Northern Kentucky University · Kentucky

Northern Kentucky University scholarships and merit aid

NKU offers multiple honors scholarships and values Kentucky connections, with pathways for both first-year and transfer students.

Verified Jun 20263 months ago

The short answer

Is Northern Kentucky University worth a closer look?

Northern Kentucky University is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 7 published awards, and 5 are based on those numbers.

Merit tiers75 based on grades or scores

Research checkedJun 2026By our research team

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.

$1,000

Commonwealth

Based on grades or scores

GPA: 3

Source

Full tuition

Presidential

Apply separately

GPA: 3.75
SAT: 1490
ACT: 34

Source

$2,000

Excellence

Based on grades or scores

GPA: 3.7

Source

$4,500

Ky Governors Gsp Gsa And Gse

Apply separately

GPA: 3.5

Source

$1,000–$2,500

Standard Transfer Merit

Based on grades or scores

GPA: 3

Source

$2,500–$3,000

Kctcs Scholars Award

Based on grades or scores

GPA: 3

Source

$3,000

Founders

Based on grades or scores

GPA: 3.95

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Kentucky residents, especially those with strong high school records or connections to the Governor's Scholars program, will find the most robust merit options here. Transfer students from Kentucky community colleges also have dedicated pathways.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $11,496 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Northern Kentucky University, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family income	Average net price paid
$0–$30,000	$2,603
$30,001–$48,000	$3,630
$48,001–$75,000	$6,761
$75,001–$110,000	$12,679
$110,001+	$14,522
All income levels (average)	$8,191

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23: $11,088
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23: $21,912
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22: $8,191

That works out to roughly a 58% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $19,725 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Northern Kentucky University 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: 52%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort: 76%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers: $23,000 (~$244/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21): $50,220
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22: 36%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22: 43%

How to read these numbers

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

See other scholarships and cost examples

Other Northern Kentucky University scholarships worth checking

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

Tom And Fran Zaniello Honors Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityThe Tom and Fran Zaniello Honors Scholarship requires enrollment in the NKU Honors College and good standing with the Honors Program.

Source

Zalla Scholars

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityZalla Scholars is listed as one of the Honors College donor scholarship awards for current NKU honors students.

Source

Sheldon B. Fern H. Storer Honors Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityThe Sheldon B. & Fern H. Storer Honors Scholarship requires enrollment in the NKU Honors College, full-time degree-seeking status at NKU, and a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher.

Source

A. D. Albright Honors Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityThe A.D. Albright Honors Scholarship is for sophomores or juniors enrolled in the NKU Honors College, with amount varying and duration of one academic year excluding summer sessions.

Source

See sources and other schools

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Northern Kentucky University’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Cost of attendanceNorthern Kentucky University cost-of-attendance worksheet
Merit tiersCommonwealth
Scholarship pageTom And Fran Zaniello Honors Scholarship

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