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Drexel scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$86,353per year · 2025-2026 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

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

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
5 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. A.J. Drexel Scholarship (ED/EA round)$20,000–$35,000 per year for Early Decision and Early Action admits (Fall 2026)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    A.J. Drexel Scholarship (ED/EA round)

    $20,000–$35,000 per year for Early Decision and Early Action admits (Fall 2026)

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

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for A.J. Drexel Scholarship (ED/EA round)

    Who qualifies

    Automatic on admission application — no separate form. Criteria include high school transcript and standardized test scores. Apply ED or EA to access the higher floor ($20,000) rather than the RD floor ($10,000).

    How to keep it

    Renewable as long as the student is registered full-time and maintains a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Awards do NOT pay during co-op terms.

  2. A.J. Drexel Scholarship (Regular Decision round)$10,000–$35,000 per year for Regular Decision admits (Fall 2026)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    A.J. Drexel Scholarship (Regular Decision round)

    $10,000–$35,000 per year for Regular Decision admits (Fall 2026)

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

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for A.J. Drexel Scholarship (Regular Decision round)

    Who qualifies

    Same automatic process and criteria as the ED/EA pool, but with a $10,000 lower floor. Top end of the band ($35,000) is the same.

    How to keep it

    Renewable with full-time enrollment and 2.0 cumulative GPA. Does not pay during co-op terms.

    Worth knowing

    The structural ED/EA-vs-RD gap is a $10,000 floor difference. The ceiling is the same. Families who can commit early get a meaningful floor lift.

  3. Liberty Scholars Program100% of tuition (renewable)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Liberty Scholars Program

    100% of tuition (renewable)

    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 Liberty Scholars Program

    Who qualifies

    Need + merit hybrid. Community service requirement. Separate evaluation beyond the standard A.J. Drexel ladder.

    How to keep it

    Renewable contingent on academic progress and community-service participation. Does not pay during co-op terms.

    Worth knowing

    Top of the Drexel merit ladder for need-eligible applicants — full tuition rather than the $35,000 cap of the A.J. Drexel band.

Lights up against Drexel'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.

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The fine print

Renewal ruleA.J. Drexel Scholarship (ED/EA round): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

Renewable as long as the student is registered full-time and maintains a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Awards do NOT pay during co-op terms. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

Aid capHard $86,353 cost-of-attendance ceiling

Institutional aid at Drexel cannot push the package past $86,353. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

Main Building at Drexel University

Main Building at Drexel University

What makes Drexel different

Philadelphia co-op university with a publicly different merit ladder by admission round — ED/EA admits qualify for $20,000–$35,000/year, RD admits start at $10,000 — and an explicit grant-first rule where named scholarships replace or reduce the Drexel Grant rather than stacking on top.

Merit tiers32 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 Drexel's decision sheet

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

See what could change an award

Straight from the aid office

What Drexel's aid office says

Per Undergraduate Admissions, Drexel University, August 2026. How we verify

Automatic consideration

Is merit considered automatically, or is there a separate application?

Automatic. Every first-year applicant is in the merit pool the moment the application is submitted — there is no separate scholarship application to find or miss.

“All first-year applicants are automatically considered for merit-based aid once they submit their application.”
Merit is not need-based

Does merit aid depend on financial need?

No. Merit at Drexel is awarded by the admissions team on the strength of the application, independent of what the family earns. Need-based aid is a separate track with its own filings.

“Merit-based aid is awarded by the admissions team and is not based on your financial need.”
Need-based filings

What has to be filed for need-based aid?

Both forms, not just the FAFSA. U.S. citizens and permanent residents file the FAFSA for federal aid and the CSS Profile for Drexel’s own need-based grants. A family that stops at the FAFSA leaves the institutional grant review incomplete.

“U.S. citizens and permanent residents should complete the FAFSA for need-based federal aid in addition to the CSS Profile through the College Board website to be considered for need-based grants from Drexel.”
Renewal and co-op terms

Does the scholarship carry through all years, including co-op?

It applies to every class term at full-time status — but not to co-op terms. At a school built around co-op, that is a real modeling detail: the scholarship pauses during the terms a student spends working, and applies when they are back in class.

“Drexel scholarships are applied to all class terms as long as the student maintains full-time status. Scholarships are not available during terms of co-op.”
GPA used

Weighted or unweighted GPA?

Both. Drexel reads the weighted and the unweighted number rather than committing to one, consistent with its holistic review.

“Drexel will look at weighted and unweighted grades.”
Superscoring

Does Drexel superscore the SAT/ACT?

Yes, directly confirmed.

“Yes, we superscore standardized tests.”
Test-optional with no downside

Can submitting test scores hurt?

No — Drexel calls its policy No Harm Test-Optional. Scores are not required; strong scores can help; and the office states in writing that scores will never count against a student. That asymmetry means there is little reason to withhold a decent score.

