Towson awards admission scholarships through a competitive holistic review (amounts vary, no published GPA/test grid), and several of its named awards (Tiger, Black & Gold) are out-of-state-only and shrink or cancel if a student gains in-state residency.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago
The short answer
Is Towson worth a closer look?
Towson may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.
Merit tiers6See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
Free Merit Check
See what Towson's published rules mean for your student. Takes 30 seconds.
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.
Amount not published…Amount not published (award amounts vary; competitive review)
Submit a complete admission application (transcripts, applicable fee waivers) by the Nov 1 Early Action deadline; fall term only. Competitive review of academic performance/rigor, college essay, and extracurriculars. No separate scholarship application.
How to keep it
Provost Scholarship requires a 2.75 cumulative TU GPA for admit terms Fall 2023 and beyond (3.0 for earlier terms). All admission scholarships require full-time fall/spring enrollment, 24 earned units per academic year, and renew for a maximum of 8 consecutive fall/spring semesters. Provost is reduced or canceled if tuition changes from out-of-state to in-state.
Notes
Award amounts vary and are NOT published as a GPA/test grid. The Provost Scholarship is the named renewable freshman award referenced on the conditions page; recipients notified in the TU Admissions Portal.
Out-of-state freshman admission scholarship; competitive review; Nov 1 EA deadline.
How to keep it
2.75 cumulative TU GPA for admit terms Fall 2023 and beyond (3.0 earlier). Students must pay out-of-state tuition rates; the Tiger Scholarship is CANCELED if tuition rate changes from out-of-state to in-state (must email the Scholarship Unit within 7 days of any residency change).
Notes
Reserved for students paying out-of-state rates. Out-of-state-only award that is voided by gaining in-state residency.
Amount not published…Amount not published (award amounts vary; competitive review)
Transfer Achievement Award
Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies+
Who qualifies
Transfer students; competitive review of attempted/earned college credits and cumulative college GPA. Complete admission application by the March 1 Early Action deadline; fall applicants only.
How to keep it
2.75 cumulative TU GPA for admit terms Fall 2023 and beyond (3.0 earlier). Max renewal semesters listed in the scholarship letter.
Notes
Distinct transfer track. Amounts vary; no published grid.
Fall applicants (freshman and transfer) admitted to the Honors College. Must submit a complete fall admission application AND a complete Honors College application by the Early Action deadlines.
How to keep it
3.0 cumulative TU GPA for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors; 3.2 GPA for seniors (90 earned units). Must also meet Honors College good-standing requirements.
Notes
Flat $1,250 award tied to Honors College admission.
Combines academic and financial-need renewal requirements.
How to keep it
2.75 GPA; must submit a FAFSA every year and have a FAFSA Student Aid Index (SAI) ≤ $10,000; FAFSA by TU's priority deadline for priority consideration.
Notes
Hybrid award: requires both a 2.75 GPA and an SAI ≤ $10,000.
These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Towson's published information.
Renewal ruleFreshman Admission Scholarships (incl. Provost Scholarship): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Provost Scholarship requires a 2.75 cumulative TU GPA for admit terms Fall 2023 and beyond (3.0 for earlier terms). All admission scholarships require full-time fall/spring enrollment, 24 earned units per academic year, and renew for a maximum of 8 consecutive fall/spring semesters. Provost is reduced or canceled if tuition changes from out-of-state to in-state. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
Aid capHard $33,782 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Towson cannot push the package past $33,782. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
Straight from the aid office
What Towson's aid office says
Per the Office of Admissions, Towson University, August 2026. How we verify
The deadline that triggers merit review
Is merit automatic, or does something have to be filed?
Automatic — but only behind the November 1 early action deadline. Freshmen who apply by that date are reviewed for merit through Admissions; the office did not say the same for later applicants. At Towson the early action date is effectively the merit deadline.
“Freshman applicants who submit their application by the November 1st early action deadline will be automatically reviewed for a merit scholarship through the Office of Admissions.”
GPA used
Weighted or unweighted GPA in the merit review?
Weighted, specifically — inside a holistic review. Students whose schools weight honors and AP coursework get that benefit at Towson.
“When reviewing students for the merit award, we conduct a holistic review, and specifically we will look at his weighted GPA during that portion of the review.”
