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Mercer scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$65,380per year · 2026-2027 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

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

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.

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. Stamps Scholars ProgramFull tuition and fees, housing and meals, technology package, plus up to ~$16,000 in enrichment funds across four yearsNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Stamps Scholars Program

    Full tuition and fees, housing and meals, technology package, plus up to ~$16,000 in enrichment funds across four years

    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 Stamps Scholars Program

    Who qualifies

    Invitation-only, portfolio and interview. Top first-year applicants across any major; leadership, impact, and service profile required. Up to 10 awards per year. Admission/application materials due by November 1.

    How to keep it

    Four-year renewable Stamps Scholars cohort.

    Worth knowing

    Mercer is a partner institution of the national Stamps Scholars Program. This is the only Mercer award that covers full cost of attendance plus enrichment funds.

  2. Presidential Scholars Weekend (PSW)Increases to initial merit, up to full tuitionNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Presidential Scholars Weekend (PSW)

    Increases to initial merit, up to full tuition

    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 Presidential Scholars Weekend (PSW)

    Who qualifies

    Invitation-only competition for admitted first-years. Must attend Presidential Scholars Weekend. Invitations issued after December 1 with the event held in February.

    How to keep it

    Renewable as part of the four-year Mercer scholarship package.

    Worth knowing

    If a student is awarded a premier full-tuition scholarship through PSW, that award replaces all other merit awards rather than stacking.

  3. University Merit Scholarship (initial automatic merit)$18,000–$25,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    University Merit Scholarship (initial automatic merit)

    $18,000–$25,000 per year

    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 University Merit Scholarship (initial automatic merit)

    Who qualifies

    All admitted residential undergraduate students are automatically evaluated. Decision based on GPA, curriculum rigor, and test scores. Mercer currently requires SAT or ACT (superscored). Specific dollar tier bands are not published by the university; the published range ($18,000–$25,000) is a single span and final placement is communicated in the financial aid award letter.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for 4 years (8 semesters). Recipients must maintain a 2.0 GPA, 12-credit minimum, and full-time enrollment. Provisional period of one year if requirements are not met.

    Worth knowing

    Mercer publishes only the range, not internal tier bands. PSW/Heritage premier-scholarship winners receive a full-tuition award that replaces (rather than stacks with) this base merit award.

Lights up against Mercer'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 ruleUniversity Merit Scholarship (initial automatic merit): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

Renewable for 4 years (8 semesters). Recipients must maintain a 2.0 GPA, 12-credit minimum, and full-time enrollment. Provisional period of one year if requirements are not met. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

What makes Mercer different

Georgia Baptist research university with one of the few clear loan-first outside-scholarship policies in the South, an $18,000–$25,000 automatic merit range (single span — Mercer does not publish internal tier bands), and Stamps Scholars status for ten full-cost-of-attendance national awards per year.

Merit tiers31 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 Mercer'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. Mercer's policy is explicit: 'If a student is awarded a premier, full-tuition, scholarship, the full scholarship will replace all other merit awards.' Stamps, Presidential, and Heritage premier awards substitute for the automatic merit tier, not add to it.

  2. Mercer currently requires SAT or ACT (superscored) and asks for official scores prior to enrollment. The automatic merit tier placement uses GPA, curriculum rigor, and the test score. Skipping the test caps your tier ceiling.

  3. All three premier scholarship pathways (Stamps, Presidential Scholars Weekend, Heritage Scholars Weekend) anchor on the November 1 EA I admission deadline for invitation pools. EA II (Dec 1) and Regular Decision (Feb 1) still qualify for automatic merit, but the premier-weekend invitations are largely set from the EA I pool.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Stamps Scholars Program — 10 full-COA-plus-enrichment awards/year at Mercer

Mercer is one of about three dozen Stamps Scholars partner institutions nationally. Each year ten incoming first-year students are selected as Mercer Stamps Scholars and receive a package that covers full tuition and fees, housing and meals, and a technology package — plus up to approximately $16,000 in enrichment funds spread across four years for research, study abroad, conferences, and other initiative-driven projects. Mercer's Stamps page emphasizes that selection privileges 'remarkable potential for leadership and academic achievement' with a strong service/initiative profile. The selection process is invitation-only and includes a portfolio review and interview. The admissions application and materials must be in by November 1 to be in the Stamps pool.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students looking for a mid-sized residential university with named-scholarship pathways at multiple tiers. Mercer is a Stamps Scholars partner (full COA + ~$16,000 enrichment for ten students per year), runs invitation-only weekends to lift Presidential/Heritage candidates from the automatic ladder, and is one of the few schools that explicitly cuts loans before grants when outside aid displaces.

