Brown University · Rhode Island
Brown scholarships and merit aid
Ivy League with a categorical no-merit policy: 'Brown University does not offer aid based on academic achievement, athletic ability or any other form of merit.' All aid is need-based, and outside scholarships only reduce summer earnings or student employment — not Brown grants.
The short answer
Is Brown worth a closer look?
We did not find a simple published award list to show for Brown. Read our full reasoning before spending more time here.
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What families often miss
Brown is explicit: 'Brown University does not offer aid based on academic achievement, athletic ability or any other form of merit. Eligibility is determined solely on financial need.' A 4.0/1550 student with no demonstrated need pays sticker — about $100,000 per year — exactly like a lower-stat full-pay student.
The opposite is true at Brown. Outside scholarships are explicitly encouraged and used to reduce summer earnings expectations and student employment, not the Brown grant. Every dollar a student wins externally is a dollar that comes off their actual out-of-pocket/work burden.
Brown's sticker is $99,984, but the school meets 100% of demonstrated need with no loans. For a family with sizable demonstrated need, Brown's actual net price can land below many schools that brand themselves as 'merit-heavy.' Run the MyinTuition and Net Price Calculator before drawing conclusions.
See costs and school data
Who this school may work for
Families whose financial profile generates a non-trivial Brown demonstrated need calculation. Students looking for merit-driven discounts on Brown's $99,984 cost of attendance should not apply to Brown for that reason — the school is structurally not the right tool.
- Tuition & fees
- Housing & food
- Personal
Private; single on-campus scenario. Personal expense adjusted by $10 to match the official published total of $99,984. Books covered by BCMS program; transportation varies by home address and is not itemized; health insurance billed separately.
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Brown, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
| Family income | Average net price paid |
|---|---|
| $0–$30,000 | $0 — grants exceeded costs by $420 |
| $30,001–$48,000 | $2,031 |
| $48,001–$75,000 | $5,858 |
| $75,001–$110,000 | $16,219 |
| $110,001+ | $44,937 |
| All income levels (average) | $25,184 |
A net price shown as "$0 — grants exceeded costs" means average grant aid for students in that income bracket was greater than the full cost of attendance that year — a genuine reported outcome, not a data error.
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
- Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
- $71,412
- Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
- $25,184
That works out to roughly a 71% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $87,648 (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
- 96%
- First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
- 99%
- Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
- $11,428 (~$121/mo on a 10-yr plan)
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
- $93,487
- Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
- 15%
- Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
- 12%
See other scholarships and cost examples
If your student brings another scholarship
Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Private outside scholarships ... can be used to reduce the student's expected summer earnings, and/or student employment ... If the amount of outside assistance a student receives exceeds the total amount of these two components, then University Scholarship will be reduced, dollar for dollar.
Other Brown scholarships worth checking
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
Not a merit award. Included because families often interpret 'The Brown Promise' as a discount program; it is structurally a no-loan need-based policy.
Brown merit aid FAQ
Does Brown University offer merit scholarships?
No. Brown is explicit: 'Brown University does not offer aid based on academic achievement, athletic ability or any other form of merit. Eligibility is determined solely on financial need.' All institutional aid is awarded based on financial need calculated from the FAFSA and CSS Profile.
How does Brown treat outside scholarships?
Outside scholarships are explicitly encouraged. Per Brown's published policy, they 'can be used to reduce the student's expected summer earnings, and/or student employment.' They do not displace Brown's institutional grant — making outside aid genuinely additive at Brown.
How much does Brown cost?
Brown's 2026-27 published cost of attendance is $99,984: $74,568 tuition + $3,084 fees + $10,710 housing + $8,754 food + $2,878 personal expenses. Among the highest sticker prices in US higher education.
What is The Brown Promise?
The Brown Promise eliminates loans from financial aid packages for need-based students. It is NOT a merit scholarship — it's a packaging policy that replaces student loans with additional Brown grant funding for families who qualify on need.
Does Brown meet 100% of demonstrated financial need?
Yes. Brown's published commitment is that 'Brown meets 100% of each student's demonstrated financial need' with 'no loans — only scholarship grants that do not have to be repaid.' Demonstrated need is calculated from FAFSA, CSS Profile, and supporting documents.
See sources and other schools
How Brown compares
- 147 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Brown is in a recognizable cluster (147 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Brown’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
Compare with similar schools
- Roger Williams merit aid. Rhode Island private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
- Bryant University merit aid. Rhode Island private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
- JWU merit aid. Rhode Island private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
- Providence merit aid. Rhode Island private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
Keep exploring Brown merit aid
- Brown scholarship stacking. Whether outside awards land as upside or quietly displace institutional aid.
- Does Brown displace outside scholarships?. The dollar math on a $5,000 outside award, plus peer schools that handle it differently.