Every admitted Millsaps student is automatically considered for a merit scholarship ranging from $18,000 to $34,000 a year; the catch is that merit awards are not additive — when you qualify for several, you keep only the single highest-value award.
Verified Jun 20268 days ago· CC
Merit tiers92 automatic on stats
Last verifiedJun 2026Analyst CC
Rules that bite at Millsaps
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Millsaps's own published policy, not generic advice.
displacementNo published displacement order
Millsaps'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.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Millsaps
Millsaps states: 'If you are eligible for multiple awards, you will receive the award with the highest monetary value.' Internal awards are mutually exclusive — a $1,000 Legacy award won't increase a $30,000 merit package; you simply keep the larger one.
The page says you 'receive a minimum total scholarship PACKAGE of $15,000 per year' — that's a floor on your combined award, not $15,000 added to your merit scholarship. If your merit award already exceeds $15,000, the scouting status may not raise it.
Full cost of attendance for 2026-2027 is $63,518 (tuition $43,640 + fees $3,064 + room $8,110 + board $6,260 + books, transportation, miscellaneous and loan fees). A 'full tuition and fees' Premier or Advantage award still leaves room, board, and indirect costs (~$16,800) to cover.
Only 16 are awarded, it requires a separate application (essay + two recommendation letters), and a 3.5 unweighted GPA plus a 28 ACT / 1300 SAT minimum. The application closes Dec. 12, 2025, with a Scholars Weekend on Feb. 6-7, 2026.
Premier has its own calendar: opens Aug. 1, 2025, final submission Dec. 12, 2025. Miss it and you cannot compete for a full-tuition-and-fees Premier award, even with strong stats.
Who this school is for
Students who want a large, automatic, no-extra-application merit award at a small Methodist liberal-arts college in Jackson, MS — plus high achievers (3.5 GPA / 28 ACT) chasing one of 16 competitive full-tuition Premier Scholarships, and high-achieving Pell-eligible Mississippians eligible for the full-tuition Millsaps Advantage.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $63,518 for 2026-2027. Source
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.
$18,000-$34,000 per year
Millsaps Merit Scholarship (automatic)
AutomaticRenewable
GPA
Estimated via the merit calculator using cumulative GPA + highest super-scored ACT/SAT; no published hard cutoff for the merit range
SAT
Test-optional
ACT
Test-optional; higher scores can be submitted for re-review through the February ACT / March SAT
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
All admitted undergraduate students are automatically considered; no separate scholarship application required for the base merit award
Renewal terms
Renewal of merit-based institutional aid requires satisfactory academic progress, a minimum course load of at least 12 hours per semester, continuous enrollment at Millsaps, and (per the renewal terms surfaced in search) residing on campus. The page also states renewal is 'contingent upon meeting specific eligibility criteria provided with the award.' Exact renewal GPA is not published on the page — ask the aid office.
Notes
Awarded automatically to admitted students — no separate application. Test-optional. CRITICAL: awards do not stack — 'If you are eligible for multiple awards, you will receive the award with the highest monetary value.' Use the net price calculator / merit calculator to estimate the specific number.
Full cost of tuition and fees…Full cost of tuition and fees (16 awarded)
Premier Scholarship
ApplicationRenewable
GPA
Unweighted minimum 3.5 on a 4.0 scale
SAT
Minimum 1300
ACT
Minimum 28
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Complete the standard Millsaps application first, then the Premier Scholarship application: one 500-700 word essay, two letters of recommendation (one academic, one from a coach/employer/mentor), optional portfolio. Competitive — only 16 awarded.
Renewal terms
Described as a four-year scholarship ('Over four years, you will share experiences...'); specific renewal GPA not stated on the page.
Notes
Competitive, application-based. Application opens Aug. 1, 2025; final submission Dec. 12, 2025; Scholars Weekend Feb. 6-7, 2026; acceptance deadline Mar. 13, 2026. Includes an honors-level course track and guaranteed support for an experiential learning opportunity.
Mississippi's highest-achieving Pell-eligible students (Pell eligibility required; Mississippi residency)
Renewal terms
Renewal terms not stated on the page.
Notes
Full-tuition-and-fees award targeted at high-achieving, Pell-eligible Mississippi residents. Selection criteria beyond Pell eligibility + 'highest-achieving' are not detailed on the page.
Eagle Scout, or Girl Scout who has earned Gold Award status, and admitted to Millsaps
Renewal terms
Renewable all four years.
Notes
Stated as a MINIMUM total scholarship PACKAGE of $15,000/year — i.e., it sets a floor for the combined award rather than adding $15,000 on top of merit. Combined with the 'highest monetary value' rule, treat this as a guaranteed floor, not an additive bonus. Confirm with the aid office.
Incoming first-year or transfer students whose parent provides confirmation of appointment as a United Methodist Church pastor; confirmation of appointment required at the point of application for admission
Renewal terms
Renewable up to four years.
Notes
Faith-affiliation award (United Methodist). Confirmation of the parent's pastoral appointment must be provided when applying for admission.
Jackson Public Schools (JPS) scholars who meet the college's standard admissions requirements
Renewal terms
Described as a 'renewable undergraduate scholarship'; specific renewal terms not stated.
Notes
Geographic/partnership award for Jackson Public Schools graduates who meet standard admission requirements. Covers at least half of tuition (not tuition + fees + room/board).
Millsaps institutional merit awards do NOT stack with each other — when a student qualifies for more than one, they receive only the single award with the highest monetary value. Outside/third-party scholarships must be reported and the financial-aid award is then revised; the page does not state which component (merit, need-based, or self-help) is reduced first, so displacement order is unclear.
Two distinct rules apply. (1) Internal awards: 'If you are eligible for multiple awards, you will receive the award with the highest monetary value' — so the named/automatic merit awards are mutually exclusive at the highest value, not additive. (2) Outside awards: students must report them and the aid award is 'revised to include outside aid,' but no displacement hierarchy (loan-first vs. grant-first vs. coa-cap) is published.
Do I have to apply separately for the merit scholarship?
No. All admitted undergraduate students are automatically considered for the $18,000-$34,000 merit scholarship; there is no separate application. The competitive Premier Scholarship and certain named awards do require extra steps.
Can I stack multiple Millsaps scholarships?
Generally no for internal awards. Millsaps states that if you are eligible for multiple awards, you receive the award with the highest monetary value — the named institutional awards are mutually exclusive rather than additive. Outside scholarships must be reported and your aid is revised accordingly.
What are the Premier Scholarship requirements and deadline?
An unweighted 3.5 GPA, a 28 ACT or 1300 SAT, a completed Millsaps application, a 500-700 word essay, and two letters of recommendation. The application opens Aug. 1, 2025 and closes Dec. 12, 2025; Scholars Weekend is Feb. 6-7, 2026 with an acceptance deadline of Mar. 13, 2026. Only 16 are awarded, covering full tuition and fees.
Is the merit scholarship renewable?
Yes. Renewal requires satisfactory academic progress, at least a 12-hour course load each semester, continuous enrollment, and (per renewal terms) residing on campus, and is 'contingent upon meeting specific eligibility criteria provided with the award.' A specific renewal GPA is not published — confirm with the aid office.
How Millsaps compares across our verified dataset
199 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Millsaps is in a recognizable cluster (199 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
199 of 751 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
Millsaps is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Millsaps is one of them. The cohort minority (82 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 Millsaps’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
