Skip to content

Covenant College scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$64,450per year · 2026-2027 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Covenant College awards automatic merit on admission. Covenant College does not publish a GPA or test chart, so you cannot self-calculate the dollars.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
2 school sources to explore

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

Step 1 of comparing your list

Check the rules that could cut this.

Check Covenant College free in 30 seconds. Then see how it ranks against the rest of your list.

Checking merit aid at Covenant College

We’ll email you this result and a few short merit-aid pointers. We store score ranges only, never your student’s name. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.

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. Founders' Scholarship$22,000AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Founders' Scholarship

    $22,000

    Published amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Avg recipient 3.95 GPA
    SAT
    Avg recipient 1410 SAT
    ACT
    Avg recipient 30 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Founders' Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Avg recipient 95 CLT. Awarded automatically from admissions materials; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewal GPA/terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Top tier of Covenant's five automatic merit scholarships. The published numbers are stated as the AVERAGE academic profile of recipients, not hard cutoffs — the page does not publish a guaranteed GPA/test floor for each tier.

  2. Tower Scholarship$20,000AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Tower Scholarship

    $20,000

    Published amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Avg recipient 3.82 GPA
    SAT
    Avg recipient 1320 SAT
    ACT
    Avg recipient 28 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Tower Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Avg recipient 88 CLT. Awarded automatically from admissions materials; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewal GPA/terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Numbers given are the AVERAGE recipient profile, not a published cutoff.

  3. Thistle Scholarship$18,000AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Thistle Scholarship

    $18,000

    Published amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Avg recipient 3.67 GPA
    SAT
    Avg recipient 1250 SAT
    ACT
    Avg recipient 26 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Thistle Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Avg recipient 83 CLT. Awarded automatically from admissions materials; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewal GPA/terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Numbers given are the AVERAGE recipient profile, not a published cutoff.

  4. Shield Scholarship$15,000AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Shield Scholarship

    $15,000

    Published amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Avg recipient 3.5 GPA
    SAT
    Avg recipient 1130 SAT
    ACT
    Avg recipient 23 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Shield Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Avg recipient 75 CLT. Awarded automatically from admissions materials; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewal GPA/terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Numbers given are the AVERAGE recipient profile, not a published cutoff.

  5. Tartan Scholarship$13,000AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Tartan Scholarship

    $13,000

    Published amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Avg recipient 3.4 GPA
    SAT
    Avg recipient 1040 SAT
    ACT
    Avg recipient 20 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Tartan Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Avg recipient 67 CLT. Awarded automatically from admissions materials; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewal GPA/terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Entry tier of the five automatic merit scholarships. Numbers given are the AVERAGE recipient profile, not a published cutoff.

  6. Maclellan Scholars ProgramFull tuitionNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Maclellan Scholars Program

    Full tuition

    Published coverage or packageNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Minimum 3.85 high school GPA
    SAT
    Minimum 1320 SAT
    ACT
    Minimum 28 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Maclellan Scholars Program

    Who qualifies

    Minimum 90 CLT. Based on Christian commitment, scholastic achievement, leadership, and extracurriculars. Competitive; deadline November 10.

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Covenant's top competitive award (full tuition). IMPORTANT TRAP: 'The Maclellan Scholarship is mutually exclusive with other institutional aid' — it does NOT stack on the automatic merit tiers; it replaces them. GPA/test minimums are stated as requirements to compete, not as guarantees of the award.

  7. Wilberforce Scholarship$15,000Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Wilberforce Scholarship

    $15,000

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    No academic minimums to compete
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Wilberforce Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    First-time, degree-seeking students from specific regions (Atlanta GA, Birmingham AL, Dalton GA, Gainesville GA, Charlotte NC, Chattanooga TN, Nashville TN, Columbia MO, St. Louis MO, Michigan). Commitment to Christ, leadership, academic diligence, extracurricular interest. Competitive; deadline November 10.

