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Seattle U scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$82,726per year · 2026-27 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

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

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. Seattle University Merit Award$8,000+ per year (automatic minimum)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Seattle University Merit Award

    $8,000+ per year (automatic minimum)

    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 Seattle University Merit Award

    Who qualifies

    Automatic consideration with the admission application; awarded based on the strength of the academic record. No separate scholarship application.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for up to four years for first-year students; renewal length is shorter for transfers based on credit count.

    Worth knowing

    Seattle U does not publish a tier ladder of dollar amounts above the $8,000 floor on its public site. Larger awards exist but are communicated in the admission decision.

  2. Sullivan Leadership AwardFull tuition, room, board, and academic feesNot automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Sullivan Leadership Award

    Full tuition, room, board, and academic fees

    Published coverage or packageNot 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 Sullivan Leadership Award

    Who qualifies

    Two awards per year. Restricted to graduates of Jesuit or Catholic high schools. Requires separate competitive application and interview.

    How to keep it

    Four-year award with continued service and leadership expectations.

    Worth knowing

    Largest single award at Seattle U; covers the entire on-campus cost of attendance, not just tuition.

Lights up against Seattle 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.

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Checking merit aid at Seattle U

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The fine print

Aid capHard $82,726 cost-of-attendance ceiling

Institutional aid at Seattle U cannot push the package past $82,726. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

What makes Seattle U different

Jesuit private in downtown Seattle whose published merit aid is an automatic Merit Award starting at $8,000/year, with a two-students-per-year Sullivan Scholarship covering full tuition, room, and board for Jesuit/Catholic high school graduates.

Merit tiers21 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 Seattle 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 Merit Award page lists $8,000 as a minimum; stronger applicants receive larger awards that are communicated in the admission decision rather than on the public scholarship page. Treating $8,000 as the cap underestimates Seattle U's real merit posture.

  2. The Sullivan Leadership Award is explicitly restricted to graduates of Jesuit or Catholic high schools. Public-school students are eligible for general Merit Awards and need-based aid but not the school's flagship full-ride.

  3. Seattle U's published policy says outside awards are added to the package and disbursed in thirds across quarters, but doesn't promise institutional aid stays unchanged. Get a written displacement answer from Student Financial Services before celebrating a private award.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

B+/A students from Jesuit or Catholic high schools who want a small-Catholic feel inside a major West Coast city, plus families who can absorb the gap between Seattle's $80K+ cost of attendance and the modest automatic merit floor.

Cost of attendance$82,726 for 2026-27Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$82,726
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Loan fees

Tuition & fees combines tuition plus technology, wellness, and activity fees.

Seattle U cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Seattle U, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$22,896
$30,001–$48,000$24,523
$48,001–$75,000$26,977
$75,001–$110,000$36,967
$110,001+$42,737
All income levels (average)$34,662

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$56,721
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$34,662

That works out to roughly a 52% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $72,124 (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
76%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
84%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$19,883 (~$211/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$75,272
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
27%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
59%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): "The university is required by law to coordinate the various resources a student may receive from all federal, state, private and institutional sources. ... Generally, the maximum amount of all resources may not exceed the cost of education established by the university."

Source

Other Seattle U scholarships worth checking

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

AmountFull demonstrated financial need for four yearsEligibilityWashington College Bound Program participants.

Need-based; intersects with state College Bound enrollment status.

Source

AmountFull tuitionEligibilityDTA or AS-T completers with a 3.0+ GPA. Guaranteed admission for eligible transfer students.

Source

Seattle U merit aid FAQ

  • Is Seattle University's merit aid automatic?

    Yes, the Seattle U Merit Award is automatic — every admitted undergraduate is considered based on their admission file, with no separate application. The Sullivan Leadership Award (full tuition + room + board for two students per year) requires a separate application and is restricted to Jesuit/Catholic high school graduates.

  • How much is the Seattle University Merit Award?

    Seattle U publishes a $8,000 per year minimum and indicates larger awards are possible based on the strength of the academic record. Specific tier dollar amounts above the floor aren't published; they appear on the admission decision letter.

  • What does the Sullivan Leadership Award cover?

    The Sullivan covers full tuition, room, board, and academic fees for four years — effectively a full-ride for the on-campus cost of attendance. Two awards are given per year, and only graduates of Jesuit or Catholic high schools may apply.

  • How does Seattle University handle outside scholarships?

    Outside scholarships are reported to Student Financial Services, listed on the award letter as 'Private Outside Scholarship,' and disbursed equally across fall, winter, and spring quarters unless the donor specifies a different schedule. The school does not publicly state which institutional funds get reduced first if a revision is required.

  • Is the cost of attendance at Seattle University really around $82,000?

    For 2026-27, Seattle U publishes a total on-campus budget of $82,726 — tuition $59,400 plus housing, food, and fees. Living with parents drops the budget to about $71,146. Most students offset this with institutional merit aid, need-based grants, and federal loans rather than paying sticker.

See sources and other schools

How Seattle U compares

  • 235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    Seattle U 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.

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

Compare with similar schools

  • Gonzaga merit aid. Washington private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • PLU merit aid. Washington private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Seattle Pacific merit aid. Washington private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Walla Walla merit aid. Washington private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Seattle U merit aid

The next chapter

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