Public SEC flagship with one of the most detailed published merit ladders of any southern flagship. Mississippi residents earn automatic Academic Merit at a 23 ACT and can stack the 1848 Award on top at a 3.5 GPA. Non-residents get a fee-specific scholarship ladder that can wipe out the full non-resident fee at a 32 ACT and a 3.75 GPA.
Verified May 20261 month ago· PT
Merit tiers85 automatic on stats
Last verifiedMay 2026Analyst PT
Quick verdict
The cleanest cliff math in the SEC. Best for 3.75+ GPA non-residents and Mississippi residents who hit 29+ ACT.
Ole Miss publishes the most detailed merit chart of any SEC school, and it's also the most cliff-edged. Two thresholds dominate the math. For non-residents: at 32 ACT / 3.75 GPA, the Academic Merit scholarship hits $20,160/yr, which exactly equals the non-resident fee. Crossing that line effectively converts Ole Miss into in-state pricing for an OOS family. For Mississippi residents: the 1848 Award doubles from $2,000 to $4,000 the moment a 3.5+ GPA student crosses 29 ACT, a more valuable single-test-point gain than most peer schools offer at the entry level. Above 33 ACT, the resident scholarship is capped at year-one tuition, so chasing a higher score buys $0. The under-published trap is the January 10 Entering Freshman Scholarship Application deadline; that's when the door to the Women's Council, Stamps, and Provost competitive awards closes, separately from any admissions deadline.
Rules that bite at Ole Miss
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Ole Miss's own published policy, not generic advice.
cliffOne ACT point can move the award by +$2,500/yr (Academic Merit $500 + 1848 Award doubles $2,000 → $4,000)
Ole Miss publishes a tier ladder where crossing MS resident 3.5 GPA · 28 → 29 ACT changes the marginal value by +$2,500/yr (Academic Merit $500 + 1848 Award doubles $2,000 → $4,000). The 1848 Award doubles at 29 ACT. Most-overlooked single-point gain in the resident ladder.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Ole Miss
Ole Miss's competitive scholarship programs (Women's Council, Stamps, Provost, and other named awards) are routed through the Entering Freshman Scholarship Application, which has a firm January 10 priority deadline. The FAFSA priority date is a separate gate at February 15. Because automatic merit is partially stat-based, families often assume there is no hard deadline for the overall scholarship review, but the competitive programs cut off at January 10 and miss the FAFSA-priority window at February 15. Both deadlines are independent of any admissions deadline.
Ole Miss caps the resident Academic Merit at the year-one tuition value for every student with a 33+ ACT and a 3.0+ GPA. A 34 ACT applicant receives the same scholarship amount as a 33 ACT applicant at the same GPA: both get $9,990/year plus the $4,000/year 1848 Award for a combined $13,990. Families assume that stretching for a 34 or 35 ACT will push the scholarship higher and it does not.
The non-resident Academic Merit scholarship is fee-specific: the award is locked to the year-one non-resident fee and does NOT increase in subsequent years when tuition or the non-resident fee goes up. Families who budget against the expectation that the scholarship will track tuition increases end up short in year three or four. Plan the budget around the freshman-year number, not a projected average.
What your stats actually unlock at Ole Miss
Verified against the published 2025-2026 resident and 2026-2027 non-resident merit charts. Use this to map test-prep effort to real dollar gains and to spot the cap thresholds.
Student profile
Likely outcome
MS resident · 3.0 GPA · 23 ACT
Academic Merit — $1,000/yrEntry tier of the resident ladder.
MS resident · 3.5 GPA · 28 ACT
Academic Merit $3,000 + 1848 Award $2,000 = $5,000/yr
MS resident · 3.5 GPA · 29 ACT
Academic Merit $3,500 + 1848 Award $4,000 = $7,500/yr1848 Award doubles at 29 ACT — the highest-leverage single-point ACT gain in the resident ladder.
MS resident · 3.5 GPA · 33+ ACT
Academic Merit $9,990 + 1848 Award $4,000 = $13,990/yr (capped)Resident Academic Merit caps at year-one tuition value at 33 ACT. A 34 or 35 ACT earns the same dollars.
