Skip to content

Saint Louis U scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$81,002per year · 2025-26 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Saint Louis U awards automatic merit on admission. Saint Louis U does not publish a GPA or test chart, so you cannot self-calculate the dollars.

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. Vice Presidents' ScholarshipUp to $19,500 per semester (up to ~$39,000 per year, up to $195,000 over 10 semesters)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Vice Presidents' Scholarship

    Up to $19,500 per semester (up to ~$39,000 per year, up to $195,000 over 10 semesters)

    Variable or qualified amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Vice Presidents' Scholarship

    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.

    Worth knowing

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

  2. University ScholarshipUp to $17,500 per semester (up to ~$35,000 per year)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    University Scholarship

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

    Variable or qualified amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for University Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Automatic on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

  3. Ignatian ScholarshipUp to $16,500 per semester (up to ~$33,000 per year)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Ignatian Scholarship

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

    Variable or qualified amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Ignatian Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Automatic on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

  4. Billiken ScholarshipUp to $15,500 per semester (up to ~$31,000 per year)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Billiken Scholarship

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

    Variable or qualified amountAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Billiken Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Automatic on previous academic performance. Priority deadline December 1.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for 10 semesters at a 2.0 GPA.

  5. Presidential ScholarshipFull tuition for 10 consecutive fall/spring semestersNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Presidential Scholarship

    Full tuition for 10 consecutive fall/spring semesters

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

    GPA
    3.85+ high school GPA
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Presidential Scholarship

    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.

    Worth knowing

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

  6. Martin Luther King Jr. ScholarshipApproximately $24,000 total — roughly $3,000/year above the recipient's automatic merit awardNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship

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

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

    GPA
    3.25+ high school GPA
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship

    Who qualifies

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

  7. National Merit Award$2,000 per year (SLU-funded supplement to other merit aid)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    National Merit Award

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

    Published award termsAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for National Merit Award

    Who qualifies

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

Lights up against Saint Louis U's published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office. Award terms and residency rules change; some awards differ for in-state and out-of-state students. Always confirm at the school’s source page.

Free Merit Check

Check the rules that could cut this.

The free Merit Check shows which Saint Louis U award your student's numbers reach, and the rules that could change it. About 30 seconds.

Checking merit aid at Saint Louis U

We’ll email you this result and a few short merit-aid pointers. We store score ranges only, never your student’s name. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.

This page covers one school.

Your playbook does this for every school on your list, sorted by what you’d pay.

Ready in under 10 minutes. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get my playbook$79
  • Secure payment through Stripe
  • “it told me what to ask and what the renewal GPA looked like, which I was not going to find on my own”Melissa

The fine print

Renewal ruleVice 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.

Outside awardsNo 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 makes Saint Louis U different

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.

Merit tiers75 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

More than one award path

Separate the two paths.

Some awards use published academic thresholds. Others have different selection criteria. A score chart does not describe every award at this school.

  1. Match the published criteria

    Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.

  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 Saint Louis U'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. 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

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

    Saint Louis U is in a recognizable cluster (133 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 133 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.

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

    Saint Louis U 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 Louis U’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • William Jewell merit aid. Missouri private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Avila merit aid. Missouri private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Truman State merit aid. Missouri public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • UCM merit aid. Missouri public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Saint Louis U merit aid

The next chapter

Where does Saint Louis U fit in your plan?

You have the school’s rules. Now put them in the context of your student and the rest of your list.

  1. Check your student’s numbers, free
  2. Explore another school
  3. See how the research becomes a plan

Ready to work through your whole list? Get my playbook

Inside the sample

Jordan’s playbook

Same student.
Four schools.
Four very different bills.

An illustrative student profile, with a school order, scholarship research and a to-do list. Open the sample to see how it works.

Open the sample playbook