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The merit-aid verdict at SNHU
SNHU leads with low sticker price (online tuition $354/credit; '94% of full-time SNHU students were awarded grant or scholarship aid') rather than a published merit grid — campus scholarship details sit behind interactive page sections, and the clearest published merit award is a $3,000 International Merit Scholarship for new international master's students.
Rules that bite at SNHU
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from SNHU's own published policy, not generic advice.
displacementNo published displacement order
SNHU'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 SNHU
The campus scholarship listings are in interactive page sections that don't render as accessible text, and no dollar-amount merit grid is published there. Families must contact Student Financial Services (603.645.9640 / SFScampus@snhu.edu) for actual award amounts and renewal terms.
It is explicitly 'non-renewable,' disbursed only over the first two semesters, 'applied to tuition only,' non-refundable, and 'subject to availability of funds.'
The aid page states: 'To demonstrate need and be considered for a federal grant, it's important you submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA)' (typo in original).
The page warns: scholarship funds exceeding tuition and required fees 'may be reported to the IRS on Form 1042-S, and tax may be withheld at a rate of 14% or more depending on visa status,' with withheld tax charged to the student account.
The page cautions that on-campus earnings 'should always be viewed as a supplement and never as being crucial to meeting the expenses of studying in the U.S. due to its unpredictability.'
Who this school is for
Price-sensitive students drawn to low base tuition (especially online) and campus students willing to call Student Financial Services for exact scholarship amounts, since SNHU's public pages do not display a dollar-amount merit grid in accessible text.
Federal cost and outcome data
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at SNHU, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at SNHU, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$36,441
$30,001–$48,000
$36,536
$48,001–$75,000
$36,641
$75,001–$110,000
$37,704
$110,001+
$38,025
All income levels (average)
$36,708
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Total cost of attendance (sticker), AY 2021-22
$40,918
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$17,200
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$36,708
That works out to an average 10% discount off the sticker price above — both figures come from the same federal AY 2021-22 Scorecard report, not a number the school itself published.
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
43%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
61%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$21,082 (~$224/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$50,318
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
60%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
63%
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.
Amount not published
Campus and Online institutional scholarships (details not published in accessible text)
Application
View requirements+
Eligibility
SNHU's aid pages list scholarship categories ('Online & Campus Scholarships', 'Online Only', 'Campus Only') in expandable sections whose contents are not rendered in the page's accessible text; no amounts, stat cutoffs, or named-award terms could be read
Notes
DRAFT GAP: SNHU's campus 'Grants, Scholarships and Loans' page and the 'Ways to Save' page both present scholarships in interactive accordions whose contents did not render; the named campus awards (e.g., a Presidential Scholarship referenced in search previews) could not be verified on an opened page and are NOT recorded here. Verify directly with Student Financial Services.
Outstanding athletes in basketball, cross-country, lacrosse, soccer (football), tennis, baseball, softball, and volleyball; amounts determined by the coaches
No stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy was visible on the pages opened. The international scholarship page does note that scholarship funds exceeding tuition and required fees may be taxable for international students.
Pages opened describe aid categories and loans but do not state how institutional, outside, and federal aid combine or which is reduced first. International scholarships are 'applied to tuition only and are non-refundable.'
AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityGraduate School of Business students; preference to International Business or Finance majors using standard need and academic criteria
May be awarded to other Graduate School of Business students if no qualifying majors in a given year.
AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityInternational and U.S. undergraduate or graduate students who demonstrate commitment to helping new students adjust to the University
Does SNHU publish an automatic merit-scholarship grid?
Not in accessible text on the pages reviewed. Scholarship categories ('Online & Campus', 'Campus Only') are listed, but amounts and criteria are not displayed; contact Student Financial Services for campus merit award specifics.
What merit aid is clearly published?
The International Merit Scholarship: $3,000, non-renewable, for new international master's students with a minimum 3.3 undergraduate GPA, disbursed over the first two semesters and applied to tuition only.
How do I find scholarships at SNHU?
SNHU provides access to Scholarship Universe (snhu.scholarshipuniverse.com), 'a tool that creates a customized list of scholarships you could be qualified for,' plus need- and non-need-based grants and scholarships.
How much can transfer credit save?
SNHU accepts up to 90 transfer credits toward a bachelor's degree; at the online rate of $354/credit, entering with 90 credits cuts the online bachelor's total to $10,620 per SNHU's published chart.
What share of students get aid?
SNHU's campus tuition page states that 94% of full-time SNHU students were awarded grant or scholarship aid; the campus financial aid section says more than 90% of students receive financial aid.
How SNHU compares across our verified dataset
135 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
SNHU 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 750 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
SNHU is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
132 of 750 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
SNHU is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against SNHU’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
