Grand Canyon University · Arizona

Grand Canyon University Online Merit Aid

Verified Jul 202625 days ago· HX-AUTO

Merit tiers16See requirements

Last verifiedJul 2026Analyst HX-AUTO

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Checking merit aid at Grand Canyon University Online

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The merit-aid verdict at Grand Canyon University Online

GCU offers merit aid across education, nursing, and behavioral health programs for undergrad and graduate students.

Who this school is for

Prospective students pursuing careers in teaching, nursing, or psychology and behavioral health will find the most robust merit-aid options at GCU.

Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $34,896 for 2026-2027. Source

Federal cost and outcome data

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

Average annual net price by family income at Grand Canyon University Online, academic year 2021-22
Family income	Average net price paid
$0–$30,000	$18,557
$30,001–$48,000	$18,763
$48,001–$75,000	$21,712
$75,001–$110,000	$24,471
$110,001+	$25,701
All income levels (average)	$22,472

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23: $17,850
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22: $22,472

That works out to roughly a 31% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $32,702 (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: 43%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort: 72%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers: $22,114 (~$234/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21): $42,186
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22: 34%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22: 55%

How to read these numbers

Net price reflects only first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who received federal Title IV financial aid — not Grand Canyon University Online'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 Grand Canyon University Online'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.

Institutional merit aid tiers

Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.

Percentage of tuition (see source)

New Master Of Science In Nursing Student Scholarship

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Grand Canyon University Online Merit Aid

See what Grand Canyon University Online's published rules mean for your student's numbers. Takes 30 seconds.

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

New Master Of Science In Nursing Student Scholarship

National Center For Teacher Preparations Initial Teacher Licensure Scholarship Masters Level

National Center For Teacher Preparations Initial Teacher Licensure Scholarship Undergraduate Level

New Undergraduate Psychology Or Behavioral Health Student Scholarship

Initial Teacher Licensure Scholarship Undergraduate Level

New Undergraduate Nursing Student Scholarship

New Undergraduate Student Scholarship

Psychology Or Behavioral Health Scholarship

Initial Teacher Licensure Scholarship Graduate Level

New Chss Graduate Student Scholarship

Alumni Doctoral Degree Scholarship

Education Masters Degree Scholarship

Cooperating Teacher Scholarship

Evening Campus New Student Scholarship

New Online Undergraduate Nursing Student Scholarship

New College Of Humanities And Social Sciences Graduate Student Scholarship