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Saint Louis University · Missouri

Saint Louis U scholarships and merit aid

Jesuit research university with one of the country's most generous published merit ladders — four automatic tiers reaching $39,000 per year and a full-tuition Presidential Scholarship for top competitive applicants.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago· CA-1

The short answer

Is Saint Louis U worth a closer look?

Saint Louis U is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 7 published awards, and 5 are based on those numbers.

Merit tiers75 based on grades or scores
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 $19,500 per semester…Up to $19,500 per semester (up to ~$39,000 per year, up to $195,000 over 10 semesters)

Vice Presidents' Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Awarded automatically based on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1 (admission application). No separate scholarship application required.

How to keep it

Renewable for 10 consecutive full-time fall and spring semesters as long as the recipient maintains a 2.0 GPA.

Notes

SLU's top automatic tier. Selection criteria are evaluated holistically rather than via a published stat ladder.

Source

Up to $17,500 per semester…Up to $17,500 per semester (up to ~$35,000 per year)

University Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1.

How to keep it

Renewable for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

Source

Up to $16,500 per semester…Up to $16,500 per semester (up to ~$33,000 per year)

Ignatian Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1.

How to keep it

Renewable for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

Source

Up to $15,500 per semester…Up to $15,500 per semester (up to ~$31,000 per year)

Billiken Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Automatic on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1.

How to keep it

Renewable for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

Source

Full tuition for 10 consecutive fal…Full tuition for 10 consecutive fall/spring semesters

Presidential Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
3.85+ high school GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Competitive. Requires a separate application including an essay and interview. Priority deadline December 1.

How to keep it

Renewable for 10 semesters subject to program requirements.

Notes

SLU's top competitive award. Covers tuition only — not housing, food, or fees.

Source

Approximately $24,000 total — rough…Approximately $24,000 total — roughly $3,000/year above the recipient's automatic merit award

Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
GPA
3.25+ high school GPA
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

Competitive. Requires essay and interview. Recognizes commitment to social justice and community service. Deadline February 1.

Source

$2,000 per year…$2,000 per year (SLU-funded supplement to other merit aid)

National Merit Award

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Awarded automatically to National Merit Finalists who list SLU as their first choice with NMSC. Stacks on top of automatic merit tier.

Source

See what could change an award

Rules that could change the answer

These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Saint Louis U's published information.

  • renewalVice Presidents' Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

    Renewable for 10 consecutive full-time fall and spring semesters as long as the recipient maintains a 2.0 GPA. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

  • displacementNo published displacement order

    Saint Louis U's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

What families often miss

  1. The Vice Presidents' tier is 'Up to $19,500 per semester (up to 10 semesters)' — that's up to ~$39,000 per year, not $19,500 per year. Families who model SLU at the per-semester number understate their merit value by half.

  2. SLU's automatic merit tiers — and the competitive Presidential Scholarship — are tied to a December 1 priority deadline. Applications submitted later may still be reviewed but lose access to the top tiers or to the Presidential interview pool.

  3. The Presidential Scholarship covers full tuition only — not housing, food, or fees. On a 2025-26 published COA of $81,002 and tuition of $56,960, that leaves roughly $24,000 per year in non-tuition costs to fund through other means.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Vice Presidents' Scholarship — SLU's top automatic tier

The Vice Presidents' Scholarship is SLU's top automatic merit award at up to $19,500 per semester — roughly $39,000 per year, or up to about $195,000 across 10 semesters of eligibility. Like the three tiers below it (University, Ignatian, Billiken), it's awarded automatically as part of admission review, with no separate scholarship application. SLU describes its automatic merit awards explicitly: 'By doing so, you are automatically considered for SLU's merit-based scholarships. No separate application is required.' The priority deadline is December 1, the same as SLU's admission priority deadline. Renewal requires only a 2.0 GPA across all 10 semesters — one of the lowest renewal floors among generous-merit privates.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students looking for a mid-sized Catholic research university where the headline merit dollars are automatic at admission, with a clear December 1 priority deadline to qualify for the highest tiers and a separate competitive route to a full-tuition award for 3.85+ GPA applicants.

Cost of attendance$81,002 for 2025-26Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$81,002
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Loan fees

Full-time undergraduate on-campus (matches input total). SLU lists a single billable on-campus residential figure ($15,820) with no separate food line; treated as housing & food. Miscellaneous treated as personal. Sums exactly.

Saint Louis U cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Saint Louis U, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$22,501
$30,001–$48,000$21,854
$48,001–$75,000$21,880
$75,001–$110,000$21,702
$110,001+$27,466
All income levels (average)$24,398

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$55,760
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$24,398

That works out to roughly a 66% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $71,932 (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
$25,000 (~$265/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$70,783
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
25%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
45%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

SLU requires students to report outside scholarships and notes that each award is governed by its own donor-specified limits (e.g., tuition-restricted vs cost-of-attendance restricted). The public site does not publish a single displacement formula — call the Office of Student Financial Services before assuming a large outside award will stack on top of the Vice Presidents' or Presidential tier.

SLU's outside scholarship guidance directs students to send scholarship checks to the Office of Student Financial Services along with their Banner ID, and notes that 'students have full use of those scholarship amounts, subject to the limitations set forth by each individual award (Example: tuition vs. the full cost of attendance).' That implies outside awards add value up to the relevant donor cap, but SLU does not publish a uniform institutional-aid displacement rule on the public scholarship page.

Source

Other Saint Louis U scholarships worth checking

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

AmountApproximately $24,000 total, layered on top of an existing automatic merit award.Eligibility3.25+ high school GPA with demonstrated commitment to social justice and community service. Essay and interview required.

Different deadline (Feb 1) from the main December 1 priority date — easy to miss for families focused only on the headline scholarships.

Source

Saint Louis U merit aid FAQ

  • Are SLU's merit scholarships automatic?

    The four-tier ladder (Vice Presidents', University, Ignatian, Billiken) is automatic — SLU states, 'No separate application is required.' Awards are made 'based on your previous academic performance.' The Presidential and Martin Luther King Jr. scholarships require separate applications, essays, and interviews.

  • How much is each SLU merit tier per year?

    SLU lists the amounts per semester. At the top end, that's up to $19,500 (Vice Presidents'), $17,500 (University), $16,500 (Ignatian), and $15,500 (Billiken). Doubled to a full academic year, those tiers run up to roughly $39,000, $35,000, $33,000, and $31,000 respectively. All renew for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

  • What's the deadline?

    December 1 is the priority deadline for SLU's automatic merit tiers and for the competitive Presidential Scholarship. The Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship has a separate February 1 deadline. Apply before December 1 to be reviewed for the top tiers.

  • How easy is it to keep SLU's merit money for four years?

    The four automatic tiers renew for 10 consecutive fall/spring semesters as long as the student maintains at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. That's one of the lowest renewal floors at any generous-merit private — most peer Jesuit schools require 2.8 to 3.0.

  • How does SLU treat outside scholarships?

    SLU requires students to report outside awards by sending checks to the Office of Student Financial Services with their Banner ID. The public site does not publish a uniform displacement rule — outside scholarships are governed by each award's own restrictions (tuition vs cost-of-attendance). Call the office before counting on a stack.

See sources and other schools

How Saint Louis U compares

  • 135 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.

    Saint Louis U is in a recognizable cluster (135 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 135 of 749 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.

    Saint Louis U is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.

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

    Saint Louis U is one of them. The cohort minority (82 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 Louis U’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

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