California State University, Stanislaus · California
Stanislaus State scholarships and merit aid
Stan State publishes NO automatic merit grid — like most of the low-cost, need-driven CSU system, all of its ~180 institutional scholarships run through one competitive online application (3.0 GPA minimum) with amounts not posted per award; the only large, named merit-style program is the competitive President's Central Valley First-Generation Scholars award (up to $12,500/year).
Verified Jul 20262 months ago
The short answer
Is Stanislaus State worth a closer look?
Stanislaus State may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.
Merit tiers4See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
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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.
Up to $12,500 per year…Up to $12,500 per year ($50,000 over four years for freshmen; $25,000 over two years for transfers)
President's Central Valley First-Generation Scholars Program
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Who qualifies
Students from California's Central Valley who do not have a family history of higher education (first-generation) and have demonstrated academic talent; competitively selected by academic record, application essays and personal interviews. Number of awards depends on donor funding.
How to keep it
Awarded for four years for entering freshmen and two years for transfer students. Renewal conditions not published on the page; all recipients join the University Honors Program.
Notes
Competitive, NOT automatic and NOT a stats grid — a small number of awards each year (three freshmen / three transfers in the cohort reported by the University). Stated to cover full tuition and fees and other expenses when combined with other grants; also includes a laptop and dedicated mentors. Contact University Advancement / the Honors Program; there is no published self-serve application link.
Currently enrolled or planning to enroll the following semester at Stan State; must have submitted a FAFSA; in good academic standing; active contributor to the campus and/or prior school community. Current/incoming ASI members are NOT eligible.
Notes
Leadership/community-service award administered by Associated Students, Inc. (ASI), not the central scholarship application. Open to incoming students who plan to enroll. Application is through ASI.
University Honors Program Scholarships (Honors / Provost's / President's Scholars)
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Who qualifies
Honors Program applicants are automatically CONSIDERED (not automatically awarded). Additional awards require the online Stanislaus State scholarship application. No published GPA/test cutoffs or dollar amounts.
How to keep it
Renewal terms not published on the page.
Notes
Applying to the Honors Program puts you in the pool for Honors, Provost's and President's Scholar awards, but selection is competitive and no dollar figures are posted. Materials deadline is the end of February. This is a consideration mechanism, not a guaranteed-amount merit tier.
Alumni Association Academic Achievement Scholarship (incl. Betty Stokes Johnson award)
Apply separately
GPA
3.50 minimum (Betty Stokes Johnson award)
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
The Betty Stokes Johnson variant is awarded to an incoming first-year or transfer student with a minimum 3.50 GPA; the broader Alumni Association awards reward Warrior spirit through participation in campus activities and professional achievement. Funded by alumni donations.
Notes
One of the few Stan State awards with a published GPA floor for incoming students (3.50 for the Betty Stokes Johnson award), but no dollar amount is disclosed and recipients are competitively selected (five named in the cohort reported by the University).
These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Stanislaus State's published information.
Outside awardsNo published displacement order
Stanislaus State'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 families often miss
Stan State publishes no automatic GPA/test merit grid. Institutional awards are competitive and flow through one online scholarship application; admission alone does not trigger a merit award.
The single online scholarship application opens Nov. 1 and closes March 2. Miss it and you forfeit consideration for the ~180 institutional scholarships for that cycle, regardless of grades.
It is competitively selected (academic record, essays, interviews), limited to Central Valley first-generation students, and the number of awards depends on donor funding — it is not a guaranteed or self-serve award.
Resident tuition + campus fees run about $9,146/yr, but the 2026-27 on-campus cost of attendance is $29,090 (and off-campus $37,744) once housing, food, books, transportation and personal expenses are included.
Outside scholarships must be reported; receiving extra aid can reduce eligibility and, if you end up over-awarded, you must repay the excess (which may be treated as a loan).
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Central Valley and California students drawn to a very low-cost CSU (resident tuition + fees ~$9,146/yr) where most aid is need-based; merit-minded applicants should plan to compete through the single online scholarship application, the Honors Program, or the competitive First-Generation Scholars award rather than expect a guaranteed stats-based award.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $29,090 for 2026-2027. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Stanislaus State, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Stanislaus State, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$3,938
$30,001–$48,000
$4,467
$48,001–$75,000
$5,947
$75,001–$110,000
$9,230
$110,001+
$16,810
All income levels (average)
$6,067
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$8,246
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$20,846
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$6,067
That works out to roughly a 69% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $19,739 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Stanislaus State is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
53%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
82%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$13,540 (~$144/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$63,188
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
63%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
12%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Outside/off-campus scholarships and any other aid must be reported to the Financial Aid & Scholarship Office. If total aid exceeds eligibility (an over-award), the student repays the excess and the repayment may be treated as a loan. The page does not specify a displacement ORDER (i.e., whether loans, work-study, or grants are reduced first).
Federal over-award rules apply (resolve the over-award when total aid exceeds cost of attendance / eligibility), but Stan State does not publish which aid type is adjusted first. Outside scholarships are placed as a placeholder in the package until the check arrives, and receipt of outside aid can reduce eligibility and delay disbursement. Ask the aid office how an outside scholarship is sequenced against grants vs. self-help.
Other Stanislaus State scholarships worth checking
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
AmountVaries — amounts not published per awardEligibilityOne online application each year; minimum GPA of 3.0 unless an individual scholarship states otherwise; the system auto-matches students to merit-, need-, major-, and service-based awards.
Application opens Nov. 1 and closes March 2 (2026-27 priority deadline March 2, 2026). This single application — not an automatic stats grid — is the main route to Stan State institutional merit money.
Does Stan State give automatic merit scholarships for high GPA or test scores?
No. There is no published automatic merit grid. The general scholarship minimum is a 3.0 GPA, but awards are competitive and require the one online scholarship application; some specific awards (e.g., the Betty Stokes Johnson award at 3.50 GPA, Warriors Giving Back at 2.5 GPA) set their own floors.
What is the scholarship deadline?
The online scholarship application opens November 1 and closes March 2 (priority deadline March 2, 2026 for 2026-27). Honors Program scholarship materials are due the end of February. Apply by the March 2 financial-aid priority deadline to maximize aid.
How big are Stan State institutional scholarships?
Most amounts are not published per award. Concrete figures we could source: the President's Central Valley First-Generation Scholars award is up to $12,500/year (up to $50,000 over four years for freshmen) and the ASI Warriors Giving Back award is fifteen $1,000 scholarships. The other ~180 awards vary.
Do outside scholarships stack on top of my aid?
You must report them. They can reduce your eligibility and delay disbursement, and if you become over-awarded you repay the excess (which may be treated as a loan). Stan State does not publish whether grants or self-help are reduced first — ask the aid office.
See sources and other schools+
How Stanislaus State compares
133 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Stanislaus State 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.
Stanislaus State 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.
Stanislaus State 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 Stanislaus State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
