Can I stack scholarships?

Your academic scholarship can be combined with the Test Score Bonus and with Thomas More Trust scholarships. But National Merit Full Tuition, the CIS Workship Full Tuition, and the Governor's Scholars $25,000 cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards.

What's the cost of attendance?

For 2025-26, a traditional undergraduate living on campus has an estimated COA of $57,623 (tuition $41,400 + orientation fee $275 + food/housing $10,500 + indirect costs).

Thomas More (KY)· Scholarship Stacking

Stacking Outside Scholarships at Thomas More (KY)

How Thomas More (KY) treats outside scholarships when they arrive on top of institutional merit aid.

Verified Jul 202615 days ago· COWORK

The verdict

Displacement policy unclear

At Thomas More (KY), an outside scholarship isn't fully spelled out in published policy. The strategy follows from that: assume the worst-case (grant-first) until the aid office confirms otherwise in writing.

thomasmore.edu publishes the $57,623 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Stacking policy at Thomas More (KY)

The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Students who receive aid from any outside sources must contact the Office of Financial Aid at Thomas More University so that we may adjust their financial aid package if needed. Students who neglect to contact the Office of Financial Aid are in danger of compromising or losing their outside scholarships or grants.

Source: https://www.thomasmore.edu/admissions/scholarships-financial-aid/application-process/

Common stacking mistakes

Assuming the full-tuition signature awards stack with your academic scholarship
The National Merit Full Tuition, CIS Workship Full Tuition, and Governor's Scholars $25,000 each explicitly 'Cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards' — you take one of these instead of, not on top of, your academic award.
Overlooking the stackable Test Score Bonus
Unlike the full-tuition guarantees, the $1,000-$4,000 Test Score Bonus is awarded IN ADDITION to your academic scholarship for a 23 ACT / 1130 SAT / 74 CLT or higher — easy free money on top of the base award.
Treating 'full tuition' as a full ride
National Merit and CIS Workship guarantees cover full TUITION only; with a full-COA near $57,623 (on campus, 2025-26) and tuition at $41,400, housing, food, and fees remain.

Stacking questions families ask

Can I stack scholarships?: Your academic scholarship can be combined with the Test Score Bonus and with Thomas More Trust scholarships. But National Merit Full Tuition, the CIS Workship Full Tuition, and the Governor's Scholars $25,000 cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards.
What's the cost of attendance?: For 2025-26, a traditional undergraduate living on campus has an estimated COA of $57,623 (tuition $41,400 + orientation fee $275 + food/housing $10,500 + indirect costs).

Rules that bite at Thomas More (KY)

The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Thomas More (KY)'s own published policy, not generic advice.

displacementNo published displacement order
Thomas More (KY)'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.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

A binding written answer beats a verbal hallway promise. This script is keyed to Thomas More (KY)'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 Thomas More (KY) 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://www.thomasmore.edu/admissions/scholarships-financial-aid/application-process/ and the $57,623 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

The public policy doesn't specify how outside scholarships are treated against institutional merit and need-based aid. Can you confirm in writing whether outside awards reduce: (a) loans first, (b) institutional grant first, or (c) only trigger a reduction when total aid exceeds COA?

If the answer varies by aid type or award size, what's the dollar threshold or category split?

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 Thomas More (KY) compares across our verified dataset

134 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Thomas More (KY) is in a recognizable cluster (134 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
134 of 750 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
Thomas More (KY) is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
669 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Thomas More (KY) is one of them. The cohort minority (81 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 Thomas More (KY)’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.