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 does your student land?
Scarlet ScholarshipsAmount not published (varies by application strength)Not automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
Scarlet Scholarships
Amount not published (varies by application strength)
Variable or qualified amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.
GPA
Strong academic profile (not a published cutoff)
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Scarlet Scholarships
Who qualifies
Based on the admissions application; minimum credentials include a strong academic profile and extracurricular involvement; priority deadline February 1; no separate application
How to keep it
Must maintain full-time enrollment status; covers tuition during fall and spring semesters only.
Worth knowing
Holistic, no published GPA/test grid (use the scholarship estimator). Tuition-only and fall/spring only. This is the base institutional merit award for most admitted first-years.
Full ride (full tuition, fees, room & board) + study abroad stipend
Published coverage or packageNot 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 Bellarmine Scholar Award
Who qualifies
Complete admission application + Honors Program scholarship application by December 1; selected via the Feb 6-7, 2026 competition (faculty interview, writing sample, mock class)
How to keep it
Four-year award; enrollment in the Honors Program.
Worth knowing
Bellarmine's most prestigious award — a four-year full-ride plus study abroad stipend and Honors Program enrollment. Competitive; separate application required.
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 Kentucky Governor Scholarships (GSP / GSE / GSA)
Who qualifies
Completed the Governor's Scholars Program (GSP), Governor's School for Entrepreneurs (GSE), or Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) — Kentucky programs; no separate application
How to keep it
Available for full-time fall/spring enrollment; renewable with a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
Worth knowing
$32,000 award for Kentucky Governor's program completers; residency/program-gated. Automatic on indicated participation.
Public Price PromiseMatches your state's flagship university direct costAutomaticRenewable
Published awardAcademic thresholds
Public Price Promise
Matches your state's flagship university direct cost
Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.
GPA
Minimum 3.5 unweighted GPA
RenewableCheck the conditions
Open award details for Public Price Promise
Who qualifies
Matches the current direct cost of your state's flagship university
How to keep it
Full-time fall/spring; students must live on campus each year for continued eligibility.
Worth knowing
Bellarmine matches your state flagship's direct cost for qualifying 3.5+ GPA students; requires living on campus annually. Tuition-only/institutional treatment applies.
HOPE Kentucky Scholars100% of tuition and most fees (incl. textbooks)Not automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
HOPE Kentucky Scholars
100% of tuition and most fees (incl. textbooks)
Published coverage or packageNot 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 HOPE Kentucky Scholars
Who qualifies
Kentucky first-year or transfer students; last-dollar after Pell/KEES/CAP/KTG/FSEOG; Pell and KY state aid eligibility required
How to keep it
Renewable for eight semesters; stay enrolled full-time, file FAFSA each year by April 1, remain Pell-eligible and eligible for KY state aid (CAP and KTG).
Worth knowing
Last-dollar program covering tuition + comprehensive fees + textbooks (course fees, matriculation fee, meal plans, and housing remain). Income/eligibility-gated (Pell + KY state aid).
Trustee Scholarship$1,500Not automaticRenewable
Published awardOther selection criteria
Trustee Scholarship
$1,500
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 Trustee Scholarship
Who qualifies
Incoming first-year; complete an official campus visit AND file FAFSA before May 1
How to keep it
Renewable for 4 years of undergraduate enrollment.
Worth knowing
$1,500/year visit-and-FAFSA award; reflected upon FAFSA receipt.
Lights up against Bellarmine'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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The fine print
Renewal ruleScarlet Scholarships: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Must maintain full-time enrollment status; covers tuition during fall and spring semesters only. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
Aid capHard $60,840 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Bellarmine cannot push the package past $60,840. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
What makes Bellarmine different
Bellarmine (KY, Catholic) gives all incoming first-years institutional gift aid (holistic Scarlet Scholarships up to competitive full-ride Scholar/Fellow awards), but its institutional scholarships are tuition-only and can be REDUCED by tuition-specific outside awards. (DRAFT)
Merit tiers71 based on grades or scores
First-year students with school awards15%First-year students, CDS 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
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
Bellarmine states its scholarships 'may be reduced if you receive tuition-specific awards from outside sources' — an outside tuition scholarship can displace, not stack with, your Bellarmine institutional aid.
