Belhaven publishes a fully automatic GPA + ACT merit grid that gives every qualifying first-year student $14,000-$17,500 a year (with $5,000 of it earmarked for campus housing) — no separate application, just your transcript and test score.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago
The short answer
Is Belhaven worth a closer look?
Belhaven is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 10 published awards, and 6 are based on those numbers.
Merit tiers106 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
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Published scholarships
These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.
Where you landAutomatic merit aid by ACT compositeEach bar marks the ACT score range that qualifies for the tier.
Dean's Scholarship for First-Year Students$15,000
ACT 20+GPA 2.75 or above (high school cumulative)
2024283236
Not on this ladder:President's Scholarship for First-Year Students, Achievement Grant for First-Year Students, Advantage Scholarship for First-Year Students, Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Scholarship for Transfer Students, Transfer Scholarship, Distinguished Arts Scholarship, Presbyterian Scholarship Program (PSP), Legacy Scholarship, Visit Scholarship — application required, holistic, or scored on a different axis.
View as table
Tier
ACT composite
Award
Dean's Scholarship for First-Year Students
20+
$15,000-$17,000 per year
$17,000-$17,500 per year
President's Scholarship for First-Year Students
Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
3.5 or above (high school cumulative)
ACT
26 or above
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
Full-time, first bachelor's degree, on-campus undergrad program; FAFSA not required but encouraged
How to keep it
Renewable up to 5 years (or 10 semesters) if the student is full-time and maintains satisfactory academic progress.
Notes
Highest automatic academic (merit) tier. $5,000 of the award is applied toward campus housing and the remainder toward educational expenses. Belhaven evaluates the award using high school GPA and ACT/SAT scores — no separate scholarship application.
Full-time, first bachelor's degree, on-campus undergrad program; FAFSA not required but encouraged
How to keep it
Renewable up to 5 years (or 10 semesters) if the student is full-time and maintains satisfactory academic progress.
Notes
Automatic academic tier for a 2.75+ GPA paired with an 18-19 ACT. $5,000 of the award goes toward campus housing. Named a 'Grant' but is merit/academic, not need-based.
Test-optional — test scores are not required for this scholarship. Full-time, first bachelor's degree, on-campus undergrad program; FAFSA not required but encouraged
How to keep it
Renewable up to 5 years (or 10 semesters) if the student is full-time and maintains satisfactory academic progress.
Notes
Test-optional automatic tier: a 2.75+ GPA earns $14,000-$15,500/yr with no ACT/SAT required. Same dollar range as the Achievement Grant. $5,000 of the award goes toward campus housing.
$1,000-$2,500 per year…$1,000-$2,500 per year (Round 1 $1,500-$2,500; Round 2 $1,000-$2,000)
Distinguished Arts Scholarship
Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies+
Who qualifies
Major in Art, Creative Writing, Dance, Graphic Design, Film Production, Music, Theatre, or Tradigital Studies; audition or portfolio required
How to keep it
Renewal terms not stated on the scholarships page.
Notes
Competitive arts award by audition/portfolio, with two rounds. Round 1 (Early Acceptance Program, audition/portfolio by November 14, 2025) ranges $1,500-$2,500; Round 2 (by March 1, 2026) ranges $1,000-$2,000. Deadline-driven — Round 1 is more generous and requires the Early Acceptance Program.
$1,000 per year…$1,000 per year ($4,000 over four years)
Presbyterian Scholarship Program (PSP)
Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies+
Who qualifies
Member of the Presbyterian Church graduating as a high school senior; traditional full-time student; the student's Presbyterian Church must donate a minimum of $1,000 annually to the Belhaven fund
How to keep it
Added each year; $4,000 over four years. Requires the student remain a traditional full-time student and the church continue its annual donation.
Notes
Faith-based add-on award. Added on top of the student's total Belhaven award (so it layers on the academic merit tier) — but is contingent on the home church donating at least $1,000/yr to Belhaven.
These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Belhaven's published information.
Renewal rulePresident's Scholarship for First-Year Students: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable up to 5 years (or 10 semesters) if the student is full-time and maintains satisfactory academic progress. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
Outside awardsNo published displacement order
Belhaven's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.
What families often miss
President's, Dean's, Achievement and Advantage are four tiers of the SAME automatic academic scholarship — your GPA and ACT place you in exactly one of them. You do not collect multiple academic tiers; the higher your stats, the higher the single tier.
Every academic tier earmarks $5,000 of the award 'toward campus housing while the remainder of the scholarship goes toward educational expenses.' If you commute or live off campus, ask whether that $5,000 still applies — it is structured as a housing component.
The $5,000 Residence Hall Grant 'cannot be awarded in combination with tuition discounts, waivers, sponsorships, and some Belhaven scholarships' — so it may not layer on top of certain awards. Confirm which of your awards it can combine with.