“Drexel practices No Harm Test-Optional admission, meaning applicants are not required to submit standardized test scores as part of their application. While strong test scores can strengthen a student’s application for admission, test scores will never negatively impact a student’s competitiveness.”

What families often miss

  1. Drexel merit scholarships do not pay during co-op terms — 'are registered full-time for classes (not... quarters you are on co-op).' Five-year Drexel students with three co-op cycles spend roughly 12-15 months on paid co-op without merit aid hitting tuition. The four-year scholarship math is not straightforward.

  2. The published 2026 merit floor is $20,000 for ED/EA admits vs $10,000 for RD admits. That's a $10,000 PER YEAR difference at the floor of the band — potentially $40,000-$50,000 across an undergraduate career — driven entirely by admission round choice.

  3. Drexel publishes the rule directly: 'In most cases, the named scholarship will either reduce or replace your Drexel Grant.' Outside aid is treated similarly — it first fills unmet need, then displaces Drexel grant. The cash benefit to the family is often zero.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Liberty Scholars Program — Drexel's full-tuition need+merit award

The Liberty Scholars Program is Drexel's top-tier scholarship for academically strong students with financial need. It covers 100% of tuition (not the standard A.J. Drexel cap of $35,000), renewable for four years contingent on academic progress and a community-service participation requirement. Liberty Scholars sits above the regular merit ladder for eligible students — but because Drexel's policy is grant-first, the value of an outside scholarship for a Liberty Scholar is typically displaced rather than stacked. The smart move for a Liberty candidate is to verify in writing with Drexel Central whether any specific outside award would supplement or simply reduce the Drexel grant.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students looking for an urban Philadelphia co-op program (paid work terms alternating with academic terms) who want a published, automatic merit ladder. Drexel's structural quirk is that merit scholarships do not pay during co-op terms — so the four-year scholarship dollar total is not simply the annual amount times four — and applying ED versus RD raises the merit floor by $10,000.

Cost of attendance$86,353 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$86,353
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Loan fees

On-campus undergraduate (three quarters: fall, winter, spring). Tuition & fees combines tuition ($61,842), fees ($2,370), immunization fee ($50). Books combines books ($1,200) and one-time computer cost ($500).

Drexel cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Drexel, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$28,055
$30,001–$48,000$29,435
$48,001–$75,000$34,970
$75,001–$110,000$37,842
$110,001+$48,089
All income levels (average)$38,509

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$62,412
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$38,509

That works out to roughly a 50% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $76,835 (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
78%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
90%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$25,325 (~$268/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$84,648
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
31%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
58%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Your total financial aid package cannot exceed the university's cost of attendance. Awards that make-up a financial aid package include grants, scholarships, loans, work-study, and scholarships from private organizations.

Source

Other Drexel scholarships worth checking

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

AmountDetermined by PHEAA; amount varies year-to-yearEligibilityPennsylvania residents pursuing first bachelor's degree. Renewal requires at least 12 new credits per term (full-time) or 6 (half-time).

Specifically the PA state grant route — most prominent for in-state Drexel applicants.

Source

AmountVariesEligibilityStudents from Delaware, Ohio, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Vermont, or D.C. may use home-state grants at Drexel.

Source

AmountUp to $40,000 covering study abroad expensesEligibilityDrexel nominee only. Full-year study abroad at the University of Aberdeen required. Interview with St. Andrews Society members required.

One nominee per year — administered through Drexel Global rather than the central aid office.

Source

Drexel merit aid FAQ

  • Does my Drexel merit scholarship pay during co-op?

    No. Drexel's terms state merit scholarships are renewable 'as long as you are registered full-time for classes (not... quarters you are on co-op).' Co-op terms are paid through your employer, but tuition is generally not charged for the co-op quarter — the scholarship simply does not apply that term.

  • Do I need a separate application for the A.J. Drexel Scholarship?

    No. The A.J. Drexel Scholarship is awarded automatically based on the admission application — high school transcript and standardized test scores are the main criteria. The Liberty Scholars Program is a separate need+merit pathway with additional review.

  • Is the merit floor really $10,000 higher for ED/EA than RD?

    Yes, for Fall 2026 admits. Drexel publishes the bands directly: 'Early Decision and Early Action: $20,000–$35,000' versus 'Regular Decision: $10,000–$35,000.' The ceiling is the same at the top of the band — the floor is $10,000 lower for RD.

  • Will an outside scholarship reduce my Drexel aid?

    Often, yes. Drexel says about its own named-scholarship system: 'In most cases, the named scholarship will either reduce or replace your Drexel Grant. This will not result in additional financial assistance.' Outside scholarships are subject to similar treatment. Report all outside funding to Drexel Central.

  • How do I keep my merit scholarship for four years?

    Maintain a 2.0 cumulative GPA and full-time enrollment in non-co-op terms. Special scholarships have their own GPA and enrollment requirements communicated at the time of award. Renewal is checked annually; the dollar amount is set at admission and does not increase.

See sources and other schools

How Drexel compares

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

    Drexel 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.

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Drexel merit aid

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