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Georgia Southern scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$21,484per year · 2026-2027 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Georgia Southern 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 Jul 2026
4 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. The Goel Scholarship (full-ride, Honors College)100% of tuition, mandatory fees, textbooks, meal plan, and housing for up to eight semestersNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    The Goel Scholarship (full-ride, Honors College)

    100% of tuition, mandatory fees, textbooks, meal plan, and housing for up to eight semesters

    Variable or qualified 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 The Goel Scholarship (full-ride, Honors College)

    Who qualifies

    Incoming first-time freshman; first-generation college student (neither parent earned a bachelor's degree or higher); demonstrated financial need as determined by the Office of Financial Aid; permanent residency in Georgia or a contiguous border state (Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Tennessee). Apply via the Honors College application by Jan 15; a subset is invited to interview in February.

    How to keep it

    Covers up to eight semesters. Operates as 'last dollar' aid — other grants are applied first, then the Goel covers remaining costs.

    Worth knowing

    Need-tested full-ride (requires demonstrated financial need), but selected on merit within the first-gen pool. Specific GPA/test cutoffs and number of recipients are not published. The four-year dollar value is not stated on the page.

  2. 1906 Scholars (Honors College)Full tuition for up to eight semestersNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    1906 Scholars (Honors College)

    Full tuition for up to eight semesters

    Variable or qualified 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 1906 Scholars (Honors College)

    Who qualifies

    Honors College students; apply via the Honors College application by the Jan 15 priority deadline. Specific GPA/test thresholds not published on the scholarship page.

    How to keep it

    Up to eight semesters. Can be added to the HOPE or Zell Miller Scholarship to help cover other costs of attending the University.

    Worth knowing

    Full-tuition award (tuition only — not fees/housing). In-state full tuition is a smaller dollar figure than out-of-state ($5,670 vs $21,300 for 2026-27), so the dollar value of this award differs sharply by residency. No clean fixed dollar figure is quotable, so amount is the verbatim 'full tuition' description.

  3. The Honors College ScholarshipHalf tuition for up to eight semestersNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    The Honors College Scholarship

    Half tuition for up to eight semesters

    Variable or qualified 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 The Honors College Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Honors College students; apply via the Honors College application by the Jan 15 priority deadline. Specific GPA/test thresholds not published.

    How to keep it

    Up to eight semesters. Stacks on HOPE or Zell Miller per the Honors page.

    Worth knowing

    Half-tuition award. No fixed dollar figure quotable; amount is the verbatim 'half-tuition' description.

  4. Parker Business Scholarship (Honors College)$3,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Parker Business Scholarship (Honors College)

    $3,000 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 Parker Business Scholarship (Honors College)

    Who qualifies

    Students in any major offered by the Parker College of Business; Honors College application required by Jan 15.

    How to keep it

    Annual scholarship for up to eight semesters.

    Worth knowing

    Major-restricted (Parker College of Business).

  5. Margaret Elizabeth and Cullen Bernice Sapp Memorial Scholarship (Honors College)$3,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Margaret Elizabeth and Cullen Bernice Sapp Memorial Scholarship (Honors College)

    $3,000 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 Margaret Elizabeth and Cullen Bernice Sapp Memorial Scholarship (Honors College)

    Who qualifies

    Students in any major offered by the College of Education; Honors College application required by Jan 15.

    How to keep it

    Annual scholarship for up to eight semesters.

    Worth knowing

    Major-restricted (College of Education).

  6. Gulfstream Engineering Scholarship (Honors College)$1,500 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Gulfstream Engineering Scholarship (Honors College)

    $1,500 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 Gulfstream Engineering Scholarship (Honors College)

    Who qualifies

    Students majoring in any of the engineering fields offered in the College of Engineering and Computing; Honors College application required by Jan 15.

    How to keep it

    Annual scholarship for up to eight semesters.

    Worth knowing

    Major-restricted (engineering, College of Engineering and Computing).

  7. Ruffin Humanities Scholarship (Honors College)Equivalent to tuition, mandatory fees, and a textbook allowanceNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Ruffin Humanities Scholarship (Honors College)

    Equivalent to tuition, mandatory fees, and a textbook allowance

    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 Ruffin Humanities Scholarship (Honors College)

    Who qualifies

    Students must major in history, English, philosophy, or a foreign language; Honors College application required by Jan 15.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to eight semesters.

    Worth knowing

    Major-restricted (humanities: history, English, philosophy, or a foreign language). Award is tuition + fees + textbook allowance; no fixed dollar figure quotable, so amount is the verbatim description.

  8. Honors Global Scholars / Honors Savannah Scholars (Honors College cohort programs)VariesNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Honors Global Scholars / Honors Savannah Scholars (Honors College cohort programs)

    Varies

    Variable or qualified 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 Honors Global Scholars / Honors Savannah Scholars (Honors College cohort programs)

    Who qualifies

    Honors College cohort program participants; Honors College application required by Jan 15.

    How to keep it

    Cohort programs; an annual scholarship is associated with each, but the exact amount could not be quoted verbatim from the current scholarships page (see notes).

    Worth knowing

    On the live scholarships page these appear as program names with no grounded dollar figure. A secondary search snippet indicated '$2,000 annual scholarship for up to four semesters' for each, but that exact sentence could NOT be re-confirmed verbatim from the official page on this pass, so the amount is left as 'Varies' rather than fabricate a clean number. Confirm with the aid/Honors office.