OOS · 3.0 GPA · 30 ACT
Academic Merit (non-resident) — $5,000/yr
OOS · 3.5 GPA · 30 ACT
Academic Merit (non-resident) — $7,000/yr
OOS · 3.75 GPA · 32 ACT
Academic Merit (non-resident) — $20,160/yrThis award equals the full 2026-27 non-resident fee. At this stat band, Ole Miss is effectively in-state-priced for an OOS student.
Marginal value of crossing each ACT, GPA, and deadline line. Calculated against the published 2025-2026 resident chart and 2026-2027 non-resident chart.
Threshold
Marginal value
MS resident 3.5 GPA · 28 → 29 ACT
+$2,500/yr (Academic Merit $500 + 1848 Award doubles $2,000 → $4,000)The 1848 Award doubles at 29 ACT. Most-overlooked single-point gain in the resident ladder.
MS resident 3.5 GPA · 31 → 32 ACT
+$2,000/yr (Academic Merit $5,500 → $7,500)
MS resident 3.5 GPA · 32 → 33 ACT
+$2,490/yr (hits year-one tuition cap)
MS resident · 33 → 34+ ACT
$0Resident Academic Merit is capped at the 33 ACT line. Higher scores buy nothing in resident merit; optimize the 1848 stack and major-specific scholarships instead.
OOS 3.75 GPA · 31 → 32 ACT
+$2,160/yr — and the total now equals the full non-resident fee.The 32 ACT line at 3.75+ GPA is the headline OOS threshold. Crossing it removes the entire out-of-state premium.
OOS 3.5 GPA → 3.75 GPA at 32 ACT
+$5,160/yr ($15,000 → $20,160)GPA matters more than ACT once you're past the 32 line.
Miss the January 10 Entering Freshman Scholarship Application
Loss of access to Stamps, Provost, Women's Council ($10,000+/yr potential).Independent of any admissions deadline. Closes the door to every competitive named award routed through the EFSA portal.
Non-resident Academic Merit — fee-specific lock
$0 growth as tuition risesAward locks to the year-one non-resident fee. If tuition rises in years 2-4, the scholarship does not. Plan the 4-year budget against the freshman number, not a projected average.
Ole Miss 1848 Scholarship
The 1848 Award is the most distinctive named scholarship at Ole Miss and the highest-leverage stack-on for Mississippi residents. Eligibility: Mississippi resident, 3.5+ GPA, 23+ ACT, i.e. the same floor as Academic Merit, plus the 3.5 GPA gate. Amount: $2,000/yr at 23-28 ACT, $4,000/yr at 29+ ACT. Stacks on top of Academic Merit (does not replace it). At the resident cap (33+ ACT, 3.5 GPA) the combined Academic Merit + 1848 total reaches $13,990/yr. The 29 ACT threshold is the single most overlooked optimization: the 1848 doubles at exactly 29 ACT, which is more valuable than another full GPA point for 3.5-3.74 students. Renews with the underlying Academic Merit Scholarship for up to 8 consecutive fall/spring semesters.
Ole Miss Academic Excellence (National Merit) Scholarship
Ole Miss's top published package for National Merit Finalists, available to both residents and non-residents. Resident NMFs receive full tuition plus the standard cost of a double-occupancy campus residence hall. Non-resident NMFs receive full tuition + room + the full non-resident fee, the strongest published non-resident NMF package at Ole Miss. Stacks with the separate $5,000/yr Barnard Scholarship and the $1,000/yr first-choice NMF award (which requires listing Ole Miss as the #1-choice college with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation). Does NOT stack with Academic Merit or the 1848 Award; Academic Excellence replaces them.