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Competitive, region-restricted. STACKS, but capped: 'stackable with other aid up to the cost of tuition' — Wilberforce funds will not exceed the cost of tuition. No academic minimums to compete.

  8. Presidential Scholarship$5,000Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Presidential Scholarship

    $5,000

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Minimum 3.5 high school GPA
    SAT
    Minimum 1240 SAT
    ACT
    Minimum 26 ACT
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Presidential Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Minimum 81 CLT. Based on scholastic achievement, work ethic, commitment to Christ, institutional fit. Competitive; deadline November 10.

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Competitive add-on scholarship; minimum stats listed are eligibility-to-compete thresholds, not award guarantees.

  9. Visual Arts Scholarship$5,000Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Visual Arts Scholarship

    $5,000

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    No academic minimums to compete
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Visual Arts Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Based on scholastic achievement, artistic achievement, work ethic, commitment to Christ, institutional fit. Art major not required to compete. Competitive; deadline November 10.

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms not stated on the scholarships & aid page.

    Worth knowing

    Competitive talent-style award; you do not have to declare art as a major to compete. No academic minimums to compete.

Lights up against Covenant College'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.

This page covers one school.

Your playbook does this for every school on your list, sorted by what you’d pay.

Ready in under 10 minutes. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get my playbook$79
  • Secure payment through Stripe
  • “it told me what to ask and what the renewal GPA looked like, which I was not going to find on my own”Melissa

The fine print

Outside awardsNo published displacement order

Covenant College's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

What makes Covenant College different

Covenant College auto-awards every applicant a named merit scholarship from a published five-tier grid ($13,000-$22,000/year) just for applying, with no separate scholarship application — plus competitive add-ons up to full tuition (Maclellan).

Merit tiers95 based on grades or scores
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.

  1. Match the published criteria

    Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.

  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 Covenant College'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. Covenant publishes the AVERAGE academic profile of recipients for each tier (e.g., Founders' avg 3.95 GPA / 30 ACT), not a hard floor. Your actual tier is set by the admissions office from your full application, so a number slightly below 'average' does not automatically disqualify you from a tier — but it also is not a promise.

  2. 'The Maclellan Scholarship is mutually exclusive with other institutional aid.' It replaces your Founders'/Tower/etc. award rather than adding to it, so the marginal value over a large automatic tier is smaller than the full-tuition figure suggests.

  3. Wilberforce is 'stackable with other aid up to the cost of tuition' and the funds are 'not to exceed the cost of tuition.' If your other institutional aid already approaches tuition, Wilberforce dollars can be capped.

  4. 'The deadline for all scholarships (except Music Scholarships ...) is November 10.' The five automatic merit tiers need no separate application, but Maclellan, Wilberforce, Presidential, and Visual Arts are competitive and require meeting that deadline.

  5. The 2026-27 on-campus cost-of-attendance budget total is $64,450 (tuition $44,050 + student fee $1,328 + living/housing & food $13,770 + books $1,170 + miscellaneous/personal $3,132 + transportation $920 + average loan fees $80). Merit scholarships are quoted against tuition, not the full cost of attendance.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Christian students seeking a Reformed/PCA-affiliated liberal-arts college who want predictable, stats-aligned merit aid with no extra scholarship application; strong applicants (3.85+ GPA, 28+ ACT) can compete for the full-tuition Maclellan Scholarship.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $64,450 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Covenant College, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$18,310
$30,001–$48,000$15,929
$48,001–$75,000$24,606
$75,001–$110,000$24,836
$110,001+$30,172
All income levels (average)$26,265

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$42,040
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$26,265

That works out to roughly a 54% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $57,467 (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
88%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$22,500 (~$239/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$50,412
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
19%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
40%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Private Aid -- Private aid is available through both private lenders and independent scholarship foundations. Private Loans. Private Scholarships. Separately, the school's own award-stacking rules: The Maclellan full-tuition scholarship is 'mutually exclusive with other institutional aid' (it replaces, not stacks). Maclellan = mutually exclusive with other institutional aid; in certain circumstances state/federal aid can be applied to other costs of attendance. Wilberforce = stackable with other aid but capped at cost of tuition (funds 'not to exceed the cost of tuition'). (per https://covenant.edu/admissions/costs/aid.html)

Source

Other Covenant College scholarships worth checking

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

Amount$5,000EligibilityDependents of full-time ordained PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) ministers who are members in good standing.

