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Radford University · Virginia

Radford scholarships and merit aid

Radford auto-considers on-time applicants (no separate application) for a tiered set of named, tuition-only merit awards (Excellence/Wayfinder/Compass) with separate, higher out-of-state amounts and a low 2.5 renewal GPA.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago

The short answer

Is Radford worth a closer look?

Radford may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.

Merit tiers5See who qualifies
First-year students with school awards23%First-year students, CDS 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
Research checkedJul 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 $4,000…Up to $4,000 (in-state) / Up to $8,000 (out-of-state)

Radford Excellence Scholarship

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Who qualifies

Incoming freshman students. Auto-considered with no separate application if the admission application is submitted by Feb. 1.

How to keep it

Up to eight consecutive semesters. After the first academic year, and each semester thereafter, must achieve a cumulative 2.5 GPA (4.0 scale) and remain in good judicial standing. Must complete at least 12 credit hours each semester or the scholarship is revoked.

Notes

Applied toward tuition and mandatory fees only. Reduced by other tuition-specific awards (e.g., military tuition stipend, Academic Common Market). If the full amount is not allocated to tuition/fees, the remainder is NOT refunded and does not roll over. Amounts are 'up to' ceilings — no published stat grid.

Source

$1,000-$2,000…$1,000-$2,000 (in-state) / Up to $8,000 (out-of-state)

Wayfinder Scholarship

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See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Incoming freshman and transfer students; auto-considered (no separate application) if applied on time.

How to keep it

New freshmen: up to eight consecutive semesters. Transfers: up to four consecutive semesters. After year one and each semester thereafter, cumulative 2.5 GPA and good judicial standing required; must complete 12+ credits/semester or scholarship revoked.

Notes

Tuition and mandatory fees only; reduced by other tuition-specific awards; unused amount not refunded and does not roll over.

Source

Up to $1,000…Up to $1,000 (in-state) / Up to $7,000 (out-of-state)

Compass Scholarship

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See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Incoming freshman and transfer students; auto-considered (no separate application) if applied on time.

How to keep it

New freshmen: up to eight consecutive semesters. Transfers: up to four. Cumulative 2.5 GPA and good judicial standing after year one; 12+ credits/semester or revoked.

Notes

Tuition and mandatory fees only; reduced by other tuition-specific awards; unused amount not refunded and does not roll over.

Source

$1,000-$2,000…$1,000-$2,000 (in-state) / $7,000-$10,000 (out-of-state)

Transfer Excellence Scholarship

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Who qualifies

Transfer students with excellent academic standards on all attempted college courses. All completed application materials must be received by Admissions by March 1.

How to keep it

Up to four consecutive semesters. After year one and each semester thereafter, cumulative 2.8 GPA and good judicial standing required; 12+ credits/semester or revoked.

Notes

Tuition and mandatory fees only; reduced by other tuition-specific awards; unused amount not refunded. Note the HIGHER 2.8 renewal GPA vs. 2.5 for the freshman tiers.

Source

$3,000 (in-state)

Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship

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See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Transfer students who are members of Phi Theta Kappa with high academic success; all completed application materials received by Admissions by March 1.

How to keep it

Up to four consecutive semesters if renewal criteria are met.

Notes

Page states $3,000 per academic year for Virginia residents/in-state-eligible students; no out-of-state amount published for this award.

Source

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. All freshman tiers are stated as 'up to' a ceiling (or a range), with no published GPA/test grid — the actual amount is determined by the university.

  2. If the full amount is not allocated to tuition and mandatory fees, the remainder is not refunded and does not roll over to future terms — these are tuition/fee-only awards, not a full ride.

  3. Other tuition-specific awards (military tuition stipend, Academic Common Market) reduce the merit scholarship.

  4. Students who fall below 12 credit hours at any time will have their scholarship revoked.

  5. Renewal requires a cumulative 2.5 GPA (2.8 for Transfer Excellence) and good judicial standing after the first year and each semester thereafter.

  6. Only freshmen who apply by Feb. 1 and transfers who apply by March 1 are automatically considered for institutional merit scholarships.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Admitted students who apply on time (freshmen by Feb. 1, transfers by March 1); out-of-state students get markedly larger award ceilings. Awards are 'up to' amounts with no published GPA/test grid.

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Radford, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$8,965
$30,001–$48,000$8,724
$48,001–$75,000$12,069
$75,001–$110,000$17,092
$110,001+$23,533
All income levels (average)$14,578

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Total cost of attendance (sticker), AY 2021-22
$28,405
Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$12,548
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$25,633
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$14,578

That works out to an average 49% discount off the sticker price above — both figures come from the same federal AY 2021-22 Scorecard report, not a number the school itself published.

Radford is a public school; Scorecard's net price and cost of attendance figures cover 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
49%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
76%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$24,000 (~$254/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$53,739
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
40%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
55%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Institutional merit scholarships are applied only to tuition and mandatory fees. Other tuition-specific awards (e.g., military tuition stipend, Academic Common Market) reduce the merit award. Any portion not used for tuition/fees is not refunded and does not roll over. A residency change to in-state reduces the award amount.

These are tuition/fee-restricted (effectively last-dollar against tuition) awards. The page does not address how private OUTSIDE scholarships interact; the displacement language is specific to other tuition benefits (military stipend, Academic Common Market) and residency.

Source

More school data

From the Radford Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated figures):

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Radford’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
23%of admitsget merit
Average award$3,936

At Radford, roughly 1 in 4 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $3,936.

As filed in Radford's CDS Section H2A: of 1,406 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 323 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $3,936. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 1,159 of 5,548, averaging $4,223. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

The 2025-2026 column is marked "estimated" in the school's own CDS filing — school-projected figures, not final audited counts.

Receive institutional merit23%First-year students, Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$3,936Across recipients, Common Data Set 2025-2026 (school-estimated)

Source: Common Data Set 2025-2026 (verified 2026-07-23)

Other Radford scholarships worth checking

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

AmountTuition (need-based program, not merit)EligibilityReferenced for FAFSA filers; complete FAFSA by March 1 for grant programs and the Radford Tuition Promise.

Mentioned on the aid-types page; verify details on the dedicated Tuition Promise page.

Source

Radford merit aid FAQ

  • Do I need a separate scholarship application?

    No. New freshman applicants who apply by Feb. 1 and transfer applicants who apply by March 1 are automatically considered for institutional merit-based scholarships; no additional application is required.

  • What is the renewal GPA?

    A cumulative 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale (2.8 for the Transfer Excellence Scholarship), plus good judicial standing, checked after the first academic year and each semester thereafter.

  • When must I confirm enrollment to keep my scholarship?

    Confirm attendance per your admission letter — new freshmen by May 1, incoming transfers by June 1.

  • What is the FAFSA deadline?

    Submit the FAFSA by March 1 to be considered for grant programs and the Radford Tuition Promise; FAFSAs received after March 1 are still reviewed for grant programs.

See sources and other schools

How Radford compares

  • 235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    Radford is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Radford is one of them. The cohort minority (84 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 Radford’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • UMW merit aid. Virginia public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • VCU merit aid. Virginia public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Virginia State merit aid. Virginia public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • UVA merit aid. Virginia public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Radford merit aid