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Rhodes scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$80,256per year · 2026-2027 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

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

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
2 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

The award collection

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.

Where does your student land?

  1. Cambridge Scholarship$43,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Cambridge Scholarship

    $43,000 per year

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Cambridge Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All applications for admission are automatically considered; no separate application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

    Worth knowing

    Rhodes' top-tier institutional merit award.

  2. Founders Scholarship$38,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Founders Scholarship

    $38,000 per year

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Founders Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All applications for admission are automatically considered; no separate application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

  3. Presidential Scholarship$37,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Presidential Scholarship

    $37,000 per year

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Presidential Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All applications for admission are automatically considered; no separate application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

  4. Ralph C. Hon Scholarship$35,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Ralph C. Hon Scholarship

    $35,000 per year

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Ralph C. Hon Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All applications for admission are automatically considered; no separate application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

  5. Diehl Scholarship$34,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Diehl Scholarship

    $34,000 per year

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Diehl Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All applications for admission are automatically considered; no separate application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

  6. Tennessee Advantage Scholarship$31,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Tennessee Advantage Scholarship

    $31,000 per year

    Published amountNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Tennessee Advantage Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Tennessee residents; automatic consideration through the admission application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

    Worth knowing

    Material in-state award. Stack with Hope/TSAA for Tennessee residents who file the FAFSA by February 1.

  7. Rhodes Award Scholarship$20,000 - $32,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Rhodes Award Scholarship

    $20,000 - $32,000 per year

    Published rangeNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Rhodes Award Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    All applications for admission are automatically considered; no separate application. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to four years

    Worth knowing

    The catch-all award; range placement is holistic and not stat-driven on the public page.

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What makes Rhodes different

Memphis-based liberal arts college with one of the most generous and transparent published merit ladders in the South — seven named tiers from $20,000 to $43,000 per year, all renewable for four years.

Merit tiers7See who qualifies
First-year students with school awards38%First-year students, CDS 2023-2024
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Selection beyond grades and scores

Start with the selection process.

These awards are not recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read each award's selection rules, application steps and dates. Meeting a minimum is not an award offer.

  1. Read the selection rules

    Look for the school's stated criteria and whether an additional application is needed.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. Know what happens next year

    Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.

The fine print / Three questions to carry forward

Before you count on it.

Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.

Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.

Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.

Take Rhodes's decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. All seven Rhodes merit scholarships use a December 1 priority deadline. Applications submitted later remain eligible but the scholarship pool shrinks. Early Decision I families face an even earlier November 1 FAFSA deadline.

  2. Rhodes accepts the CSS Profile (school code 1730) alongside the FAFSA (Title IV code 003519). For families with non-custodial parent situations, business ownership, or significant assets, completing both forms can produce a more favorable institutional aid offer. Verify CSS Profile is required vs. accepted with the office before skipping.

  3. The Tennessee Student Assistance Award has a February 1 FAFSA deadline but may run out of funds before that date. The Tennessee HOPE Scholarship also requires the FAFSA. Tennessee residents stacking Tennessee Advantage ($31k) plus Hope and TSAA can meaningfully cut out-of-pocket cost — but missing the state-aid window leaves money on the table.

  4. Rhodes does not publish GPA/test cutoffs for any of its seven merit tiers. Modeling a Cambridge or Founders Scholarship from forum-sourced stat profiles is unreliable. Build the budget assuming the Rhodes Award low end ($20,000) until the actual offer arrives, then adjust up.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Academically strong students looking for a small Southern LAC with a clear, predictable merit ladder and a December 1 priority date; especially favorable for Tennessee residents who layer the state Hope and TSAA awards on top.

Cost of attendance$80,256 for 2026-2027Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$80,256
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal

On-campus, unlimited all-access meal plan. Live page now publishes 2026-2027.

Rhodes cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Rhodes, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$15,770
$30,001–$48,000$19,960
$48,001–$75,000$15,910
$75,001–$110,000$37,103
$110,001+$31,878
All income levels (average)$28,585

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$57,110
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$28,585

That works out to roughly a 60% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $71,136 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
85%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
92%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$21,761 (~$231/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$66,651
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
17%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
60%
See other scholarships and cost examples

More school data

From the Rhodes Common Data Set 2023-2024:

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Rhodes’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
38%of admitsget merit
Average award$31,596Covers ~39% of $80,256 cost of attendance

At Rhodes, roughly 1 in 3 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $31,596 — about 39% of total cost.

As filed in Rhodes's CDS Section H2A: of 481 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 182 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $31,596. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 860 of 1,850, averaging $30,477. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

Receive institutional merit38%First-year students, Common Data Set 2023-2024
Average merit award$31,596Across recipients, Common Data Set 2023-2024

Source: Common Data Set 2023-2024 (verified 2026-07-23)

Rhodes merit aid FAQ

  • How much merit aid does Rhodes give?

    Rhodes publishes a seven-tier merit ladder for first-year students: Cambridge ($43,000), Founders ($38,000), Presidential ($37,000), Ralph C. Hon ($35,000), Diehl ($34,000), Tennessee Advantage ($31,000, in-state), and Rhodes Award ($20,000-$32,000 holistic). All are renewable up to four years. The priority deadline is December 1.

  • Do I need to apply separately for Rhodes scholarships?

    No. All seven Rhodes institutional merit scholarships use the admission application as the scholarship application. Submit by the December 1 priority date to be in the strongest consideration pool.

  • Does Rhodes require the CSS Profile?

    Rhodes accepts both the FAFSA (Title IV code 003519) and the CSS Profile (school code 1730). For some admission rounds, the CSS Profile is 'also accepted' alongside the FAFSA. Families with complex finances should consider submitting both.

  • What's the difference between the Tennessee Advantage and the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship?

    The Tennessee Advantage Scholarship is a $31,000-per-year institutional award from Rhodes itself, restricted to Tennessee residents and renewable for four years. The Tennessee HOPE Scholarship is a separate state award funded by the lottery, requiring FAFSA filing. They can stack.

  • When is the FAFSA deadline at Rhodes?

    FAFSA deadlines vary by admission plan: November 1 for Early Decision I, November 15 for Early Action, January 15 for Early Decision II, and January 31 for Regular Decision. Tennessee residents should additionally complete the FAFSA by February 1 to be considered for state aid.

See sources and other schools

How Rhodes compares

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

    Rhodes 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 Rhodes’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Rhodes merit aid

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