Does every admitted student get a merit scholarship?

Yes — the Olin Tuition Scholarship, a fixed $10,000/year (starting Fall 2026) for all incoming students, awarded for up to eight semesters of full-time study.

Is the Olin merit award still half tuition?

No. As of Fall 2026 it is a fixed $10,000 per year, not half of tuition.

What is the Phoenix Award?

A new four-year grant (Fall 2026) of $7,000-$17,000/year for students who embody Olin's ethos, with preference to middle-income families; recipients are selected at admission.

Does Olin meet financial need?

Yes. Olin is committed to meeting full demonstrated financial need for up to eight semesters; full need-based aid is available to U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens (FAFSA-determined).

What does Olin cost for 2026-2027?

Tuition is $67,004 and the total cost of attendance before aid is $97,088.

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering · Massachusetts

Olin College scholarships and merit aid

Starting Fall 2026, Olin's universal merit award is a FIXED $10,000/year Olin Tuition Scholarship for every admit (no longer half tuition) — a modest offset against $67,004 tuition — supplemented by the new Phoenix Award and a commitment to meet full demonstrated need.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago

The short answer

Is Olin College worth a closer look?

Olin College is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 4 published awards, and one is based on those numbers.

Merit tiers41 based on grades or scores

Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

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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.

$10,000

Olin Tuition Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue

See who qualifies

Who qualifies

All admitted students; recognizes pre-college achievement. No separate application.

How to keep it

Awarded for a maximum of eight semesters of required full-time study. Full-time Study Away (pre-approved) counts as one of the eight semesters; a partial semester (withdrawal/leave) also counts. Payment of full tuition is required for any semester(s) beyond eight. Forfeited if permanently disqualified for academic/disciplinary reasons.

Notes

FIXED $10,000/year for ALL incoming students starting Fall 2026 — this replaces the historic 'half tuition to all admits.' Against 2026-27 tuition of $67,004, this covers roughly 15% of tuition.

Source

$7,000-$17,000

Phoenix Award

Apply separatelyCan continue

See who qualifies

Who qualifies

Recognizes leadership, service, community impact, and commitment to educating/edifying/healing. Preference to students from middle-income families. Chosen during the two-step holistic admission process.

How to keep it

A four-year grant; released at the time of admission.

Notes

New starting Fall 2026. Designed to bridge the gap for middle-income families.

Source

Up to $10,000

Iris Shanyue Tang Scholarship Fund

Apply separatelyCan continue

See who qualifies

Who qualifies

Students who have achieved academic excellence and have a demonstrated interest in the arts.

How to keep it

Up to $10,000 per year, for up to four years of study.

Notes

Named in honor of Iris Shanyue Tang '29. Combines academic excellence with an arts interest.

Source

$1,000

Olin National Merit Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue

See who qualifies

Who qualifies

National Merit Finalists who designate Olin as first-choice but do not receive an NMSC/corporate scholarship may be designated Olin National Merit Scholars.

How to keep it

$1,000 for four years; student must submit renewal paperwork to National Merit each year.

Notes

Funded by Olin College for finalists not sponsored elsewhere.

Source

See what could change an award

Rules that could change the answer

These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Olin College's published information.

Renewal ruleOlin Tuition Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Awarded for a maximum of eight semesters of required full-time study. Full-time Study Away (pre-approved) counts as one of the eight semesters; a partial semester (withdrawal/leave) also counts. Payment of full tuition is required for any semester(s) beyond eight. Forfeited if permanently disqualified for academic/disciplinary reasons. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

What families often miss

Believing Olin still gives every admit a half-tuition merit scholarship.
That is outdated. Starting Fall 2026, the Olin Tuition Scholarship is a FIXED $10,000/year for all incoming students — not a percentage of tuition.
Overestimating how much the $10,000 covers.
2026-27 tuition is $67,004 and total cost of attendance is $97,088, so the $10,000 merit award offsets only about 15% of tuition. Most affordability comes from need-based aid, not the merit award.
Expecting the merit scholarship to lower your family's expected contribution.
Merit awards are coordinated with need-based aid and counted as a resource to meet demonstrated need; they cannot be used to reduce the family's calculated contribution.
Assuming the merit award covers a 9th semester or study-away time.
The Olin Tuition Scholarship lasts a maximum of eight semesters; a pre-approved Study Away semester and even a partial (withdrawal/leave) semester each count as one of the eight, and any semester beyond eight requires full tuition payment.
International applicants assuming they'll have full need met.
Full need-based aid is available only to U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens (FAFSA-determined). The $10,000 merit award and National Merit award are need-independent, but full demonstrated-need funding is citizenship-restricted.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Any admitted Olin engineering student receives the $10,000/year merit award; middle-income changemakers may add the Phoenix Award, and U.S. citizens/eligible non-citizens with need have their full demonstrated need met.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $97,088 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Olin College, academic year 2021-22
Family income	Average net price paid
$30,001–$48,000	$3,100
$48,001–$75,000	$9,528
$75,001–$110,000	$12,271
$110,001+	$27,096
All income levels (average)	$25,171

