What is the deadline for Laurels Scholarship?

Students who apply to PSU and the Honors College by January 1 for fall term are automatically considered for the Honors Laurels Scholarship.

Portland State University · Oregon

Portland State scholarships and merit aid

Portland State rewards strong students with honors college access and out-of-state support.

Verified Jun 20263 months ago

The short answer

Is Portland State worth a closer look?

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

Merit tiers22 based on grades or scores

Research checkedJun 2026By our research team

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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.

Up to $6,000

Out Of State Opportunity Scholarship

Based on grades or scores

Source

$2,000

College Study Abroad Scholarship

Based on grades or scores

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Out-of-state students and those drawn to urban sustainability or the honors college will find dedicated merit pathways here.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $12,999 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Portland State, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family income	Average net price paid
$0–$30,000	$7,655
$30,001–$48,000	$7,752
$48,001–$75,000	$8,981
$75,001–$110,000	$12,993
$110,001+	$19,112
All income levels (average)	$9,552

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23: $11,679
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23: $31,074
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22: $9,552

That works out to roughly a 56% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $21,590 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Portland 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: 53%
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): $57,906
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22: 60%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22: 32%

How to read these numbers

Net price reflects only first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who received federal Title IV financial aid — not Portland State'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 Portland State'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 Portland State scholarships worth checking

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

Wim And Alice Wiewel Diversity In Urban Sustainability Undergraduate Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityWim and Alice Wiewel Diversity in Urban Sustainability Undergraduate Scholarship is awarded to an Honors student working to address challenges of climate change.

Source

University Honors Laurels Scholarship

AmountUp to $3,000EligibilityUniversity Honors Laurels Scholarship provides up to $3,000 annually to students who apply and are admitted to the Honors College, and does not require FAFSA.

Source

Portland State merit aid FAQ

What is the deadline for Laurels Scholarship?
Students who apply to PSU and the Honors College by January 1 for fall term are automatically considered for the Honors Laurels Scholarship.

See sources and other schools

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Portland State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Cost of attendancePortland State cost-of-attendance worksheet
Merit tiersOut Of State Opportunity Scholarship
Merit tiersCollege Study Abroad Scholarship

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