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Lake Forest scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$74,702per year · 2026-2027 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Lake Forest 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
2 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. Academic Merit Scholarships (e.g., Presidential)Up to $37,000 ($36,000 if test-optional)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Academic Merit Scholarships (e.g., Presidential)

    Up to $37,000 ($36,000 if test-optional)

    Variable or qualified amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Based on GPA or test scores plus holistic review (no readable grid published)
    SAT
    Test-optional
    ACT
    Test-optional (interview required if not submitting scores)
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Academic Merit Scholarships (e.g., Presidential)

    Who qualifies

    No application — automatically applied to the award package based on the college application; awarded at admission

    How to keep it

    Guaranteed for all four years with continued full-time enrollment and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 (plus SAP); renewal decisions made every spring.

    Worth knowing

    RESTRICTED TO TUITION AND FEES — cannot apply to room/board. The on-page scholarship grid is a broken/stale image labeled for Fall 2025 entrants, so no specific GPA/test dollar tiers could be read from the official page.

  2. Forester Flagship Program100% of tuition and fees (full tuition)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Forester Flagship Program

    100% of tuition and fees (full tuition)

    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 Forester Flagship Program

    Who qualifies

    Qualified Illinois first-year and transfer students; covered through grants and scholarships that do not need to be repaid

    How to keep it

    Renewal terms on the Forester Flagship program page (not opened here).

    Worth knowing

    Residency-gated full-tuition-and-fees lane for Illinois residents.

  3. Jensen Physics Scholarship$3,000-$8,000Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Jensen Physics Scholarship

    $3,000-$8,000

    Published rangeNot 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 Jensen Physics Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Admitted first-year student for Fall 2026 planning to study Physics; requires an application

    How to keep it

    Forester (departmental) scholarships are renewed by the respective department conditional on meeting the scholarship requirements; reviewed every spring.

    Worth knowing

    Departmental, major-gated; separate application.

  4. Carnegie English Essay Contest$2,500Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Carnegie English Essay Contest

    $2,500

    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 Carnegie English Essay Contest

    Who qualifies

    Admitted first-year for Fall 2026 studying English (literature or creative writing track); participate in the annual essay contest

    How to keep it

    Departmental renewal conditional on meeting requirements; reviewed every spring.

    Worth knowing

    Major-gated competition.

  5. Fine Arts ScholarshipsAmount not publishedNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Fine Arts Scholarships

    Amount not published

    Published award termsNot 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 Fine Arts Scholarships

    Who qualifies

    Talent-based in music, studio art, and theater; majors and non-majors, first-years and transfers

    How to keep it

    Departmental renewal conditional on meeting requirements; reviewed every spring.

    Worth knowing

    Dollar amount not stated on the scholarships landing page (see the Fine Arts Scholarships sub-page, not opened here).

Free Merit Check

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The fine print

Renewal ruleAcademic Merit Scholarships (e.g., Presidential): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

Guaranteed for all four years with continued full-time enrollment and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 (plus SAP); renewal decisions made every spring. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

Aid capHard $74,702 cost-of-attendance ceiling

Institutional aid at Lake Forest cannot push the package past $74,702. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

What makes Lake Forest different

Lake Forest College (IL) awards automatic merit scholarships up to $37,000/yr (holistic, no application) but restricts them to TUITION AND FEES, while qualified Illinois residents can get 100% of tuition and fees covered through the Forester Flagship Program. (DRAFT)

Merit tiers5See who qualifies
First-year students with school awards20%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
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 Lake Forest'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. Lake Forest merit scholarships (e.g., the Presidential Scholarship) are restricted to TUITION AND FEES — they cannot be applied to housing or food, so your room-and-board cost is not reduced by the merit award.

  2. The Forester Flagship Program covers 100% of tuition and fees only for QUALIFIED ILLINOIS first-year and transfer students — out-of-state applicants are not eligible for this lane.

  3. The on-page grid is a broken/placeholder image and is explicitly labeled as applying only to first-year students entering in Fall 2025 — it is stale and not machine-readable. Test-optional applicants are still considered for up to $36,000 via holistic review (interview required), and the headline merit cap is up to $37,000.

  4. Merit scholarships are awarded at admission with no separate application and are guaranteed for four years as long as you maintain full-time enrollment and a 2.0 cumulative GPA (reviewed each spring).

  5. The Jensen Physics Scholarship ($3,000-$8,000) and Carnegie English Essay Contest ($2,500) are only for admitted Fall 2026 first-years in those fields and require applying/participating; fine-arts (music, studio art, theater) awards are talent-based.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong applicants get an automatic merit award (up to $37,000, or $36,000 test-optional) applied to tuition and fees; qualified Illinois residents should target the Forester Flagship (100% tuition + fees), and English/physics students can add a departmental award. (DRAFT)

Published yearly cost: Approximately $74,702 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Lake Forest, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$19,605
$30,001–$48,000$20,210
$48,001–$75,000$21,481
$75,001–$110,000$26,055
$110,001+$35,341
All income levels (average)$28,673

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$56,402
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$28,673

That works out to roughly a 59% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $70,655 (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
$26,158 (~$277/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$61,825
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
30%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
70%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Academic merit scholarships are restricted to tuition and fees (they cannot offset room and board). They are combined with financial aid into an award package. The Forester Flagship Program bundles grants + scholarships to cover 100% of tuition and fees for qualified Illinois students.

Merit scholarships apply only to tuition and fees; the page does not state how outside scholarships are treated (a separate Outside Scholarships page exists).

Source

More school data

From the Lake Forest Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated figures):

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Lake Forest’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
20%of admitsget merit
Average award$33,950Covers ~45% of $74,702 cost of attendance

At Lake Forest, roughly 1 in 5 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $33,950 — about 45% of total cost.

As filed in Lake Forest's CDS Section H2A: of 415 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 81 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $33,950. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 428 of 1,793, averaging $32,850. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

The 2024-2025 column is marked "estimated" in the school's own CDS filing — school-projected figures, not final audited counts.

Receive institutional merit20%First-year students, Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$33,950Across recipients, Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated)

Source: Common Data Set 2024-2025 (verified 2026-07-23)

Lake Forest merit aid FAQ

  • How much merit aid can I get?

    Up to $37,000 per year in merit-based scholarships (up to $36,000 if you apply test-optional). Awards are automatic from your application — no separate scholarship application. They are restricted to tuition and fees.

  • Is there a full-tuition option?

    Yes — the Forester Flagship Program covers 100% of tuition and fees through grants and scholarships, but only for qualified Illinois first-year and transfer students.

  • How do I keep my scholarship?

    Academic scholarships renew for four years with continued full-time enrollment and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0; renewal is reviewed every spring.

  • What does Lake Forest cost?

    For 2026-27, tuition is $60,204 (tuition + fees subtotal $61,156), and total tuition and charges including room and board are $74,702.

See sources and other schools

How Lake Forest compares

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

    Lake Forest 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.

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Lake Forest merit aid

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