Stacking
Can the merit award stack with honors and departmental awards?
Yes — and the office knows of no cap on how many can combine. Towson merit, honors, and departmental awards are additive.
“Our merit award can stack with honors and departmental awards. To my knowledge there is no "cap" on how many they can stack with.”
Renewal requirements
What keeps the award each year?
Full-time enrollment — 12 or more credits in consecutive fall and spring semesters — plus a 3.0 GPA, per this reply.
“To renew the award, students will need to be enrolled as a full time student (taking 12 credits or more) for consecutive semesters (spring and fall). Along with this, he must maintain a 3.0 GPA.”
Worth confirmingTowson’s published scholarship terms set renewal for its admission scholarships (Provost, Tiger, and others) at a 2.75 cumulative TU GPA for students admitted Fall 2023 or later, with 3.0 applying to earlier admits and to Honors College standing. The office’s blanket 3.0 in this reply may reflect the Honors or pre-2023 standard; confirm the number printed in the actual award letter.
Reinstatement appeal
Is there a grace period if the renewal bar is missed?
No grace period was described — the award is revoked when requirements are not met. But there is a path back: an appeal for reinstatement through the scholarship unit inside the Financial Aid Office.
“appeal to have the award reinstated through the University's scholarship unit which is housed within our Financial Aid Office.”
What families often miss
Freshman and transfer admission scholarships are awarded by competitive review and 'Award amounts vary' — there is no automatic stat-based amount.
To be considered you must submit a complete admission application by Nov 1 (freshman) or March 1 (transfer); scholarships are fall-term only.
Tiger and International Scholarships are canceled, and the Provost Scholarship is reduced or canceled, if your tuition rate changes from out-of-state to in-state — and you must email the Scholarship Unit within 7 days of the change.
Total aid from all sources (including private) cannot exceed the COA budget; if it does, TU reduces loans, these awards, and/or other aid.
Awards require full-time (12+ units) every fall/spring and at least 24 earned units per academic year; renewal is reviewed each January and June, with GPA and earned-unit probation rules.
Fall aid offers are only valid if you enroll that fall; deferring cancels them and you may have to compete again as a reapplicant.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Fall applicants who submit a complete application by the Early Action deadline (freshmen Nov 1; transfers March 1) and present strong academics/essay/activities; several larger awards are reserved for out-of-state students.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $33,782 for 2026-2027. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Towson, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Towson, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$6,962
$30,001–$48,000
$12,590
$48,001–$75,000
$16,784
$75,001–$110,000
$22,720
$110,001+
$26,396
All income levels (average)
$17,413
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$11,728
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$29,820
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$17,413
That works out to roughly a 39% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $28,535 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Towson 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
69%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
83%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$18,718 (~$198/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$64,390
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
41%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
45%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Total combined aid from ALL sources (government, TU, and private/outside) cannot exceed the TU Cost of Attendance budget; if it does, TU reduces loans, these awards, and/or other aid. Awards apply only to full-time fall/spring enrollment, are split evenly across fall and spring, and cannot pay the non-refundable $300 enrollment fee.
A COA cap governs total aid including private outside scholarships. Several named awards are out-of-state-only and are reduced/canceled on a shift to in-state tuition. Fall aid is only valid if the student enrolls that fall; deferral cancels the offer.
Submit a complete admission application by the November 1 Early Action deadline (fall term applicants only).
What is the transfer scholarship deadline?
Submit a complete admission application by the March 1 Early Action deadline (fall applicants).
How much is the Honors College Scholarship?
$1,250, for fall applicants (freshman and transfer) admitted to the Honors College who submit both the admission and Honors College applications by the EA deadlines.
Can my total aid exceed the cost of attendance?
No. Combined aid from all sources (government, TU, and private) can't exceed your TU Cost of Attendance budget; TU reduces loans, these awards, and/or other aid if it does.
What happens to my scholarship if I become a Maryland resident?
Out-of-state-only awards (Tiger, International) are canceled and the Provost Scholarship is reduced or canceled; you must notify the Scholarship Unit within 7 days.
See sources and other schools+
How Towson compares
235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Towson is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Towson 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 Towson’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
