
$25,000 - $30,000 per year
Avila Achievement Scholarship
AutomaticRenewable
GPA
Based on cumulative GPA (specific tier cutoffs not published)
ACT
Based on ACT scores (specific tier cutoffs not published)
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Traditional undergraduate (first-year) programs only; value determined at the time of admission to the University
Renewal terms
Page states 'All Avila financial aid is renewable as long as a student is enrolled full-time, meets renewal criteria, and/or continues to demonstrate financial need.' No specific renewal GPA is published.
Notes
This is Avila's headline automatic merit award. The exact amount within the $25,000-$30,000 range is set by cumulative GPA and ACT scores; Avila does not publish a per-tier GPA/ACT grid on its official pages, so the precise figure is confirmed only in the financial-aid award letter. The award is for traditional undergraduate/transfer programs, not online, accelerated, or hybrid programs.
Transfer students only; traditional undergraduate/transfer programs
Renewal terms
All Avila financial aid is renewable as long as a student is enrolled full-time and meets renewal criteria; no specific renewal GPA published.
Notes
Awarded to transfer students with a 3.6+ cumulative GPA. Marked with an asterisk on the source table (footnote not fully expanded on the page); confirm exact terms with the financial aid office.
Exclusive to transfer students who are members of Phi Theta Kappa
Renewal terms
Renewal terms not stated on the page.
Notes
Small recognition award for transfer students who are Phi Theta Kappa members. The page warns: 'Not all grants and scholarships are stackable with academic and athletic awards.'
Listed as 'Annual.' All Avila financial aid is renewable as long as a student is enrolled full-time and meets renewal criteria.
Notes
Legacy/affinity grant of $1,000 per year for dependents of Avila alumni. Not stats-based. Per the page footnote, it may not be stackable with academic and athletic awards — confirm with admissions rep.
Students demonstrating talent or interest in theatre (and, per page footnote, advertising, art, campus ministry, communication, kinesiology, music, newspaper, video production, or writing)
Notes
Talent/engagement grant; not a fixed dollar award, so no amount is published. Often requires an audition, portfolio, or department contact — verify the process with the relevant department.
Students who plan to participate in athletics; must file the FAFSA and work individually with the coach
Notes
Avila combines a student's academic and athletic awards into ONE scholarship determined by the coach — so athletic and academic merit are not stacked separately. All prospective athletes must file the FAFSA and work with the coach to determine the total award.
Avila explicitly states that when outside scholarships require an aid adjustment, it reduces need-based loans or work-study BEFORE reducing any gift aid (scholarships/grants) — i.e., gift aid is protected first (loan-first displacement). Internally, the page warns that not all grants and scholarships are stackable with academic and athletic awards, and athletic awards specifically are combined with the academic award into one scholarship rather than stacked.
For OUTSIDE (third-party) scholarships: students must report them; Avila must consider them when determining eligibility for other aid, and if it must adjust other aid it reduces need-based loans/work-study before any gift aid. For INTERNAL awards: 'Not all grants and scholarships are stackable with academic and athletic awards.' Athletic recruits receive a single combined academic+athletic award set by the coach.
Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.
AmountUp to $10,000 per year (up to 5 years)EligibilityOutside scholarship from Great Jobs KC for low- and modest-income students in Cass, Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties (MO) and Johnson and Wyandotte counties (KS); awards are for 11th graders who maintain a cumulative 2.5 GPA and enroll full-time the semester immediately after high school graduation.
External (third-party) award, not an Avila institutional scholarship; funds are paid directly to the college. Subject to Avila's outside-scholarship reporting and adjustment rules.
AmountFull tuition (income-eligible)EligibilityIncome-eligible transfers from Metropolitan Community College–Kansas City (MCCKC); offered exclusively to traditional day-time, on-campus students.
Need/income-based, not pure merit. Not available for online adult students. Verify income-eligibility (OEFC) criteria with financial aid.
Avila uses rolling admission; submit your application by December 15 before your intended fall semester. For best aid, file the FAFSA between October 1 and February 1 (Avila FAFSA code 002449). The value of your academic merit scholarship is set at the time of admission.
Is the Avila Achievement Scholarship automatic?
Yes for traditional undergraduate (first-year) applicants — it is awarded based on your cumulative GPA and ACT scores at the time of admission, with no separate scholarship application. Online, accelerated, and hybrid programs are excluded; contact financial aid for those.
Can I stack Avila scholarships?
Not always. Avila's page states 'Not all grants and scholarships are stackable with academic and athletic awards,' and athletic recruits receive a single combined academic+athletic award set by the coach. Confirm stackability with your admissions rep or the financial aid office.
What happens if I win an outside scholarship?
You must report it to the Financial Aid Office. If Avila has to adjust your aid, it reduces need-based loans or work-study before reducing any gift aid (scholarships/grants) — so an outside award typically reduces your borrowing rather than your Avila scholarship.
How Avila compares across our verified dataset
99 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Avila is in the modest minority (99 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Avila 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.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Avila’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
