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Samford scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$64,958per year · 2025-2026 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Samford is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 7 published awards, and 4 are based on those numbers.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
3 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. Crosland ScholarshipAverage $17,500 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Crosland Scholarship

    Average $17,500 per year

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

    GPA
    3.5 minimum high school GPA
    SAT
    1240 or higher composite
    ACT
    26 or higher composite
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Crosland Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Test-optional applicants are evaluated on a recalculated weighted GPA on a 4.0 scale. No separate application required. Can combine with Davis and Marvin Mann Legacy — CANNOT combine with Marion.

    How to keep it

    Guaranteed for 8 semesters or graduation. Requires good academic standing and adherence to Samford's Code of Values; breach can cause revocation.

    Worth knowing

    Samford publishes the average, not a stat-to-tier table. The non-combinability with Marion is the most consequential Samford stacking rule.

  2. Marion ScholarshipAverage $13,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Marion Scholarship

    Average $13,000 per year

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

    GPA
    3.0 minimum high school GPA
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Marion Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Fully admitted to Samford. No separate application. Can combine with Davis and Marvin Mann Legacy — CANNOT combine with Crosland.

    How to keep it

    Guaranteed for 8 semesters or graduation. Requires good academic standing and adherence to Samford's Code of Values.

    Worth knowing

    The fallback award for applicants who do not meet Crosland's 3.5/26-ACT thresholds.

  3. Davis Scholarship$2,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Davis Scholarship

    $2,000 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 Davis Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Entering freshmen with outstanding community engagement and service. Separate application required. Must be competitive by December 1 of senior year.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to 8 semesters with good academic standing and Code of Values adherence.

    Worth knowing

    Stackable on top of Crosland or Marion plus the Marvin Mann Legacy.

  4. Marvin Mann Academic Excellence ScholarshipUp to $10,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Marvin Mann Academic Excellence Scholarship

    Up to $10,000 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 Marvin Mann Academic Excellence Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Awarded to National Merit Finalists. Can be combined with the $1,000 National Merit Semi-Finalist Scholarship. The scholarship committee may increase the annual value or extend the award to other students who exemplify academic excellence.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to 8 semesters with good academic standing and Code of Values adherence.

  5. Marvin Mann Ministry Scholarship$3,500 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Marvin Mann Ministry Scholarship

    $3,500 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 Marvin Mann Ministry Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Incoming freshmen whose parent has been ordained and is actively serving in a full-time paid position in a church, parachurch, or missions organization that teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ and affirms Samford's core values. Parent's church/agency must provide the principal part of income.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to 8 semesters with good academic standing.

  6. Marvin Mann Legacy Scholarship$1,000 per yearNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Marvin Mann Legacy Scholarship

    $1,000 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 Marvin Mann Legacy Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Family member graduated from or is currently enrolled at Samford University or Howard College. Information must be reported on the application for admission.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to 8 semesters with good academic standing.

    Worth knowing

    Stackable with Crosland or Marion.

  7. National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship$1,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship

    $1,000 per year

    Published 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 National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Entering freshman Semifinalist who designates Samford as first-choice institution per the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Full-time enrollment required.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to 8 semesters with cumulative 3.0 Samford GPA.

    Worth knowing

    Stacks with Marvin Mann Academic Excellence ($10,000) for National Merit Finalists.

Lights up against Samford'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.

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The fine print

Outside awardsNo published displacement order

Samford'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 Samford different

Baptist private in Birmingham, AL with a published two-track auto-merit ladder — Crosland (avg $17,500, stat-driven) and Marion (avg $13,000) — but the two awards explicitly cannot be combined, and the University Grant can be reduced if a student is later awarded additional institutional funds.

Merit tiers74 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 Samford's decision sheet

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

See what could change an award

Straight from the aid office

What Samford's aid office says

Per the One Stop, Student Financial Services, Samford University, August 2026. How we verify

Scholarships within direct costs

If my outside and Samford scholarships don't exceed my direct costs, will any of my scholarships be reduced?

If outside and university scholarships combined do not exceed total direct costs, all scholarship funding is received without reduction.

“As long as your outside scholarships and university scholarships do not exceed your total direct costs, you'd be eligible to receive all scholarship funding without a reduction.”
Overage exceeding direct costs

What happens if my outside and Samford scholarships together exceed my direct costs?

If outside and Samford scholarships exceed direct costs, the school first contacts the outside scholarship agency to ask if they will allow a refund of the credit balance.

“Should your outside and Samford scholarships exceed your direct costs, we would first reach out to the outside scholarship agency to ask if they will allow us to refund any credit balance to you.”
Refunding outside scholarship overage

If the outside agency allows a refund, will my scholarships be reduced?

If the outside agency allows the credit balance to be refunded, there is still no reduction, and the excess outside scholarship funding is paid to the student.

“If so, there would still be no reduction, and we would pay any excess outside scholarship funding to you.”
Samford scholarships not refundable

Will Samford scholarships ever be refunded if they cause an overage?

Samford's policy is that Samford scholarships are never refunded; if they create an overage, they are reduced to zero the balance with no refund issued.

