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 Jun 2026today· COWORK

The verdict

Mixed displacement

At Thomas More (KY), an outside scholarship is treated category-by-category, where some aid stacks and some displaces. The strategy follows from that: the answer depends on which aid category the outside award lands against, so get the order in writing.

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

Stacking policy at Thomas More (KY)

A student receives one academic scholarship (Presidential/Dean's/Thomas More Award/Parochial Promise). The Test Score Bonus ($1,000-$4,000) is added on top of the academic scholarship, and Thomas More Trust scholarships 'can be combined with your academic scholarship.' However, several signature full-value awards CANNOT be stacked: National Merit Full Tuition, the CIS Workship Full Tuition, and the Governor's Scholars $25,000 are each marked 'Cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards.'

The page does not state how OUTSIDE/private third-party scholarships are treated; the anti-stacking language applies to institutional scholarships/awards.

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

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.

displacementDifferent aid types are displaced differently
Thomas More (KY) treats loans, work-study, and institutional grant under different rules. The same $5,000 outside award can land against any of them depending on category.

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/scholarships/ and the $57,623 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

Which institutional aid types are protected from outside-award displacement, and which can be reduced?

Is the displacement order published anywhere internally, even if not on the public site? Families need this to compare schools.

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

31 of 272 verified schools in our dataset use mixed displacement.
Thomas More (KY) is in the modest minority (31 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
247 of 272 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Thomas More (KY) 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.
75 of 272 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Thomas More (KY) 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 Thomas More (KY)’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.