Ole Miss is the budget-conscious SEC option. Out-of-state families looking for a southern flagship at a lower rack rate than Alabama or Auburn benefit from the fee-specific non-resident scholarship ladder, which can eliminate the out-of-state premium for top-stats students. Mississippi residents with a 3.0+ GPA and a 23+ ACT get automatic merit layered with the 1848 Award stackable supplement at 3.5 GPA, and low-income Mississippi residents can qualify for the Ole Miss Opportunity tuition-plus-room-plus-meals guarantee. National Merit Finalists receive a full-tuition-plus-room package that stacks with the separate Barnard and first-choice NMF awards.
Cost of attendance$31,154–$51,314 for 2025-2026Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
Out-of-state, on-campus$51,314
$30K
$13K
In-state, on-campus$31,154
$10K
$13K
Tuition & fees
Housing & food
Books
Travel
Personal
Official Office of Financial Aid COA, full-time undergraduate living on-campus. Nonresident adds the $20,160 additional nonresident fee to tuition. Tuition & fees = tuition $9,990 + capital improvements $100 + student activity $60 (resident); nonresident tuition & fees = $30,310.
1848 Award (Mississippi resident supplement)$2,000/yr
ACT 23+GPA 3.5+
2024283236
Not on this ladder:Academic Excellence National Merit Scholarship (Mississippi residents), Academic Excellence National Merit Scholarship (non-residents), Academic Success Non-Resident Scholarship, National Merit Finalist First-Choice Scholarship — application required, holistic, or scored on a different axis.
View as table
Tier
ACT composite
Award
STEM Major Non-Resident Scholarship
28+
$8,000 total ($2,000/year toward the non-resident fee)
Academic Merit Scholarship (non-residents)
24+
$3,000–$20,160/year based on GPA × ACT grid (see notes for full chart)
Mississippi resident. ACT excludes writing. SAT is Critical Reading + Math only. Superscores accepted within the same test type.
Renewal terms
Renewable for up to 8 consecutive fall/spring semesters per Ole Miss's published terms
Notes
Full 2025-2026 resident chart: 23 ACT / 1130–1150 SAT = $1,000/yr; 24 ACT / 1160–1190 SAT = $1,500; 25 ACT / 1200–1220 SAT = $1,500; 26 ACT / 1230–1250 SAT = $1,900; 27 ACT / 1260–1290 SAT = $2,250; 28 ACT / 1300–1320 SAT = $3,000; 29 ACT / 1330–1350 SAT = $3,500; 30 ACT / 1360–1380 SAT = $4,500; 31 ACT / 1390–1410 SAT = $5,500; 32 ACT / 1420–1440 SAT = $7,500; 33+ ACT / 1450+ SAT = $9,990. At the 33+ ACT level the stipend is set to the value of tuition in Year One and capped at that amount for all undergraduates (including Pharmacy) for the life of the scholarship.
$2,000/year at 3.5 GPA + 23–28 ACT; $4,000/year at 3.5 GPA + 29+ ACT
1848 Award (Mississippi resident supplement)
AutomaticRenewable
GPA
3.5+
ACT
23+
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Mississippi resident. Stacks on top of the Academic Merit Scholarship.
Renewal terms
Renewable with the underlying Academic Merit Scholarship
Notes
Designed to push the total resident award upward for 3.5+ GPA students. Combined with Academic Merit, top-band residents (33+ ACT, 3.5 GPA) hit $13,990/yr in total automatic aid.
Full tuition + standard cost of a double-occupancy campus residence hall
Academic Excellence National Merit Scholarship (Mississippi residents)
ApplicationRenewable
GPA
3.0+
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Mississippi resident. National Merit Semifinalist or Finalist status. Does not stack with Academic Merit or the 1848 Award.
Renewal terms
Renewable for up to 8 consecutive semesters
Notes
Ole Miss's top automatic package for in-state NMFs. Stackable with the separate Barnard Scholarship ($5,000/yr) and the $1,000/yr first-choice NMF award, so families who name Ole Miss with NMSC can meaningfully layer on top of the base full-tuition-plus-room foundation.
$3,000–$20,160/year based on GPA × ACT grid (see notes for full chart)
Academic Merit Scholarship (non-residents)
AutomaticRenewable
GPA
3.0+
SAT
1160+
ACT
24+
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Non-resident. Does NOT stack with the Academic Success Non-Resident scholarship. 2026-2027 chart values published.