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23: $66,398
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22: $25,171

That works out to roughly a 71% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $86,474 (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: 98%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers: $19,500 (~$207/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21): $129,455
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22: 14%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22: 29%

How to read these numbers

Net price reflects only first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who received federal Title IV financial aid — not Olin College's full student body.
Published tuition is the catalog sticker price for all students, not a Title IV-only figure.
Graduation rate reflects the entire first-time, full-time, degree-seeking cohort — not only students who received Title IV aid.
Retention rate reflects all first-time, full-time, bachelor's-seeking students — not only Title IV aid recipients.
Median debt reflects only completers who took out federal student loans — not Olin College's full graduating class, and not limited to first-time, full-time students.
Median earnings reflect Title IV aid recipients who entered college and were working (not enrolled) roughly a decade later — not necessarily the graduating cohort, and not a recent graduate's paycheck.
Pell grant and federal loan participation covers first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students only.
Net price blends need-based aid and merit aid together — it is not a merit-specific estimate. It shows what similar-income families actually paid on average after every kind of aid, not what a strong-stats student could win in merit dollars alone. Treat it as cost context, not a merit forecast — a MeritPlaybook models merit aid specifically for your student’s own stats, which this net-price figure cannot do.

None of this is current-year data — the U.S. Department of Education reports it on a delay, and different figures below come from different reporting years. Net price is an academic year 2021-22 figure. Published tuition reflects the 2022-23 academic year. Graduation rate reflects the Fall 2016 entering, full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking cohort; completion measured within 150% of normal time (~6 years for a bachelor's degree). IPEDS Graduation Rates component (C150_4). Retention reflects the Fall 2021 full-time, first-time, bachelor's-seeking cohort retained into the following fall. IPEDS Fall Enrollment component (RET_FT4). Median debt reflects the NSLDS FY2020 and FY2021 pooled completer cohorts (GRAD_DEBT_MDN, GRAD_DEBT_MDN10YR_SUPP). Median earnings reflect the Treasury-matched cohort entering college in AY2009-10 or AY2010-11, earnings measured 10 years later in calendar years 2020 and 2021, inflation-adjusted to 2022 dollars (MD_EARN_WNE_P10).

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard.

See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Merit awards are coordinated with need-based aid: the Olin Tuition Scholarship is counted as a resource used to meet demonstrated need and cannot reduce the family's calculated contribution. Outside scholarships restricted to tuition only reduce the Olin Tuition Scholarship if they exceed remaining tuition; otherwise outside awards reduce self-help (subsidized loans) first.

While the Olin Tuition Scholarship and National Merit award are independent of need, they are included in the aid that meets demonstrated need and cannot reduce the family contribution. For need-based students, outside scholarships first reduce self-help (subsidized loans); only if they exceed self-help is the Olin need-based grant reduced (because Olin meets full need at the federal maximum).

Source

Other Olin College scholarships worth checking

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

R2 Scholarship

AmountEqual to room chargeEligibilityStudents selected to be an 'R2' (resident resource) by Student Affairs and Resources.

Counted as a resource in a need-based package; replaces student contribution or subsidized loan before reducing need-based grant.

Source

Donor Funded Grants

AmountNeed-based (varies)EligibilityAwarded annually based on financial need; no additional application (FAFSA-based).

Named/endowed funds; may be renewable.

Source

Olin College merit aid FAQ

Does every admitted student get a merit scholarship?
Yes — the Olin Tuition Scholarship, a fixed $10,000/year (starting Fall 2026) for all incoming students, awarded for up to eight semesters of full-time study.
Is the Olin merit award still half tuition?
No. As of Fall 2026 it is a fixed $10,000 per year, not half of tuition.
What is the Phoenix Award?
A new four-year grant (Fall 2026) of $7,000-$17,000/year for students who embody Olin's ethos, with preference to middle-income families; recipients are selected at admission.
Does Olin meet financial need?
Yes. Olin is committed to meeting full demonstrated financial need for up to eight semesters; full need-based aid is available to U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens (FAFSA-determined).
What does Olin cost for 2026-2027?
Tuition is $67,004 and the total cost of attendance before aid is $97,088.

See sources and other schools

How Olin College compares

145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Olin College is in a recognizable cluster (145 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.
Olin 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.
132 of 749 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Olin College is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Olin College’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Policy pageOlin College stacking policy
Cost of attendanceOlin College cost-of-attendance worksheet

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Keep exploring Olin College merit aid

Olin College scholarship stacking. Whether outside awards land as upside or quietly displace institutional aid.
Does Olin College displace outside scholarships?. The dollar math on a $5,000 outside award, plus peer schools that handle it differently.
Olin College four-year renewal rules. GPA floors, credit-hour pace, and the renewal cliffs that knock awards out by sophomore year.