How much can I get and what do I need?

Assured awards range from $4,000 to $12,000 per year. The top $12,000 President's Honor Scholarship needs a 1420+ SAT, 32+ ACT, top-25% class rank, or an IB/AP Capstone diploma (any one). Mid tiers ($6,000-$8,000) map to roughly 1160-1410 SAT / 24-31 ACT or top-25% rank, and $4,000-$5,000 tiers reach down to 1060 SAT / 21 ACT or top-35% rank.

What does Texas State offer National Merit Finalists?

A $40,000 National Distinction Scholarship, paid $10,000 per year. To get it you must be a National Merit Finalist and name Texas State as your first college choice with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation on or before May 31 prior to your first semester.

Will an outside scholarship reduce my Texas State merit award?

Most likely not your merit. Texas State caps total aid at your cost of attendance and need, and when it must resolve an over-award it 'will first attempt to resolve the over-award by reducing any loans and then work-study.' So an outside scholarship typically displaces borrowed money before it touches your guaranteed scholarship. The school notifies you by email if any reduction is made.

Texas State· Scholarship Stacking

Stacking Outside Scholarships at Texas State

How Texas State treats outside scholarships when they arrive on top of institutional merit aid.

Verified May 20268 days ago· B2-1

The verdict

Loan-first displacement

At Texas State, an outside scholarship reduces loan offers before touching institutional grants. The strategy follows from that: every $1 in outside scholarship is effectively $1 less in graduation debt.

policies.txst.edu publishes the $42,710 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Stacking policy at Texas State

Texas State caps total aid at your cost of attendance and financial need. If an outside scholarship creates an over-award, the school reduces loans first, then work-study — it does not reach into your assured merit scholarship first. That makes Texas State friendlier to stacking outside money than schools that cut institutional aid first.

Per Texas State's University Scholarship Policy (UPPS 02.05.01), total institutional scholarships and other aid may not exceed the student's financial need and cost of attendance. When an over-award must be resolved, Financial Aid and Scholarships reduces loans first and then work-study before touching other awards, and notifies the student by email. Practically, an outside scholarship is most likely to push out borrowed money, not your guaranteed merit.

Source: https://policies.txst.edu/university-policies/02-05-01.html

Common stacking mistakes

Assuming you need both a top class rank and a high test score to reach the top tier.
The criteria are 'or' conditions, not 'and' conditions. A 1420 SAT or 32 ACT qualifies for the $12,000 President's Honor Scholarship on its own, even if your class rank is outside the top 25%. Likewise, a strong rank can carry a student who tests lower.
National Merit Finalists forgetting the May 31 NMSC designation deadline.
The $40,000 National Distinction Scholarship requires you to select Texas State as your first college of choice with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation on or before May 31 prior to your first semester. Miss that NMSC step and the Finalist award does not attach, even if you enroll.

Stacking questions families ask

How much can I get and what do I need?: Assured awards range from $4,000 to $12,000 per year. The top $12,000 President's Honor Scholarship needs a 1420+ SAT, 32+ ACT, top-25% class rank, or an IB/AP Capstone diploma (any one). Mid tiers ($6,000-$8,000) map to roughly 1160-1410 SAT / 24-31 ACT or top-25% rank, and $4,000-$5,000 tiers reach down to 1060 SAT / 21 ACT or top-35% rank.
What does Texas State offer National Merit Finalists?: A $40,000 National Distinction Scholarship, paid $10,000 per year. To get it you must be a National Merit Finalist and name Texas State as your first college choice with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation on or before May 31 prior to your first semester.
Will an outside scholarship reduce my Texas State merit award?: Most likely not your merit. Texas State caps total aid at your cost of attendance and need, and when it must resolve an over-award it 'will first attempt to resolve the over-award by reducing any loans and then work-study.' So an outside scholarship typically displaces borrowed money before it touches your guaranteed scholarship. The school notifies you by email if any reduction is made.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

A binding written answer beats a verbal hallway promise. This script is keyed to Texas State's published displacement type. Paste it, fill in your name, and send it before you accept an outside award.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear Texas State Financial Aid Office,

I'm a fall applicant reviewing how outside scholarships interact with my institutional aid package. I've read the public policy at https://policies.txst.edu/university-policies/02-05-01.html and the $42,710 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

If I win a $5,000 outside scholarship after the package is built, can you confirm it reduces my Direct Loan offer first, before any institutional grant is touched?

If the loan offer is smaller than the outside award, what is the next aid type that gets reduced (work-study, institutional grant, other)?

A written answer (email is fine) is important because the outside-scholarship awarding bodies want confirmation before disbursing. Thank you for the time.

— [Student name], [Application ID if available]

How Texas State compares across our verified dataset

56 of 203 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Texas State is in a recognizable cluster (56 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
178 of 203 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Texas State is one of them. The cohort minority (25 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
61 of 203 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Texas State 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 Texas State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.