Renewal terms
Renewable for up to 8 consecutive fall/spring semesters. Fee-specific: scholarship amount is tied to the non-resident fee and does not automatically increase with tuition hikes beyond the year-one amount.
Notes
Full 2026-2027 non-resident chart by HS GPA band. 3.0–3.49 GPA: $3,000 (no test) / $4,000 (24–25 ACT) / $5,000 (26–27) / $8,000 (28–29) / $10,000 (30–31) / $15,000 (32+). 3.5–3.74 GPA: $5,000 / $7,000 / $8,000 / $10,000 / $15,000 / $20,160. 3.75–4.0 GPA: $8,000 / $9,000 / $10,000 / $12,000 / $18,000 / $20,160. The $20,160 top value equals the 2026-27 non-resident fee, so a 3.75+ GPA / 32+ ACT applicant has the non-resident premium entirely covered by this single scholarship.
Full tuition + standard cost of double-occupancy campus residence hall + full non-resident fee
Academic Excellence National Merit Scholarship (non-residents)
ApplicationRenewable
GPA
3.0+
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Non-resident. National Merit Semifinalist or Finalist status. Does not stack with the non-resident Academic Merit scholarship.
Renewal terms
Renewable for up to 8 consecutive semesters
Notes
The strongest non-resident NMF package Ole Miss offers. Combines full tuition, room, and non-resident fee coverage. Stackable with Barnard and the first-choice NMF award.
Non-resident. Does NOT stack with the non-resident Academic Merit scholarship; families choose the higher of the two.
Renewal terms
Renewable over 4 years
Notes
Ole Miss publishes this as an alternate path for 3.75+ GPA non-residents. The non-resident Academic Merit scholarship is larger at the 3.75+ GPA level across all test bands, so this award is primarily a fallback when Academic Merit eligibility is unclear.
National Merit Finalist status AND list Ole Miss as first-choice college with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Renewal terms
Renewable over 4 years
Notes
Supplemental award. Stacks on top of the Academic Excellence NMF package AND the Barnard Scholarship for a combined NMF total that lands in the same range as peer SEC NMF packages.
Ole Miss uses loan-first displacement. Outside scholarships reduce loan awards before touching other aid, and total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance.
Ole Miss's published language states: "If you receive a private scholarship award, this may impact your financial aid award since the combination of all financial aid and scholarships cannot exceed your cost of attendance. If needed, the loans that are offered to you will be reduced first, then other aid." For most families with room between their institutional package and COA, outside scholarships add dollar-for-dollar until loans are exhausted. Families should notify Ole Miss Financial Aid of outside awards early to prevent over-award adjustments.
Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.
Amount$20,942/year for 2025-2026 (covers tuition, meals, and UM-Managed housing)EligibilityMississippi resident, family income ≤ $40,000, Student Aid Index ≤ 6,655, 3.0 GPA, Pell-eligible. Must submit a FAFSA by March 1 prior to the fall semester for automatic consideration.
Ole Miss's low-income guarantee for in-state students. Includes a separate $500 book allowance on top of the $20,942 base. One of the most generous published low-income packages at any SEC flagship.
Amount$20,000 total ($5,000/year)EligibilityNational Merit Finalist status. Open to both residents and non-residents.
Stacks on top of the Academic Excellence NMF package and the $1,000/yr first-choice NMF award. NMFs who name Ole Miss pick up a meaningful upgrade beyond the base full-tuition-plus-room foundation.
Amount$32,000 total ($8,000/year toward the non-resident fee)EligibilityNon-residents whose parent received an Ole Miss degree. Minimum 2.5 GPA. First-time freshmen entering Fall 2026.
A targeted legacy award that can stack with other non-resident awards depending on structure. Families with an Ole Miss alumni parent should always check eligibility; the legacy path is often the difference between a viable out-of-state budget and a prohibitive one.