“Please note that it is Samford's policy that we will not refund Samford scholarships, so should those scholarships create an overage, they would be reduced to zero out your balance without any refund being issued.”

What families often miss

  1. They explicitly do not. A student earns one or the other. Crosland averages $17,500 for stats at or above 3.5 GPA / 26 ACT; Marion averages $13,000 for stats at or above 3.0 GPA. Both can be combined with the Davis Scholarship ($2,000) and the Marvin Mann Legacy ($1,000) — but never with each other. Plan a Crosland-tier student's budget around $17,500, not $30,500.

  2. Samford's University Grant policy is explicit: if your level of need changes, or if you are awarded any additional Samford University funds, the University Grant may be reduced or cancelled. A National Merit Finalist who later wins a $10,000 Mann Academic Excellence award may see their need-based University Grant shrink correspondingly. Build the budget around merit, not the grant.

  3. Samford has TWO scholarship deadlines: December 1 (first round, full pool) and February 15 (second round + FAFSA priority). Applications submitted between these dates can still receive merit but the first-round pool is the strongest. The Davis Scholarship in particular requires applicants to be 'competitive by December 1 of their senior year.'

  4. Samford's published scholarship terms state explicitly: 'If our students breach the Code of Values, their scholarship dollars of any variety can be revoked.' This applies to all merit funds — Crosland, Marion, Mann awards, Davis, and others. A code-of-conduct issue can be a five-figure financial event, not just a disciplinary one.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Christian college-shoppers in the Southeast seeking transparent published merit awards; especially favorable for National Merit Finalists, ministry kids, and Samford/Howard legacy families who can layer stackable add-ons.

Cost of attendance$64,958 for 2025-2026Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$64,958
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal

Undergraduate Day, on-campus.

Samford cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Samford, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$22,716
$30,001–$48,000$24,812
$48,001–$75,000$31,527
$75,001–$110,000$34,206
$110,001+$36,235
All income levels (average)$32,622

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$40,150
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$32,622

That works out to roughly a 43% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $57,456 (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
77%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
93%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$19,500 (~$207/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$58,469
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
11%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
27%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): I understand I must report any additional assistance that I may receive from outside sources, including scholarships, loans, assistantships, fellowships and educational benefits. In addition, I understand additional assistance may require that an adjustment be made in my award. Such an adjustment may require me to repay all or a portion of previously awarded financial aid.

Source

Other Samford scholarships worth checking

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

AmountNot publicly disclosedEligibilityEntering students who demonstrate significant financial need; selected through holistic review of the FAFSA and supporting materials. Need-based, not merit. Renewable up to 8 semesters.

Source

Amount$2,500EligibilityIncoming community-college transfers who are PTK chapter members. Must note membership on application and provide invitation letter or email as proof. Maintain cumulative 3.0 Samford GPA for renewal.

Source

AmountAverage $10,000 per yearEligibilityTwo-year community college transfers in science or math majors. Supported by the National Science Foundation. Can be combined with other merit and need-based aid.

Source

Samford merit aid FAQ

  • How much merit aid does Samford give first-year students?

    Samford publishes two main auto-awarded merit tiers: the Crosland Scholarship (average $17,500, requires 3.5 GPA + 26 ACT/1240 SAT) and the Marion Scholarship (average $13,000, requires 3.0 GPA). All freshman merit is guaranteed for 8 semesters or graduation. Stackable add-ons include the Davis Scholarship ($2,000), Marvin Mann Legacy ($1,000), Mann Ministry Scholarship ($3,500), and the Mann Academic Excellence award (up to $10,000 for National Merit Finalists).

  • Can I get both the Crosland and Marion Scholarships?

    No. The two awards are explicitly non-combinable. Students earn one or the other based on their stat profile — Crosland is the higher award for 3.5 GPA / 26 ACT applicants; Marion is the broader award for 3.0 GPA applicants. Both can layer with Davis and the Marvin Mann Legacy.

  • When is the scholarship deadline at Samford?

    Samford has two scholarship deadlines for freshman applicants: December 1 (first round, strongest pool) and February 15 (second round, FAFSA priority date). The Davis Scholarship requires applicants to be competitive by December 1. Final aid packets are released in early March.

  • Does Samford give credit for National Merit?

    Yes — significantly. National Merit Finalists are awarded the Marvin Mann Academic Excellence Scholarship (up to $10,000 per year) and can also stack the $1,000-per-year National Merit Semifinalist Scholarship, provided Samford is designated their first-choice institution to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The combined value over four years can exceed $40,000.

  • Are Samford scholarships test-optional?

    Samford superscores both the ACT and SAT for admission consideration, but only superscores the SAT for scholarship eligibility. Freshmen applying without a test score are still considered for the Crosland Scholarship using a recalculated weighted GPA on a 4.0 scale. There are no set minimum test scores — Samford's middle 50% range is 23-29 ACT, 1130-1350 SAT for context.

See sources and other schools

How Samford compares

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

    Samford 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.

    Samford 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.

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

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Samford merit aid

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