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Delta State scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$23,214per year · 2025-2026 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Delta State 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 Jun 2026
3 school sources to explore

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

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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. Statesman Freshman Scholarship100% tuition coverageNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Statesman Freshman Scholarship

    100% tuition coverage

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

    GPA
    Not published
    SAT
    Not published
    ACT
    Not published
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Statesman Freshman Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Described as 'highly competitive'; awarded to 'exceptional incoming freshmen who meet specific academic requirements' — the specific GPA/ACT/SAT thresholds are NOT published on the public page.

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms not published on the scholarships page.

    Worth knowing

    Merit. The single richest published institutional award, but it is competitive and its exact academic cutoffs are not on the public page — confirm thresholds with Admissions. 'Tuition' coverage is not the full cost of attendance ($23,214 on-campus).

  2. Casanova Annual Science Scholarship$2,000 per semesterNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Casanova Annual Science Scholarship

    $2,000 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 Casanova Annual Science Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    For 'eligible students passionate about the sciences'; specific eligibility criteria not published on this page.

    How to keep it

    Not stated whether renewable beyond the awarded year.

    Worth knowing

    Departmental/program-specific merit award (sciences). Amount is per semester, i.e. up to $4,000 per academic year if held both terms.

  3. Delta Heroes Graduate Scholarship$1,200 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Delta Heroes Graduate Scholarship

    $1,200 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 Delta Heroes Graduate Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    GRADUATE students serving Mississippi communities in law enforcement, education, and first-response professions. Not a freshman/undergraduate merit award.

    How to keep it

    Not stated.

    Worth knowing

    GRADUATE-LEVEL, service-profession award — included for completeness but does NOT apply to incoming freshmen. Flagged so it is not mistaken for an undergraduate automatic merit tier.

  4. Delta State Free Tuition (NEED-BASED, Pell last-dollar)100% of tuition (last-dollar after Pell)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Delta State Free Tuition (NEED-BASED, Pell last-dollar)

    100% of tuition (last-dollar after Pell)

    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 Delta State Free Tuition (NEED-BASED, Pell last-dollar)

    Who qualifies

    NEED-BASED, not merit: Pell Grant-eligible, first-time freshman entering Fall 2026. Award is a last-dollar tuition guarantee, not a cash merit scholarship.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to four years (eight semesters), provided you maintain Pell eligibility and demonstrate progress toward a degree.

    Worth knowing

    NEED-BASED — included only because it is the headline 'free tuition' program families will ask about, but it is gated on Pell eligibility, not GPA/test scores. It is a LAST-DOLLAR award: Pell and other earned scholarships are applied first, and Delta State covers only the remaining tuition balance, so winning an outside or merit scholarship can REDUCE what this program pays (it covers tuition only — not fees, housing, or meals).

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The fine print

Aid capHard $23,214 cost-of-attendance ceiling

Institutional aid at Delta State cannot push the package past $23,214. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

What makes Delta State different

Delta State publishes almost no automatic GPA/ACT merit grid — incoming freshmen are matched to academic scholarships through the Okra portal (average award ~$4,800/yr), with the top competitive Statesman Freshman Scholarship covering 100% of tuition.

Merit tiers4See who qualifies
Research checkedJun 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 Delta State'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. Delta State does not publish a public 'X GPA + Y ACT = $Z' freshman scholarship table. Incoming students are 'automatically matched to scholarships through the Okra Scholarship Management System' after they apply — you have to go through the portal to learn your actual award, and the average merit-based award is only about $4,800/year.

  2. The Statesman Freshman Scholarship is described as 'highly competitive' and goes to 'exceptional incoming freshmen who meet specific academic requirements' — the public page does not list those requirements, so do not assume any particular GPA/ACT guarantees it.

  3. Tuition is only one line of Delta State's $23,214 on-campus cost of attendance (2025-2026). Even a full-tuition award leaves fees, housing (~$9,059 living expenses), books ($1,500), and other costs unfunded.