Amount$40,000 total ($10,000/year) over 4 years plus mentoring and professional development programmingEligibilityHighly competitive selection process via the Entering Freshman Scholarship Application by January 10. Specific number selected per year is not published; the program reports 39 current scholars and 196 total scholars across all cohorts. FAFSA priority date is February 15.
One of the most competitive awards at Ole Miss. Treat it like a separate application process beyond the automatic tier. Mentoring component includes weekly meetings with two staff mentors plus peer/career/life mentors, a series of leadership symposiums, and a philanthropic volunteer initiative.
What's the floor to be considered for Ole Miss automatic merit?
Mississippi residents need a minimum 3.0 high school GPA and a 23 ACT (or 1130 SAT equivalent). Non-residents need the same 3.0 minimum plus a qualifying test score and GPA combination that maps onto the published non-resident chart. Students below the ACT floor or the 3.0 GPA floor can still be admitted to Ole Miss but are not eligible for the automatic Academic Merit ladder.
Will an outside scholarship reduce my Ole Miss aid?
Only if the total aid package exceeds your cost of attendance. Ole Miss applies outside scholarships against loans first, then other aid, which means most families can stack outside awards on top of institutional merit without losing institutional dollars, as long as total aid stays under COA.
Are Ole Miss merit scholarships renewable for four years?
Yes. Academic Merit, the 1848 Award, the Academic Excellence NMF packages, and the other named scholarships renew for up to 8 consecutive fall and spring semesters, conditional on the published renewal terms (typically a cumulative GPA floor and full-time enrollment). Wintersession and summer enrollment do not count toward the 8-semester limit.
Does the resident Academic Merit scholarship keep climbing past a 33 ACT?
No. Ole Miss caps the resident Academic Merit at the year-one tuition value for every student scoring 33 or higher on the ACT with a 3.0+ GPA. A 34 ACT does not earn a larger scholarship than a 33 ACT at the same GPA. Families targeting the top tier should optimize the 1848 Award stack and the ACT 29 breakpoint (where the 1848 jumps from $2,000 to $4,000) rather than chasing a higher top ACT.
How does the non-resident Academic Merit interact with the Academic Success Non-Resident scholarship?
They do not stack; families choose the higher award. At the 3.75+ GPA level, the non-resident Academic Merit scholarship is always larger across every test band, so Academic Success Non-Resident primarily functions as a fallback for 3.75+ GPA non-residents whose test scores do not clearly place them in the Academic Merit chart.
How Ole Miss compares across our verified dataset
56 of 203 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Ole Miss is in a recognizable cluster (56 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
178 of 203 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Ole Miss is one of them. The cohort minority (25 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
63 of 203 verified schools publish a marginal-value cliff table we can quantify.
Ole Miss is one of them. Most schools won't tell families what one ACT point is actually worth. At the schools that do, a strategic retake is sometimes mathematically more valuable than test-optional positioning.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Ole Miss’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
Ole Miss usually shows up in the same shopping process as four SEC peers, plus one Plains-state alternative for National Merit families:
Mississippi State merit aid — Mississippi State pays better for in-state National Merit, Ole Miss pays better for out-of-state high-stat applicants who need the non-resident fee eliminated.
How Alabama's automatic ladder compares — Alabama's Presidential Elite is a bigger top-end number, but Ole Miss's 1848 Award stacks more cleanly with the base Academic Merit and pays out earlier in the eligibility curve.
Auburn for SEC families — Auburn's Spirit of Auburn lands at similar dollar values, but Auburn requires the December 1 priority deadline; Ole Miss is friendlier for late-deciding families.
LSU TOPS for Louisiana residents — TOPS only pays meaningful dollars to in-state Louisiana students; out-of-state families get more from Ole Miss.
Kentucky Singletary scholarship — Kentucky's Singletary requires a separate competitive application; Ole Miss's automatic ladder is the easier path for families who want predictable numbers.
Want a side-by-side comparison? Build a personalized playbookand we’ll run net-price modeling across Ole Miss and any peers you want to evaluate.