Cost of attendance$65,380 for 2026-2027Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$65,380
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Loan fees

Residential undergraduate. Live page now publishes 2026-2027.

Mercer cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Mercer, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$19,817
$30,001–$48,000$21,484
$48,001–$75,000$22,533
$75,001–$110,000$25,184
$110,001+$26,770
All income levels (average)$23,847

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$42,312
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$23,847

That works out to roughly a 59% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $58,204 (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
70%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
82%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$24,199 (~$257/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$58,354
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
36%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
62%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Mercer reduces self-help (loans, work-study) before institutional grants when outside scholarships displace existing aid. The published rule is unambiguous: loans go first, grants only if necessary. All outside scholarships must be reported in writing.

Mercer's outside-scholarship policy is one of the clearest student-friendly rules in the cohort. If an outside award triggers a reduction in either need-based federal aid or institutional scholarships, Mercer adjusts loan awards before grants 'to the extent possible.' Recipients must notify the Office of Student Financial Planning in writing of any anticipated outside resources. External scholarship checks should be made payable to Mercer University and sent to Student Financial Planning, where they are divided equally between fall and spring tuition unless the donor specifies otherwise.

Source

Other Mercer scholarships worth checking

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

AmountSimilar competitive structure to Presidential Scholars Weekend; awards can lift merit toward full tuitionEligibilityInvitation-only for admitted first-year students. Some regional and identity-based pathways feed Heritage selection.

Parallel weekend competition to PSW. Apply early (November 1 EA I) to maximize invitation odds.

Source

AmountState-funded; Zell Miller covers most or all tuition for top-stat GA residents; HOPE covers a smaller percentageEligibilityGeorgia residents meeting state stat thresholds. Mercer reports that 94% of incoming Georgia students receive HOPE or Zell Miller.

Stacks with Mercer merit, but governed by state rules — administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission rather than Mercer.

Source

Mercer merit aid FAQ

  • Do I need a separate application for Mercer merit scholarships?

    No for the $18,000–$25,000 automatic ladder. Mercer states: 'Upon admission to Mercer, all students are evaluated for eligibility to receive a merit scholarship.' The Stamps Scholars Program and Presidential/Heritage Scholars Weekends are invitation-only competitions that may include interviews and portfolio review.

  • What's the deadline?

    Early Action I is November 1 (also the practical deadline for Stamps and premier-scholarship invitations). Early Action II is December 1. Regular Decision is February 1. Premier scholarship invitations are issued after December 1 with weekend events held in February.

  • Is Mercer test-required?

    Yes. Mercer requires SAT or ACT (superscored) and asks for official scores prior to enrollment. The test score is factored into the automatic merit tier alongside GPA and curriculum rigor.

  • Will an outside scholarship reduce my Mercer aid?

    It can — but Mercer reduces loans before grants. The published rule: 'Receipt of these external awards may result in a reduction of Need-Based Federal Aid and Institutional Scholarships from Mercer. ... To the extent possible, we will adjust loan awards before reducing grant funds.' Report outside scholarships in writing.

  • How easy is it to keep Mercer merit aid for four years?

    Renewable for 4 years (8 semesters) at a 2.0 minimum cumulative GPA with full-time enrollment. Students who fall below get a one-year provisional period. If they recover, the full scholarship resumes; if not, the award drops to 50% of original value contingent on a success plan.

See sources and other schools

How Mercer compares

  • 145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.

    Mercer 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.

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

Compare with similar schools

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