Awarded automatically from admissions materials; no separate application.

Source

Amount$5,000EligibilityParticipants in the NCFCA program who competed at nationals prior to their senior year.

Speech/debate league grant.

Source

Amount$1,000EligibilityStudents who are members of a PCA church whose church is not giving at the minimum level.

Church-affiliation grant.

Source

Amount$1,000 per yearEligibilityEach graduate of a homeschool program.

Supports students transitioning from homeschool to college.

Source

Amount$1,000 per year (or $10,000 comprehensive for faculty/staff dependents)EligibilityGraduates of Chattanooga Christian School enrolling as freshmen.

Contingent on maintaining a minimum institutional GPA of 2.5 after each fall semester. Dependents of full-time CCS faculty/staff get a $10,000 comprehensive package including all merit and non-merit aid.

Source

AmountVariesEligibilityGraduates of Hilger Higher Learning enrolling as freshmen.

Must maintain a minimum institutional GPA of 2.5 to remain eligible. Amount not published.

Source

Amount$1,000 per yearEligibilityStudents who attend Summer Institute before their senior year of high school.

Activity-based grant tied to a Covenant program.

Source

Amount$1,000 per yearEligibilityNew students who attend the Summit Student Conference after their sophomore or junior year of high school and subsequently enroll.

Provides $1,000 per year for up to four years if academic standards are maintained.

Source

Amount$500-$2,000 per yearEligibilityAttendance-based: $500/yr for one year, $1,000/yr for two years, $2,000/yr for three+ years of YXL attendance.

Tiered by years of program participation.

Source

Amount$500 per yearEligibilityAwarded once you enroll, for up to four years.

$500 grant per year for up to four years for visiting campus.

Source

AmountVariesEligibilityAwarded based on contribution to the music program; audition required.

Separate deadline from the Nov 10 competitive deadline — see the Music Audition Form. Amount not published.

Source

Covenant College merit aid FAQ

  • Do I have to apply separately for Covenant's merit scholarships?

    No for the five automatic tiers. 'Covenant College provides a variety of scholarships and grants that automatically consider applicants based on their admissions materials, so no separate application is needed.' The competitive awards (Maclellan, Wilberforce, Presidential, Visual Arts) do require applying by the November 10 deadline.

  • What is the scholarship deadline?

    November 10 for all competitive scholarships except Music Scholarships, which have a separate deadline tied to the Music Audition Form. The automatic merit tiers are based on your admissions application.

  • Can I combine Covenant scholarships?

    It depends. The Wilberforce Scholarship is 'stackable with other aid up to the cost of tuition.' The Maclellan full-tuition scholarship is 'mutually exclusive with other institutional aid' — it replaces, rather than stacks with, your automatic merit award.

  • What GPA do I need to keep my scholarship?

    Covenant's scholarships & aid page does not publish a renewal GPA for the main merit tiers (some school-specific grants like the Chattanooga Christian and Hilger grants require a 2.5 institutional GPA). Confirm renewal terms directly with the financial aid office.

See sources and other schools

How Covenant College compares

  • 133 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.

    Covenant College is in a recognizable cluster (133 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 133 of 749 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.

    Covenant College is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.

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

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Covenant College merit aid

The next chapter

Where does Covenant College fit in your plan?

You have the school’s rules. Now put them in the context of your student and the rest of your list.

  1. Check your student’s numbers, free
  2. Explore another school
  3. See how the research becomes a plan

Ready to work through your whole list? Get my playbook

Inside the sample

Jordan’s playbook

Same student.
Four schools.
Four very different bills.

An illustrative student profile, with a school order, scholarship research and a to-do list. Open the sample to see how it works.

Open the sample playbook