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The fine print

Outside awardsNo published displacement order

Georgia Southern'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 Georgia Southern different

Georgia Southern's headline merit lives in the Honors College: a full-tuition '1906' scholarship, a half-tuition Honors College Scholarship, the full-ride first-gen Goel Scholarship, and several named major-specific awards — all stackable on Georgia's HOPE/Zell Miller; general first-year merit consideration is automatic by Feb 1 but no public dollar grid is published.

Merit tiers8See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 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 Georgia Southern'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 Georgia Southern's aid office says

Per the financial aid office, Georgia Southern University, August 2026. How we verify

How outside scholarships are applied

How does the school apply a private/outside scholarship to a student's aid package?

When outside scholarships are added, the unmet need is taken into consideration.

“When outside scholarships are added, the unmet need is taken into consideration.”
Effect on subsidized loans

What happens to subsidized loans if there isn't enough unmet need to fit the outside scholarship?

If there isn't room in the unmet need for the scholarship and the student has subsidized loans, those loans may be reoffered as unsubsidized.

“If the the is not room in the unmet need for the scholarship and the student has subsidized loans, those loans may be reoffered as unsubsidized.”
Other scholarships and grants unaffected

Will other scholarships and grants be reduced when an outside scholarship is added?

Other scholarships and grants would remain (unaffected) when adjusting for the outside scholarship.

“Other scholarships and grants would remain.”
Loan reduction if exceeding cost of attendance

What happens if the scholarship amount doesn't fit within the cost of attendance?

If the scholarship amount does not fit in the cost of attendance, loans may be reduced or canceled.

“If the scholarship amount does not fit in the cost of attendance, those loan may be reduced or canceled.”

What families often miss

  1. Georgia Southern says first-year students who apply and submit all required materials by Feb 1 are 'automatically considered for merit scholarships,' but it does NOT publish a residency-by-GPA dollar grid. The richest named merit lives inside the Honors College, which requires a SEPARATE Honors College application by Jan 15.

  2. General merit consideration is tied to the Feb 1 admissions deadline, but the named Honors awards (Goel, 1906, half-tuition, Parker, Sapp, Gulfstream, Ruffin) run through the Honors College application with a Jan 15 priority deadline and interviews in February.

  3. These cover a percentage of TUITION, and Georgia Southern tuition is $5,670 in-state vs $21,300 out-of-state (2026-27). A 'full-tuition' award is worth far more to an out-of-state student; an in-state student who already has HOPE/Zell Miller may see tuition largely covered before the Honors award even applies.

  4. Goel requires demonstrated financial need AND first-generation status AND Georgia/border-state residency, and it pays 'last dollar' after other grants — it is a need-tested full-ride selected within the first-gen pool, not an open merit award.

  5. That 2026-27 figure is in-state, on-campus direct costs (tuition $5,670 + fees $1,448 + housing/food $13,150 + books $1,216). Out-of-state direct costs are $37,114, and the school lists roughly $9,462 of additional indirect costs (personal, transportation) on top.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

In-state Georgia students who already have HOPE/Zell Miller and want named Honors awards layered on top, first-generation Georgia/border-state students chasing the full-ride Goel, and strong out-of-state applicants who can win a full- or half-tuition Honors award to cut the $21,300 nonresident tuition.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $21,484 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Georgia Southern, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$12,162
$30,001–$48,000$12,564
$48,001–$75,000$14,965
$75,001–$110,000$18,408
$110,001+$19,789
All income levels (average)$15,267

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$6,022
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$17,734
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$15,267

That works out to roughly a 38% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $24,430 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Georgia Southern 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
55%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
78%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$23,250 (~$246/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$53,236
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
41%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
41%
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): Currently enrolled students at Georgia Southern can explore and apply for both internal and external scholarships through our MyScholarships portal ... Separately, the school's own award-stacking rules: Honors College scholarships explicitly stack on Georgia's state HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships, which makes them additive to the major state-aid programs Georgia residents receive. (per https://www.georgiasouthern.edu/colleges/honors/scholarships)

Source

Other Georgia Southern scholarships worth checking

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

AmountVaries (annual award; exact figure unverified on official page this pass)EligibilityHonors College cohort program participant.

Stacks on HOPE/Zell Miller. Confirm dollar amount with the Honors College.

Source

AmountVaries (annual award; exact figure unverified on official page this pass)EligibilityHonors College cohort program participant.

Stacks on HOPE/Zell Miller. Confirm dollar amount with the Honors College.

Source

Georgia Southern merit aid FAQ

  • Do I have to apply separately for merit scholarships?

    Not for general merit consideration — all first-year students who apply for admission and submit all required materials by February 1 are automatically considered. But the named, higher-value awards live in the Honors College and require a SEPARATE Honors College application with a January 15 priority deadline (final deadline April 15) plus interviews in February.

  • What is the scholarship deadline?

    February 1 is the priority deadline for automatic merit consideration; January 15 is the Honors College priority deadline (final April 15). Honors Scholars' Day interviews are held in February.

  • Can Georgia Southern merit scholarships stack with HOPE or Zell Miller?

    Yes. The Honors College states that all Honors College scholarships can be added to the HOPE or Zell Miller Scholarship to help cover other costs of attending the University.

  • Is the Goel Scholarship a guaranteed merit award?

    No. The Goel full-ride (100% of tuition, mandatory fees, textbooks, meal plan, and housing for up to eight semesters) is limited to incoming first-time freshmen who are first-generation, have demonstrated financial need, and are residents of Georgia or a contiguous border state, and it pays as 'last dollar' aid.

See sources and other schools

How Georgia Southern compares

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

    Georgia Southern 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.

    Georgia Southern 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.

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Georgia Southern merit aid

The next chapter

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