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Belmont University · Tennessee

Belmont scholarships and merit aid

Nashville Christian university with a fully published six-tier automatic merit ladder ($4,000 to $22,000 per year) and two competitive top-2% full-ride scholarships (Archer Presidential, Hearst) gated by an Early Action I November 1 deadline.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago· CA-1

The short answer

Is Belmont worth a closer look?

Belmont is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 8 published awards, and 6 are based on those numbers.

Merit tiers86 based on grades or scores
First-year students with school awards37%First-year students, CDS 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
Belmont Mansion at Belmont University

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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.

Full tuition…Full tuition, room, and board for four academic years (eight semesters) of continuous study

Archer Presidential Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Cumulative HS GPA typically above 4.5 on a 4.0 scale
SAT
1530 (if test submitted)
ACT
Composite 35 (if test submitted)
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Approximately top 2% of all first-year applicants. Class rank, individual accomplishments, and demonstrated leadership also considered. Must complete admission application by Early Action I deadline of November 1. Approximately five awards per year.

How to keep it

Renewable across eight semesters of continuous enrollment.

Notes

Belmont's top competitive scholarship. Replaces any previously awarded general academic merit scholarship — not additive.

Source

Top-tier endowed award…Top-tier endowed award (parallel to Archer Presidential)

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Same top-2% applicant profile as the Archer Presidential. Early Action I November 1 deadline. Candidates notified in mid-to-late January if they qualify.

Source

$22,000 per year

Trustee Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on admission application. Application doubles as the scholarship application. Belmont considers GPA, essay, co-curricular activities, and test score (if submitted). Highest tier of the general academic ladder — also the qualifying step for top competitive scholarship consideration.

How to keep it

Renewable with full-time enrollment (≥12 credits/semester) and satisfactory academic progress.

Source

$19,000 per year

Provost Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on admission application. GPA, essay, co-curricular activities, test score (if submitted) all factored.

How to keep it

Renewable with full-time enrollment and SAP.

Source

$17,000 per year

Founders Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on admission application.

Source

$12,000 per year

Belmont Distinguished Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on admission application.

Source

$9,000 per year

Belmont Achievement Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on admission application.

Source

$4,000 per year

Belmont Leadership Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Entry tier of the published merit ladder. Automatic on admission application.

Source

See what could change an award

Rules that could change the answer

These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Belmont's published information.

  • renewalTrustee Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

    Renewable with full-time enrollment (≥12 credits/semester) and satisfactory academic progress. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

  • capHard $61,330 cost-of-attendance ceiling

    Institutional aid at Belmont cannot push the package past $61,330. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

What families often miss

  1. The Archer Presidential and William Randolph Hearst awards both require the admission application to be submitted by Early Action I — November 1. Regular Decision or even later Early Action rounds disqualify you from consideration for either full-ride, even if your stats would otherwise be a fit.

  2. Belmont states: 'A top university scholarship generally replaces any previously awarded general academic merit scholarship.' The Archer is a substitution, not a layer. Don't model it as a $22,000 Trustee plus full-ride bonus.

  3. Belmont's policy: 'Institutional, State, and Outside aid resources are not refundable.' That means once your total aid covers cost of attendance, Belmont reduces its institutional scholarship rather than cutting a refund check to the family. The outside scholarship displaces Belmont dollars, not the other way around.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Archer Presidential Scholarship — Belmont's $22k Trustee + full-ride upgrade

Belmont's published merit ladder caps at $22,000 (the Trustee Scholarship), which every admitted student at that level qualifies for automatically. The Archer Presidential is Belmont's competitive 'upgrade path' that lifts roughly five Trustee recipients per year to a full ride — tuition, room, and board — across eight semesters. The catch is structural: Belmont requires the admission application to be in by the Early Action I deadline of November 1 to be in the Archer pool. Notification arrives in mid-to-late January. Two important traps: (1) the top award 'generally replaces any previously awarded general academic merit scholarship' — it's not additive on top of the $22,000 Trustee, it's a substitution; and (2) the typical profile is GPA above 4.5 (weighted) and ACT 35 / SAT 1530 if a test is submitted — roughly the top 2% of Belmont's first-year applicant pool.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students looking for a mid-sized Christian university in the Nashville music/business ecosystem. The published $4,000–$22,000 ladder rewards admission readers transparently; top-2% applicants chasing the full-ride Archer or Hearst awards must submit by Early Action I (November 1), well before the regular merit ladder is even computed.

