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Southwestern scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$75,933per year · 2025-2026 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Southwestern may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.

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. General Merit ScholarshipsUp to $36,000Not automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    General Merit Scholarships

    Up to $36,000

    Variable or qualified 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.

    Open award details for General Merit Scholarships

    Who qualifies

    Holistic review of admission application (academic performance, rigor, essay, leadership, extracurricular/volunteer activities; visit, legacy, United Methodist membership, national recognition also considered)

    Worth knowing

    Awarded automatically via the admission application — no separate form. The published award grid on the page is an image (ADM_ScholarshipGrid_2025); no machine-readable GPA/test grid is provided, so no stat grid is reproduced here.

  2. The Brown Scholarship$45,000Not automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    The Brown Scholarship

    $45,000

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

    GPA
    3.8 unweighted (if HS does not rank)
    Open award details for The Brown Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Rank in top 5% of HS class; interview required by first Tuesday in February; finalists attend March scholarship event

    Worth knowing

    Southwestern's most prestigious/competitive award. Competitive scholarship application deadline is the first Tuesday in December.

  3. The Garey ScholarshipTwo $5,000 stipends (up to $10,000)Not automaticRenewable
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    The Garey Scholarship

    Two $5,000 stipends (up to $10,000)

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

    GPA
    3.7 unweighted (if HS does not rank)
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for The Garey Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Rank in top 10% of HS class; interview required by first Tuesday in February; finalists attend March event. Stipends fund high-impact experiences (study abroad, internship, research, civic engagement)

    Worth knowing

    Not an annual tuition discount — two $5,000 stipends for up to two high-impact experiences during the student's Southwestern career.

  4. Pre-Ministerial ScholarshipUp to $10,000Not automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Pre-Ministerial Scholarship

    Up to $10,000

    Variable or qualified 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.

    Open award details for Pre-Ministerial Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Plan to enter full-time ministry; participate in Southwestern Pre-Ministry Connection; speak with University Chaplain before applying

    Worth knowing

    Separate application (Google form); deadline May 1.

  5. Sarofim Fine Arts ScholarshipsAmounts varyNot automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Sarofim Fine Arts Scholarships

    Amounts vary

    Variable or qualified 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.

    Open award details for Sarofim Fine Arts Scholarships

    Who qualifies

    Audition or portfolio submission required; major in fine arts (music vocal/instrumental, theatre acting/design, or studio art). Interview/audition deadlines vary by program

    Worth knowing

    Awarded by April 1. Requirements/deadlines on the Sarofim School of Fine Arts site.

  6. Music Performance AwardsUp to $2,500Not automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Music Performance Awards

    Up to $2,500

    Variable or qualified 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.

    Open award details for Music Performance Awards

    Who qualifies

    Audition or evaluation required; for students NOT majoring in music who wish to perform in ensembles; includes a private-lessons fee waiver

    Worth knowing

    Distinct from Sarofim major awards — for non-music-majors.

  7. Beneficiary Grant (United Methodist)Amounts varyNot automatic
    Published awardOther selection criteria

    Beneficiary Grant (United Methodist)

    Amounts vary

    Variable or qualified 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.

    Open award details for Beneficiary Grant (United Methodist)

    Who qualifies

    Dependent child of an ordained United Methodist Church minister who is under appointment, retired, or deceased

    Worth knowing

    Separate application (United Methodist Beneficiary Grant Application PDF).

Free Merit Check

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What makes Southwestern different

Southwestern awards holistic general merit up to $36,000/yr automatically from the admission application, plus interview-gated competitive awards (the $45,000 Brown) and audition-based fine-arts scholarships. (DRAFT)

Merit tiers7See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Selection beyond grades and scores

Start with the selection process.

These awards are not recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read each award's selection rules, application steps and dates. Meeting a minimum is not an award offer.

  1. Read the selection rules

    Look for the school's stated criteria and whether an additional application is needed.

  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 Southwestern'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. Although the admission application also serves as the competitive-scholarship application, an interview is REQUIRED to advance (Brown/Garey candidates must interview by the first Tuesday in February and finalists attend a March event). Miss the interview window and you are out of the competition.

  2. The Garey is two $5,000 experiential stipends (up to $10,000 total) for high-impact experiences over your Southwestern career — not a recurring reduction in tuition like the general merit award.

  3. General merit (up to $36,000) is decided by holistic review; Southwestern publishes the grid only as an image and emphasizes essay, rigor, leadership and service, so the exact award is not guaranteed by stats alone.

  4. The Beneficiary Grant requires being the dependent child of an ordained United Methodist minister, and the Pre-Ministerial award requires planning full-time ministry and joining the Pre-Ministry Connection — these are gated, not open to all students.

  5. Sarofim Fine Arts scholarships and the Music Performance Awards both require an audition or portfolio submission; without it you cannot receive those awards regardless of academic merit.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong all-around applicants who present well holistically (academics, essay, leadership, service); top-5%/3.8-GPA students willing to interview compete for the Brown, and fine-arts students who audition can stack Sarofim awards. (DRAFT)

Published yearly cost: Approximately $75,933 for 2025-2026. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Southwestern, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$22,478
$30,001–$48,000$19,096
$48,001–$75,000$28,175
$75,001–$110,000$30,387
$110,001+$36,332
All income levels (average)$29,224

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$53,813
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$29,224

That works out to roughly a 57% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $67,493 (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
73%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
81%
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)
$56,878
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
30%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
49%

Southwestern merit aid FAQ

  • What is the general merit scholarship deadline?

    The General Merit Scholarship deadline is the first Tuesday in February (or until funds remain available). The application for admission is the application for general merit scholarships.

  • What is the competitive scholarship deadline?

    The Competitive Scholarship application deadline is the first Tuesday in December, with an interview deadline of the first Tuesday in February. Finalists participate in a scholarship event in March.

  • How large is the largest merit award?

    The Brown Scholarship, valued at $45,000 per year, is Southwestern's most prestigious competitive award (top 5% of class or 3.8 unweighted GPA, interview required). General merit awards go up to $36,000 annually.

See sources and other schools

How Southwestern compares

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

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

Compare with similar schools

  • Wiley merit aid. Texas private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • SMU merit aid. Texas private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • TCU merit aid. Texas private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Baylor merit aid. Texas private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
The next chapter

Where does Southwestern fit in your plan?

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