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Brandeis scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$96,033per year · 2025-2026 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Brandeis may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
3 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

The award collection

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 does your student land?

  1. Justice Brandeis ScholarshipAmount not publicly disclosed; described as 'the most prestigious scholarship offered by Brandeis'Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Justice Brandeis Scholarship

    Amount not publicly disclosed; described as 'the most prestigious scholarship offered by Brandeis'

    Published award termsNot 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 Justice Brandeis Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Awarded competitively to students 'with outstanding academic records at the top of our applicant pool.' No separate application — selection happens through the regular admission review.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to eight semesters of undergraduate enrollment.

    Worth knowing

    Brandeis does not publish the dollar amount publicly; families should confirm with Student Financial Services. Funds the school's flagship merit award.

  2. Stroum Family Waltham ScholarshipFull tuitionNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Stroum Family Waltham Scholarship

    Full tuition

    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 Stroum Family Waltham Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Four awards per year to graduating Waltham High School seniors. Requires admission application and CSS Profile submission.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to eight semesters.

    Worth knowing

    Hyper-local award targeted at Brandeis's host city of Waltham, Massachusetts.

  3. Community College Transfer ScholarshipFull tuitionNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Community College Transfer Scholarship

    Full tuition

    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 Community College Transfer Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Competitive transfer scholarship for community college applicants.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to eight semesters of remaining undergraduate enrollment.

  4. Brandeis-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship$500 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Brandeis-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship

    $500 per year

    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 Brandeis-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    National Merit Finalists designating Brandeis as their first-choice institution.

    How to keep it

    Renewable per NMSC terms.

    Worth knowing

    Token-sized award by industry standards; Brandeis's National Merit posture is far less generous than Texas Tech, Alabama, or USC.

  5. Giumette Academic Achievement Award$5,000 per semesterNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Giumette Academic Achievement Award

    $5,000 per semester

    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 Giumette Academic Achievement Award

    Who qualifies

    Currently enrolled Brandeis sophomores with distinguished academic achievement. Maximum of five awards per year.

    How to keep it

    Awarded for junior and senior years; not available to first-year or sophomore students.

    Worth knowing

    An unusual upper-class merit award — applied to junior/senior tuition after the student is already enrolled. Not a tool for the original college-shopping decision.

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What makes Brandeis different

Mid-size private research university outside Boston where merit aid is concentrated in the competitive Justice Brandeis Scholarship for top-of-pool applicants — plus a handful of niche awards (Waltham residents, transfers, $500 National Merit, sophomore-only Giumette).

Merit tiers5See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Selection beyond grades and scores

Start with the selection process.

These awards are not recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read each award's selection rules, application steps and dates. Meeting a minimum is not an award offer.

  1. Read the selection rules

    Look for the school's stated criteria and whether an additional application is needed.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. 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.

Take Brandeis's decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. Brandeis's National Merit Finalist award is $500/year — a token amount. National Merit Finalists looking for $20K+ awards or full rides should look at schools like Alabama, Texas Tech, Florida State, or Oklahoma rather than Brandeis.

  2. The Giumette pays $5,000/semester for junior and senior years and is awarded to enrolled Brandeis sophomores. It cannot factor into the original enrollment decision, only into junior/senior-year planning once already at Brandeis.

  3. The Stroum (full-tuition for Waltham High School seniors) requires the CSS Profile alongside the admission application. Waltham residents who only file the FAFSA forfeit eligibility for one of Brandeis's most generous niche awards.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Students applying to Brandeis with very strong academic profiles aiming for the Justice Brandeis Scholarship, Waltham High School seniors, and transfers from community colleges. Less attractive as a stat-driven merit-shopping target.

Cost of attendance$96,033 for 2025-2026Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$96,033
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Personal
  • Health insurance

Official Brandeis University Bulletin 2025-2026 tuition, fees and expenses. Health insurance (UHP) is standard/auto-enrolled unless waived; included per published budget.

Brandeis cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Brandeis, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$13,363
$30,001–$48,000$15,135
$48,001–$75,000$20,536
$75,001–$110,000$26,784
$110,001+$54,885
All income levels (average)$35,736

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$68,080
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$35,736

That works out to roughly a 59% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $86,448 (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
86%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
87%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$25,648 (~$272/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$77,231
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
15%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
26%
See other scholarships and cost examples

Other Brandeis scholarships worth checking

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

AmountAmount varies (tuition exchange terms)EligibilityDependents of employees at participating Tuition Exchange institutions.

Source

AmountGenerous need-based scholarship package (amount varies)EligibilityDomestic families within specified income ranges. Listed by Brandeis as part of the institutional aid menu, separate from merit programs.

Not a merit award. Included here because Brandeis lists it on the financial aid landing page; families often confuse it with institutional merit aid.

Source

Brandeis merit aid FAQ

  • Does Brandeis publish the Justice Brandeis Scholarship dollar amount?

    No. Brandeis describes the Justice Brandeis Scholarship as 'the most prestigious scholarship offered by Brandeis' but does not publish the dollar value. The amount is communicated in the financial aid offer to selected students.

  • How much is Brandeis's National Merit Finalist Scholarship?

    $500 per year for National Merit Finalists who designate Brandeis as their first-choice institution. Significantly smaller than the NMF packages at high-merit publics; treat it as a token award, not a real affordability lever.

  • What does Brandeis cost?

    For 2026-27 (pending Board approval): tuition $73,080, student activity fee $598, on-campus housing $13,180, food $8,700, plus health insurance ($4,700) and indirect costs. Total billed expenses approach $95,500 before any aid.

  • Can I stack the Justice Brandeis Scholarship with need-based aid?

    Brandeis offers need-based aid alongside merit through programs like 'The Brandeis Commitment.' The combined package is determined by Student Financial Services. The school's public site does not detail a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm directly with sfs@brandeis.edu.

  • Is Brandeis's merit aid awarded automatically?

    Selection is automatic through the admission review — no separate scholarship application is required — but the award is competitive, not stat-based. Strong applicants who don't win the Justice Brandeis Scholarship typically receive only need-based aid or no institutional discount.

See sources and other schools

How Brandeis compares

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

    Brandeis 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.

  • 132 of 749 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.

    Brandeis is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Brandeis’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • BU Wheelock merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • WPI merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Northeastern merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Bentley merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Brandeis merit aid

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