Cost of attendance$61,330 for 2026-2027Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$61,330
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food

Official Belmont SFS page, First-Year Student Direct Cost of Attendance 2026-2027. Billed-only direct cost breakdown.

Belmont cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Belmont, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at Belmont, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$22,950
$30,001–$48,000$24,723
$48,001–$75,000$28,009
$75,001–$110,000$32,153
$110,001+$43,606
All income levels (average)$33,147

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$42,540
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$33,147

That works out to roughly a 47% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $62,570 (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
71%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
87%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$20,500 (~$217/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$55,930
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
23%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
33%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Belmont applies outside, federal, and state aid first toward expenses. Institutional aid is non-refundable, so when outside scholarships combined with other resources cover or exceed cost of attendance, Belmont's institutional scholarship gets reduced rather than refunded back to the student.

Belmont's published rule is that federal, state, and outside aid are 'the first resources applied' against educational expenses, and that institutional aid is not refundable. Combined with the explicit statement that 'outside scholarships may reduce your financial aid award,' the practical effect is a coa-cap: outside aid stacks up to the point of fully covering cost of attendance, after which Belmont institutional scholarship dollars are reduced. All outside scholarships must be reported via the Outside Scholarship Report Form. Belmont's top university awards (Archer, Hearst) explicitly replace any previously awarded general merit scholarship rather than stacking on top.

Source

More school data

From the Belmont Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated figures):

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Belmont’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
37%of admitsget merit
Average award$15,858Covers ~26% of $61,330 cost of attendance

At Belmont, roughly 1 in 3 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $15,858 — about 26% of total cost.

As filed in Belmont's CDS Section H2A: of 1,780 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 659 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $15,858. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 2,283 of 6,930, averaging $11,886. 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 merit37%First-year students, CDS 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$15,858Across recipients, CDS 2025-2026 (school-estimated)

Source: Common Data Set 2025-2026 (verified 2026-07-23)

Other Belmont scholarships worth checking

These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.

AmountAdministered by the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) Program; amount set by TSAC.EligibilityTennessee residents meeting TSAC eligibility requirements.

State-funded; reported through Belmont but governed by Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation rules.

Source

Belmont merit aid FAQ

  • Do I need a separate application for Belmont merit scholarships?

    No for the general academic ladder. Belmont states: 'Your application for admission also serves as your application for merit-based scholarships.' All six tiers ($4,000 to $22,000) are automatic. The Archer Presidential and Hearst Endowed awards also require no separate application but DO require admission by the November 1 Early Action I deadline.

  • What's the deadline?

    November 1 (Early Action I) is the deadline to be considered for Belmont's full-ride scholarships (Archer Presidential, Hearst). The general academic merit ladder ($4,000–$22,000) is awarded across all admission rounds based on the admission application. Top scholarship candidates are notified mid-to-late January.

  • What does Belmont need to see for a full-ride scholarship?

    Approximately the top 2% of first-year applicants. Belmont publishes the typical profile as: cumulative HS GPA above 4.5 on a 4.0 scale, and ACT 35 or SAT 1530 if a test is submitted. Class rank, individual accomplishments, and demonstrated leadership are also factored. Test-optional applicants are still considered if they have the academic profile.

  • How does an outside scholarship affect my Belmont aid?

    Belmont's rule is: 'Outside scholarships may reduce your financial aid award.' Federal, state, and outside aid are 'the first resources applied' toward your expenses, and institutional aid is non-refundable. In practice, outside scholarships first fill any unmet need, then start reducing Belmont's institutional scholarship dollar-for-dollar.

  • Can I keep my Belmont scholarship year-round?

    Belmont institutional scholarships and academic merit aid are only available for fall and spring semesters — they do not apply to Maymester/summer. If you leave Belmont during an academic year for any reason, you forfeit the remaining portion of your institutional scholarship.

See sources and other schools

How Belmont compares

  • 241 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    Belmont 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.

  • 667 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Belmont 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 Belmont’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

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