Institutional scholarships and grants may be used to pay Bellarmine TUITION ONLY (unless otherwise specified) and only for fall and spring semesters — they won't cover housing, food, or most fees.
The Fellow Award is four years of full TUITION plus a study abroad stipend; only the Bellarmine Scholar Award is a full ride (tuition, fees, room & board).
Scholar/Fellow consideration requires the Honors Program application by December 1; later applications are still considered for the program but NOT for the scholarship (unless the deadline is officially extended).
The Governor ($32,000) and Alumni Legacy awards require a 2.5 cumulative GPA, and the Public Price Promise requires a 3.5 entering GPA plus living on campus every year — falling short can cut the award.
HOPE Kentucky Scholars covers tuition+fees+textbooks but is a last-dollar award requiring continued Pell eligibility, KY state aid (CAP/KTG) eligibility, full-time enrollment, and a FAFSA filed by April 1 each year.
The $1,500 Trustee Scholarship requires an official campus visit AND filing the FAFSA before May 1; without both it won't appear in your award.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Every admitted first-year gets institutional aid via the holistic Scarlet Scholarship; top students compete for the full-ride Bellarmine Scholar or full-tuition Fellow award, and Kentucky students can layer Governor ($32,000) or HOPE Kentucky (full tuition+fees) funding. (DRAFT)
Published yearly cost: Approximately $60,840 for 2025-2026. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Bellarmine, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Bellarmine, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$18,430
$30,001–$48,000
$19,358
$48,001–$75,000
$17,391
$75,001–$110,000
$21,987
$110,001+
$29,194
All income levels (average)
$21,499
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$48,770
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$21,499
That works out to roughly a 65% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $61,691 (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
64%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
75%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$25,000 (~$265/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$62,069
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
48%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
50%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Will scholarships from agencies other than Bellarmine affect my aid offer? This depends on the amount of the outside scholarships and on whether we have been able to meet your need with other aid. Please notify us when you find out you have received an outside scholarship, and we will notify you of any changes to your existing aid by sending you a revised aid offer. Outside scholarships do not replace the Student Aid Index. Instead, they must be counted as financial aid and deducted from the amount of aid eligibility. Bellarmine encourages students to pursue scholarships from other agencies.
From the Bellarmine Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated figures):
Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Bellarmine’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
15%of admitsget merit
Average award$34,167Covers ~56% of $60,840 cost of attendance
At Bellarmine, roughly 1 in 7 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $34,167 — about 56% of total cost.
As filed in Bellarmine's CDS Section H2A: of 658 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 96 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $34,167. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 471 of 2,211, averaging $6,964. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.
The 2025-2026 column is marked "estimated" in the school's own CDS filing — school-projected figures, not final audited counts.
Receive institutional merit15%First-year students, Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$34,167Across recipients, Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
AmountMinimum $4,000 ($1,000/year)EligibilityEntering first-year legacy (child/grandchild/stepchild of a Bellarmine or Ursuline graduate); based on application + financial need; Feb 1 deadline; 2.5 GPA + full-time
Scarlet and Alumni Legacy priority: February 1. Bellarmine Scholars/Fellows (Honors): December 1. Century Scholars and Whitney M. Young: January 15. Trustee: campus visit + FAFSA before May 1.
Can outside scholarships reduce my Bellarmine aid?
Yes. Bellarmine scholarships may be reduced if you receive tuition-specific awards from outside sources, and institutional scholarships are tuition-only (fall/spring).
What's the difference between the Scholar and Fellow awards?
The Bellarmine Scholar Award is a four-year full ride (tuition, fees, room & board) plus a study abroad stipend; the Bellarmine Fellow Award is four years of full tuition plus a study abroad stipend. Both require the Honors application by December 1 and the Feb 6-7, 2026 competition.
What is the cost of attendance?
For 2025-26, tuition and fees are $50,490, with first-year housing $5,050 and food $5,300 (plus a one-time $400 matriculation fee). Direct tuition+fees+housing+food totals $60,840; full COA with indirect costs is in the linked direct-cost worksheet / COA rationale PDFs.
See sources and other schools+
How Bellarmine compares
235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Bellarmine 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.
Bellarmine 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 Bellarmine’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
