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 May 20268 days ago· CA-1
Merit tiers75 automatic on stats
Last verifiedMay 2026Analyst CA-1
Rules that bite at Saint Louis U
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Saint Louis U's own published policy, not generic advice.
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.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Saint Louis U
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $81,002 for 2025-2026. Total cost of attendance for a residential on-campus first-year undergraduate. Tuition alone is $56,960. SLU is a private institution with no out-of-state surcharge. Source
Institutional merit aid tiers
Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.
Up to $19,500 per semester (up to ~$39,000 per year, up to $195,000 over 10 semesters)
Vice Presidents' Scholarship
AutomaticRenewable
View requirements+
Eligibility
Awarded automatically based on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1 (admission application). No separate scholarship application required.
Renewal terms
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.
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.
Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility 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.
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.
How Saint Louis U compares across our verified dataset
15 of 150 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Saint Louis U is in the modest minority (15 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
15 of 150 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.
133 of 150 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Saint Louis U is one of them. The cohort minority (17 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.
