Pennsylvania liberal arts and engineering university with a portfolio of named merit programs (Bauer, Dean's, Engineering, Gamgort, Langone, Malesardi, Management, Presidential Fellowship) and an unusually explicit coa-cap policy that displaces Bucknell aid dollar-for-dollar above the cost of attendance.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago· CA-1
The short answer
Is Bucknell worth a closer look?
Bucknell is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 8 published awards, and 8 are based on those numbers.
Merit tiers88 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
Free Merit Check
See what Bucknell's published rules mean for your student. Takes 30 seconds.
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.
Among Bucknell's most prestigious s…Among Bucknell's most prestigious scholarships; specific dollar amount not published
Engineering Merit Scholars Program
Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
3.2 cumulative GPA required for renewal (after admission)
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
Major within the College of Engineering. No additional application required — admission application doubles as the scholarship application. Recipients receive notifications with their admissions decision. Financial need is not a requirement.
How to keep it
Renewable annually if participation expectations are met. Merit Scholarship awards do not increase in subsequent years. Requires a minimum 3.2 cumulative GPA both overall and within the College of Engineering, with full-time enrollment.
These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Bucknell's published information.
renewalEngineering Merit Scholars Program: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable annually if participation expectations are met. Merit Scholarship awards do not increase in subsequent years. Requires a minimum 3.2 cumulative GPA both overall and within the College of Engineering, with full-time enrollment. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
capHard $95,648 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Bucknell cannot push the package past $95,648. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
What families often miss
Bucknell states explicitly: 'We are not able to award multiple academic scholarships to students.' If you're competitive for Engineering Merit and Dean's, you'll get one — not both. Plan as if the highest-value award you qualify for is the only one you'll receive.
Bucknell's deadlines for application-required scholarships are tied to admission rounds: November 1 for Early Decision I, January 10 for ED II and Regular Decision. Late submission can drop you out of the scholarship pool entirely even if Bucknell still admits you.
Bucknell's coa-cap is unusually strict in scope (gift aid from all sources including VA benefits, tuition benefits, and stipends). At the COA cap, Bucknell reduces its own aid dollar for dollar — including merit. Outside dollars displace Bucknell dollars, they do not add cash.
See award cutoffs and special programs+
Engineering Merit Scholars Program — Bucknell's prestige engineering award
Bucknell calls the Engineering Merit Scholars Program 'among Bucknell's most prestigious scholarships,' awarded to high-achieving prospective College of Engineering majors. Like most Bucknell merit programs in the 'no application required' category, the admission application itself triggers consideration — recipients receive notification with their admissions decision. Renewal requires a 3.2 cumulative GPA both overall and within the College of Engineering, plus full-time enrollment. Importantly, Bucknell publishes the rule that merit scholarship awards do NOT increase in subsequent years even if a student's GPA rises — the dollar amount set at admission is the dollar amount through senior year.
Strong students looking for a small Pennsylvania university with both top-25 liberal arts and ABET-accredited engineering pipelines, where merit aid is competitive but program-specific (engineering versus arts and sciences versus management) and Bucknell publishes one of the clearest dollar-for-dollar outside-scholarship displacement rules in higher ed.
Cost of attendance$95,648 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$95,648
$74K
$18K
Tuition & fees
Housing & food
Books
Personal
Loan fees
Official Bucknell tuition/aid page, 2026-2027 full COA budget $95,648. Tuition & fees = Tuition $72,600 + Activity Fee $900 + Books $900 not folded (Books separate); Housing & food = Housing $11,400 + Meal Plan $6,980; Travel+Personal $2,800 combined.
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Bucknell, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Bucknell, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$20,980
$30,001–$48,000
$12,276
$48,001–$75,000
$23,679
$75,001–$110,000
$28,165
$110,001+
$55,724
All income levels (average)
$40,766
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$67,812
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$40,766
That works out to roughly a 51% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $83,756 (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
94%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$27,000 (~$286/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$93,807
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
14%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
34%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Bucknell publishes a clean COA cap on gift aid from all sources. Once total gift aid (Bucknell + federal + state + private + tuition benefits + VA + similar) reaches Bucknell's cost of attendance, Bucknell reduces its own aid — both need-based and merit-based — dollar for dollar to prevent surplus. Non-need loans (Unsubsidized Stafford, PLUS, Alternative) do not trigger a reduction.
Bucknell's outside-scholarship page makes the rule unusually explicit. Cost of attendance includes tuition, the student activity fee, housing, a meal plan, and allowances for books/course materials/supplies/equipment. When total gift aid from all sources reaches that cap, Bucknell aid is reduced dollar-for-dollar. Non-need loans are NOT counted against the cap. The Alston settlement athletic funding is excluded from the gift-aid cap for student-athletes with only athletic funding plus a Pell Grant.
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
AmountNamed scholarship requiring program-specific applicationEligibilityApplication required via Bucknell scholarship application or program-specific form. Deadline matches the admission round (Nov 1 ED I, Jan 10 ED II / RD).
AmountNamed scholarship for transfer students from community college partnersEligibilityApplication via Bucknell scholarship application required. Specific community-college transfer pathway.
AmountFull-tuition leadership scholarship via the Posse FoundationEligibilityPosse Scholars are nominated through partner cities; separate non-Bucknell application required through the Posse Foundation.
Do I need a separate application for every Bucknell merit scholarship?
It depends on the program. Eight programs require no additional application — admission application suffices (Bauer, Dean's, Engineering, Gamgort, Langone/Langone-Walling, Malesardi, Management, Presidential Fellowship). Six require a separate scholarship application (Arts Merit, Community College Scholars, Community Engagement, Math Scholars, PwC, Tools for Tomorrow).
Will an outside scholarship reduce my Bucknell aid?
Yes, at the cost-of-attendance line. Bucknell states: 'If this cost is reached with total gift aid, Bucknell aid (need-based and/or merit-based) will be reduced dollar for dollar to prevent an award surplus.' Below the cap, outside scholarships layer cleanly. Non-need loans (Unsubsidized Stafford, PLUS, Alternative) do not trigger any reduction.
What's the scholarship application deadline?
Aligned with the admission round: November 1 for Early Decision I, January 10 for Early Decision II and Regular Decision. The Class of 2030 scholarship application opens August 1, 2025.
Does my Bucknell merit scholarship grow over time?
No. Bucknell publishes the rule explicitly for the Engineering Merit Scholars Program (and the same applies across merit programs): 'Merit Scholarship awards do not increase in subsequent years.' The dollar amount is set at admission for all four years contingent on renewal requirements.
How is the merit award split between need and non-need families?
Bucknell says: 'Most funding is awarded to students who have demonstrated institutional need as determined by Bucknell's Office of Financial Aid, but a limited amount will also be awarded to those who do not have financial need or do not apply for aid.' Need-aware merit awarding is the norm, not the exception.
See sources and other schools+
How Bucknell compares
241 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Bucknell 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.
Bucknell 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 Bucknell’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
