Saint Anselm offers a holistic $20,000-$34,000 merit range (per-award GPA criteria live behind the Anselmian Aid Portal, no public grid), capped so scholarship+grant can't exceed tuition, plus a free-tuition Anselmian Community Commitment for qualifying NH residents.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago
The short answer
Is Saint Anselm worth a closer look?
Saint Anselm may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.
Merit tiers2See who qualifies
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.
$20,000-$34,000
Merit Scholarships & Grants
Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
Minimum GPA requirements vary by award and are shown in the student's Anselmian Aid Portal (not published publicly)
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
Based on exemplary academic credentials; awarded via the admission application (no separate scholarship application for most)
How to keep it
Renewable annually provided you maintain the Cumulative GPA at Saint Anselm and/or other criteria designated by each program; offered for a maximum of four years (8 semesters).
Notes
Public page shows only the $20,000-$34,000 range; the per-award criteria and minimum GPA sit behind the Anselmian Aid Portal login, so there is NO public stat grid. Subject to the tuition cap below.
Anselmian Community Commitment (NH free-tuition program)
Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
3.25 or higher high school GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
NH resident (student AND parent contributor[s], legal residents of NH for at least one year prior to enrollment); plan to be a residential student; family income of $100,000 or less; file FAFSA by the Feb 15, 2026 priority deadline. Transfer students are NOT eligible.
How to keep it
Renewable for four years as long as family income remains under $100,000 and the student maintains a 2.5 GPA; file the FAFSA no later than the April 15 financial aid renewal deadline. If tuition increases, eligible students continue to be tuition-free as long as maintenance requirements are met.
Notes
Residency- and income-gated free tuition, not a universal merit award. Requires an application/process plus FAFSA; covers TUITION ONLY (food, housing, fees, etc. are still owed).
These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Saint Anselm's published information.
Aid capHard $72,702 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Saint Anselm cannot push the package past $72,702. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
What families often miss
Saint Anselm states your scholarship/grant is incorporated INTO your total need-based package, not offered in addition to it. Families who file for need may not see merit increase their total aid.
College policy caps scholarship + grant at the cost of TUITION; food, housing, fees, books and personal costs (~$23,700/yr residential) are not covered by merit.
It requires NH residency for both student and parent (1+ year), a 3.25 HS GPA, family income of $100,000 or less, residential enrollment, and a FAFSA by Feb 15, 2026; transfer students are excluded and it covers tuition only.
Merit and non-need awards are offered for a maximum of four years (8 semesters) and require maintaining the program's CGPA; the Anselmian Community Commitment needs a 2.5 GPA and continued income under $100k plus a FAFSA by April 15 each year.
A legacyweb.anselm.edu host serves outdated aid pages that still rank in search; current figures live under www.anselm.edu/admission/tuition-aid/*.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
A strong-academic applicant (especially a NH resident under $100k family income who can hit a 3.25 GPA) who wants predictable merit and is comfortable that exact per-award GPA thresholds only appear in their Anselmian Aid Portal offer.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $72,702 for 2025-2026. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Saint Anselm, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Saint Anselm, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$25,143
$30,001–$48,000
$26,956
$48,001–$75,000
$27,193
$75,001–$110,000
$31,710
$110,001+
$37,268
All income levels (average)
$34,779
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$48,920
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$34,779
That works out to roughly a 48% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $67,213 (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
80%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
88%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$27,000 (~$286/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$73,371
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
14%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
69%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Scholarship/grant offers may not exceed the cost of tuition. Non-need-based aid is folded into the need-based package if a student applies for need (not added on top). The four named non-need institutional grants may stack with each other up to $6,000 total.
Per the College Policy Concerning Merit or Non-Need-Based Awards: offers may not exceed the cost of tuition; a student's scholarship/grant is incorporated into the total need-based package, not offered in addition to it. Non-need grants (Bradley, Abbot Dolan OSB, Legacy, Family) may be combined up to $6,000 total. For the Dollars for Scholars matching grant, the College eliminates unmet need, loan and work before adjusting grant aid. Anselmian Community Commitment FAQ states any outside scholarship may be applied to additional (non-tuition) costs.
Most scholarship applications are due by May 1 or earlier for the following fall semester. The Anselmian Community Commitment has a FAFSA priority deadline of February 15, 2026 (renewal FAFSA due by April 15).
Is the merit scholarship renewable?
Yes — renewable annually if you maintain the program's Cumulative GPA and other criteria, for a maximum of four years (8 semesters).
Can outside scholarships be used?
For the Anselmian Community Commitment, any outside scholarship may be applied to additional (non-tuition) costs like food and housing. For the Dollars for Scholars matching grant, the College eliminates unmet need, loan and work before adjusting grant aid.
See sources and other schools+
How Saint Anselm compares
235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Saint Anselm 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.
Saint Anselm 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 Saint Anselm’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