  4. It is need-based: you must be Pell Grant-eligible and a first-time freshman entering Fall 2026. It is also LAST-DOLLAR ('we apply your Pell Grant and any other earned scholarships to your tuition fee; if there is any balance due, Delta State covers it'), so a separate merit or outside award can reduce what Delta State itself pays toward tuition rather than stack on top.

  5. Delta Heroes ($1,200/year) is a GRADUATE scholarship for law-enforcement, education, and first-response professionals — it does not apply to incoming undergraduates.

  6. The scholarship application opens in OSMS in November, academic scholarships are awarded in late January, and departmental scholarships become available mid-February. Students who do not complete the OSMS steps may not be matched.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Mississippi and out-of-state students (Delta State charges one flat rate, no out-of-state surcharge) who want a low-cost public LAC and are willing to apply through the Okra/AcademicWorks portal to be matched to academic scholarships; the published award amounts are modest and most thresholds are not posted, so this is a school to confirm specifics with directly.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $23,214 for 2025-2026. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Delta State, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$12,223
$30,001–$48,000$10,615
$48,001–$75,000$10,625
$75,001–$110,000$17,170
$110,001+$16,950
All income levels (average)$13,540

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$8,605
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$13,540

That works out to roughly a 40% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $22,445 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Delta State is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
48%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
67%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$20,390 (~$216/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$41,991
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
44%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
57%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Delta State publishes no general outside-scholarship displacement policy on its scholarships page. The one explicit stacking mechanic found is on the Delta State Free Tuition program: it is LAST-DOLLAR — Pell and any other earned scholarships are applied to tuition first, and the university covers only the remaining tuition balance. For free-tuition recipients, an additional merit/outside scholarship therefore reduces the university's own contribution rather than adding net new money against tuition.

From the Free Tuition page: 'We apply your Pell Grant and any other earned scholarships to your tuition fee. If there is any balance due, Delta State covers it.' This caps the combined institutional commitment at the tuition figure for that program; it does NOT describe how outside awards interact with merit scholarships for non-Pell students, which is not published.

Source

Other Delta State scholarships worth checking

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

Amount$2,000 per semesterEligibilityEligible students passionate about the sciences.

Program/department-specific; up to $4,000/yr if held both semesters. Specific criteria not published.

Source

Amount$1,200 per yearEligibilityGraduate students serving Mississippi communities in law enforcement, education, or first-response professions.

Graduate-level only; not for incoming freshmen.

Source

AmountVariesEligibilityMatched after admission through the Okra Scholarship Management System; departmental awards open mid-February.

Individual departmental award amounts are not published on the public page — they live behind the portal.

Source

Delta State merit aid FAQ

  • Does Delta State publish an automatic merit scholarship grid by GPA and ACT?

    No. The public scholarships page says incoming students are 'automatically matched to scholarships through the Okra Scholarship Management System' based on GPA and/or ACT/SAT once they complete the application steps, but it does not post a GPA/ACT-to-dollar award table. The cited 'average merit-based award' is about $4,800/year. Confirm your specific award through the portal or with Financial Aid (662-846-4670).

  • What is the richest published merit scholarship?

    The Statesman Freshman Scholarship, which provides 100% tuition coverage. It is described as highly competitive and reserved for 'exceptional incoming freshmen who meet specific academic requirements'; the exact GPA/ACT thresholds are not published, so ask Admissions.

  • Is the 'Delta State Free Tuition' program a merit award?

    No — it is need-based. You must be Pell Grant-eligible and a first-time freshman entering Fall 2026. It covers tuition only (not fees, housing, or meals) and is renewable for up to four years if you keep Pell eligibility and make progress toward a degree.

  • When are scholarships decided?

    Per the financial-aid timeline: the scholarship application opens in OSMS in November, academic scholarships are awarded in late January, award notices go out February 1, and departmental scholarships become available mid-February. File the FAFSA (opens October 1) and complete the OSMS steps to be considered.

See sources and other schools

How Delta State compares

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

    Delta State is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

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

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Delta State merit aid

The next chapter

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