Get merit aid25%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025
Last verifiedJun 2026Analyst COWORK
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The merit-aid verdict at Murray State
Murray State awards an automatic GPA-based Academic Achievement ladder ($1,000-$10,000/year) at admission, tops it with the full-tuition-plus-housing Presidential Fellowship, and caps every award at the cost of attendance — winning an outside scholarship can trigger a reduction of your Murray State award.
Rules that bite at Murray State
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Murray State's own published policy, not generic advice.
renewalAcademic Achievement Scholarships (GPA ladder): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable for a maximum of four consecutive years (eight consecutive semesters) with full-time enrollment; awards requiring specific grades or Honors College participation are reviewed at the end of each academic year. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
capHard $27,008 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Murray State cannot push the package past $27,008. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Murray State
The only published freshman scholarship page is the Fall 2025 cycle (General Scholarship Application deadline Feb 3, 2025; Presidential Fellowship Dec 1, 2024). Confirm 2026-27 amounts and deadlines with Student Financial Services.
All undergraduates receiving Murray State scholarships/waivers/discounts must submit the FAFSA every year they're awarded.
Trustee ($10,000) and Regents ($8,000) require test scores (33+ / 28-32 ACT); a 3.80-4.00 GPA without a test score tops out at Provost ($5,000).
Outside awards are counted in your total package and must be reported; Murray State may reduce your institutional award so the total (with tuition adjustments and outside scholarships) doesn't exceed your cost of attendance.
The Presidential Fellowship covers tuition + double-occupancy housing + a meal plan (not full COA), and the Marvin D. Mills award covers tuition only up to the in-state rate (out-of-state recipients still owe the non-resident difference) plus housing and dining.
Who this school is for
Students with at least a 2.75 GPA get an automatic annual award; high-stat students (3.80-4.00 GPA with a 28+ ACT) climb to $8,000-$10,000 and can compete for the full-tuition Presidential Fellowship.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $27,008 for 2025-2026. Source
Federal cost and outcome data
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Murray State, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Murray State, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$6,242
$30,001–$48,000
$6,347
$48,001–$75,000
$8,104
$75,001–$110,000
$12,811
$110,001+
$15,450
All income levels (average)
$9,096
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$9,900
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$19,836
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$9,096
That works out to roughly a 61% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $23,485 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Murray State 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
61%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
76%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$20,500 (~$217/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$44,737
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
43%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
43%
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.
Required only for Trustee (33+) and Regents (28-32); other tiers need no test
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Awarded automatically when admitted; minimum 2.75 GPA. (Page reflects the Fall 2025 entry cycle.)
Renewal terms
Renewable for a maximum of four consecutive years (eight consecutive semesters) with full-time enrollment; awards requiring specific grades or Honors College participation are reviewed at the end of each academic year.
Notes
Automatic GPA ladder awarded at admission. Trustee and Regents additionally require test scores; the same 3.80-4.00 GPA without a test score yields Provost ($5,000).
Full tuition…Full tuition, on-campus housing (double-occupancy rate), and a meal plan
Presidential Fellowship
ApplicationRenewable
View requirements+
Eligibility
Awarded to high-achieving students; competitive. Requires the Murray State General Scholarship Application submitted by December 1 (Fall 2025 cycle). FAFSA required.
Renewal terms
Eligible for renewal (four-year awards = eight consecutive semesters with full-time enrollment and meeting conditions).
Notes
Covers tuition + double-occupancy housing + meal plan — not the full cost of attendance (excludes indirect costs). Earlier deadline (Dec 1) than other scholarships.
FAFSA is required every year. University general-fund awards are capped at billed direct costs (tuition + required fees + semi-private room + basic meal plan). Total Murray State scholarship aid combined with tuition adjustments AND outside scholarships may not exceed the cost of attendance; external awards must be reported and Murray State may reduce institutional awards to stay within COA/need.
The policies page caps general-fund awards at billed tuition/fees, a semi-private room, and a basic meal plan; states the total MSU award plus tuition adjustments or outside scholarships 'may not exceed a student's cost of attendance'; and reserves the right to adjust awards to utilize external resources. Outside scholarships are counted in the total package and must be reported to the Bursar.
Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Murray State’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
25%of admitsget merit
Average award$12,890Covers ~48% of $27,008 cost of attendance
At Murray State, roughly 1 in 4 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $12,890 — about 48% of total cost.
As filed in Murray State's CDS Section H2A: of 1,552 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 385 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $12,890. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 1,368 of 6,139, averaging $11,200. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.
AmountAmount not published hereEligibilityParticipants in Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts/Entrepreneurs, Governor's Scholars Program, or Commonwealth Honors Academy
Renewable; for Kentucky Governor's-program alumni.
After admission, complete the Murray State General Scholarship Application and the FAFSA. For the Fall 2025 cycle the General Scholarship Application deadline was February 3, 2025 (Presidential Fellowship December 1, 2024).
Are the Academic Achievement Scholarships automatic?
Yes — they're awarded when you're admitted, based on GPA (Trustee and Regents also require ACT/SAT), with a minimum 2.75 GPA, and are renewable for up to four years.
Can I keep my full award if I win an outside scholarship?
Not necessarily — outside awards must be reported and are counted in your total package; Murray State may reduce your institutional award so the combined total stays within your cost of attendance.
How Murray State compares across our verified dataset
241 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Murray State is in a recognizable cluster (241 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
668 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Murray State 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 Murray State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