Round 1 (audition/portfolio by November 14, 2025, via the Early Acceptance Program) pays $1,500-$2,500; Round 2 (by March 1, 2026) pays only $1,000-$2,000. Waiting for Round 2 lowers your ceiling.
The $1,000/yr Presbyterian Scholarship Program is contingent on your Presbyterian Church donating at least $1,000 annually to the Belhaven fund — if the church does not give, the add-on does not apply.
Belhaven's published 2026-27 tuition is $30,700 plus a $790 student activity fee; room and board is separate and ranges roughly $9,850-$12,850/yr depending on the hall, plus personal expenses ($2,400) and (for internationals) added fees. There is no single all-in COA number on the official tuition page.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Christian-worldview students who want a predictable, automatic, stats-based merit award at a small private university — strong scores (3.5 GPA / 26 ACT) hit the $17,000-$17,500 President's tier, while a test-optional Advantage Scholarship still pays $14,000-$15,500 for a 2.75 GPA.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $31,490 for 2026-2027. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Belhaven, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Belhaven, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$10,551
$30,001–$48,000
$12,820
$48,001–$75,000
$16,967
$75,001–$110,000
$19,476
$110,001+
$20,928
All income levels (average)
$15,676
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$30,250
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$15,676
That works out to roughly a 61% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $39,793 (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
49%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
68%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$26,333 (~$279/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$46,440
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
38%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
54%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
The four first-year academic awards (President's, Dean's, Achievement, Advantage) are mutually exclusive merit tiers — a student is placed in one based on GPA/ACT, not granted several. Some add-ons layer on top (the Presbyterian PSP is explicitly 'added to the student's total award'), but Belhaven publishes explicit non-combination rules: the Residence Hall Grant 'cannot be awarded in combination with tuition discounts, waivers, sponsorships, and some Belhaven scholarships.' No published policy describes how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid.
Belhaven does not publish a general outside/third-party scholarship displacement policy on its undergrad scholarships page. What it does publish are internal combination limits: the Residence Hall Grant cannot combine with tuition discounts, waivers, sponsorships, and some Belhaven scholarships; and the PCA Pastor's Offer / Belhaven Advantage 'tuition free' offers cannot logically stack with the dollar-amount academic tiers. The Presbyterian Scholarship Program is the one award stated to be 'added to the student's total award from Belhaven.' How an external (private) scholarship affects the institutional package is not stated and must be confirmed with the aid office.
AmountTuition freeEligibilityDependents (son/daughter) of PCA Pastors and Missionaries enrolling as a new freshman or transfer student.
A full tuition-free offer for PCA pastors'/missionaries' dependents; new students only. Faith-based; likely does not stack with the dollar-amount academic tiers (confirm with aid office).
AmountUp to $30,000 value (5th year tuition free)EligibilityStudents entering as freshmen who pursue a double major/degree and need a 5th year.
Benefit, not a stats award: an extra (5th) year of tuition free, framed as a $30,000 value, for double-major students. Part of the 'save up to $55,000' Belhaven Advantage messaging.
AmountUp to $25,000 value (free online master's)EligibilityTraditional-campus students who enroll and complete at least 60 hours at Belhaven through to graduation.
Adds a full tuition scholarship for an online master's program, up to $25,000 value, on top of the undergrad award. Choice of business, health administration, education, biblical studies, leadership, public administration, or sports administration.
Yes. The President's, Dean's, Achievement and Advantage awards are determined from your high school GPA and ACT/SAT scores when you're admitted — there is no separate scholarship application, and FAFSA is encouraged but not required for them.
How much can I get and what do I need?
$17,000-$17,500/yr with a 3.5 GPA and 26 ACT (President's); $15,000-$17,000/yr with 2.75 GPA and 20+ ACT (Dean's); $14,000-$15,500/yr with 2.75 GPA and 18-19 ACT (Achievement); or $14,000-$15,500/yr test-optional with a 2.75 GPA (Advantage). $5,000 of each is applied toward campus housing.
Can I combine multiple Belhaven scholarships?
Only partially. The four academic tiers are one award (you get a single tier). Some add-ons layer on (the Presbyterian Scholarship is 'added to the student's total award'), but the Residence Hall Grant cannot combine with tuition discounts, waivers, sponsorships, and some Belhaven scholarships. How an outside/private scholarship affects your package is not published — ask the aid office.
How long do the awards last?
The academic scholarships are renewable up to 5 years (or 10 semesters) as long as you stay full-time and maintain satisfactory academic progress. The Visit Scholarship ($1,000) and Legacy Scholarship ($500) are one-time/first-year awards.
See sources and other schools+
How Belhaven compares
133 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Belhaven is in a recognizable cluster (133 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
133 of 749 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
Belhaven is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Belhaven 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 Belhaven’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
