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Trinity University · Texas

Trinity (TX) scholarships and merit aid

San Antonio liberal arts and sciences university with an explicit two-path outside-scholarship policy (full stacking up to COA for non-need families; need-cap with loan-first reduction for need-based families) plus a deep automatic merit ladder topped by 20 full-tuition Trinity Tower awards.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago· CA-1

The short answer

Is Trinity (TX) worth a closer look?

Trinity (TX) is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 7 published awards, and 5 are based on those numbers.

Merit tiers75 based on grades or scores
First-year students with school awards50%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025
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.

Full tuition…Full tuition (offered to up to 20 of Trinity's top applicants per year)

Trinity Tower Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

Top tier — recipients selected through Trinity Tower Scholars Day. November 1 application deadline (well ahead of the merit-ladder February 1).

How to keep it

Renewable annually for up to 8 semesters subject to satisfactory academic progress and full-time enrollment each semester.

Notes

Selected Murchison recipients are invited to compete on Tower Day or Semmes Day. The Tower Scholarship is the practical 'full tuition' end of Trinity's merit ladder.

Source

Full tuition

Semmes Distinguished Scholars in Science Scholarship

Apply separatelyCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

STEM-focused. Separate application required. Deadline November 6.

Notes

Parallel full-tuition track for prospective STEM majors. Recipients are selected during Semmes Scholars Day.

Source

$18,000 – $30,000 annually

Trustees' Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
Minimum recalculated core GPA of 3.5 (unweighted 4.0 scale) expected to be competitive
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

No separate application. Applied via Early Decision, Early Action, or Regular Decision. Deadline February 1. Test scores optional.

How to keep it

Renewable annually for up to 8 semesters; satisfactory academic progress reviewed at end of each academic year; full-time enrollment required.

Source

$18,000 – $30,000 annually

Murchison Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
Minimum recalculated core GPA of 3.5 expected
See who qualifies and how to keep it
Who qualifies

No separate application. February 1 deadline. Test scores optional. Select Murchison recipients are invited to compete for up to 20 full-tuition scholarships during Trinity Tower Scholars Day or Semmes Scholars Day.

How to keep it

Renewable annually for up to 8 semesters subject to satisfactory academic progress.

Notes

Same dollar band as Trustees' — Murchison is the parallel automatic merit award, with the Tower Day invitation as the path to full tuition.

Source

Merit award…Merit award; Trinity publishes the award type and automatic-consideration status but not a dollar range on the public scholarships page.

President's Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

No separate application. February 1 deadline.

Source

Merit award…Merit award; Trinity does not publish a specific dollar amount publicly.

Dean's Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

No separate application. February 1 deadline.

Source

Merit award for entering students w…Merit award for entering students with distinguished records; amount not published.

Trinity Scholarship

Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies
Who qualifies

No separate application. February 1 deadline.

Source

See what could change an award

Rules that could change the answer

These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Trinity (TX)'s published information.

  • renewalTrinity Tower Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

    Renewable annually for up to 8 semesters subject to satisfactory academic progress and full-time enrollment each semester. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

  • displacementDifferent aid types are displaced differently

    Trinity (TX) 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.

Straight from the aid office

What Trinity (TX)'s aid office told us in writing

Answers provided in writing by the Office of Admissions, Trinity University, August 5, 2026. Quotes are verbatim from the office's email reply.

GPA used for scholarships

Is the GPA weighted or unweighted?

Neither number off the transcript. Trinity recalculates a core GPA on an unweighted 4.0 scale, so a high weighted GPA built on course volume does not carry over — the grades in core academic courses do.

“We will recalculate the student's core GPA on a 4.0 unweighted scale”
How scholarships are decided

Is it a full-file review or mostly stats?

A read of the transcript rather than a formula: grades in core academic courses, the rigor of the curriculum, and test scores only if the student submits them.

“Scholarships are determined based on grades in core academic courses, amount of rigor in the student's curriculum and then testing if the student chooses to submit them.”
Keeping the scholarship

What are the renewal requirements, and for how long?

Up to 8 semesters, holding full-time enrollment at 12 hours or more and a 2.0 GPA. The office volunteered its posture on that floor: it is not looking for reasons to pull awards back.

“are renewable for up to 8 semesters so long he remains enrolled full time (12 hrs or more) and maintains a 2.0 GPA (C average- we're not in the business of trying to take money away from students).”
Separate applications

Does a student have to apply separately for scholarships?

Not for the main ones — the primary scholarships are automatic consideration with nothing extra required. The office noted a separate handful of specialized merit scholarships that do take their own application, listed on Trinity's scholarships page.

“Our primary scholarships are automatic consideration and don't require anything extra”
Order of adjustment for outside awards

When outside money arrives, does it reduce loans first or grant aid first?

Loans first, but hold this one loosely. Admissions answered it in a follow-up on August 10, 2026 and framed it explicitly as her understanding rather than confirmed policy, pointing to student financial services to verify. That is the honest state of the answer: a favorable indication from the admissions side, not a written commitment from the office that actually packages the aid. Confirm it with Student Financial Services before turning down an outside scholarship on the strength of it.

“it is my understanding that they adjust loans prior to adjusting grants when external funds enter the equation.”

Worth confirmingAnswered by Admissions, not by Student Financial Services, and given as an understanding rather than policy. Trinity has not confirmed the adjustment order in writing from the office that sets it.

What families often miss

  1. Trinity's full-tuition Tower competition uses a November 1 application deadline — earlier than the February 1 deadline for the standard automatic merit ladder. Families who discover Trinity during regular-decision season have already missed the Tower opportunity unless they apply Early Decision or Early Action.

  2. If you don't demonstrate financial need, the outside award stacks up to cost of attendance. If you do, Trinity will cap the total at your need amount — typically by cutting work-study and loans first, but with the option to cut gift aid. Run the math against your CSS Profile result before treating the outside dollars as cumulative.

  3. The minimum 3.5 GPA gets you 'competitive for these awards' — not automatic at the top. Trinity says awards are determined based on the full application including high school transcript rigor. The actual placement within the $18,000–$30,000 band is holistic, not formulaic.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Trinity Tower Scholarship — up to 20 full-tuition awards per year

The Trinity Tower Scholarship is the headline merit award: full tuition, offered to up to 20 of Trinity's strongest applicants per entering class. The deadline is November 1 — months before Trinity's regular February 1 merit deadline — which is the trap families fall into when they discover Trinity in January. The Murchison automatic ($18,000-$30,000) is the path most strong applicants travel; select Murchison recipients are then invited to compete on Trinity Tower Scholars Day or Semmes Scholars Day for the full-tuition prize. The Tower is renewable for up to 8 semesters subject to satisfactory academic progress and full-time enrollment.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students who want a small Southern private with a clear, decision-grade aid playbook: a published $18,000–$30,000 automatic-merit range with a 3.5 minimum GPA, a separate competitive route to a full-tuition Trinity Tower Scholarship for top applicants, and a transparent rule about whether outside scholarships will add to or displace institutional aid.

Cost of attendance$74,298 for 2025-2026Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$74,298
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Personal

Source groups personal and transportation as a single line item. 2025-26 used to match input year; official also publishes 2026-27 ($77,846).

Trinity (TX) cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Trinity (TX), what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at Trinity (TX), academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$10,356
$30,001–$48,000$13,260
$48,001–$75,000$14,305
$75,001–$110,000$22,134
$110,001+$34,549
All income levels (average)$23,464

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$53,676
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$23,464

That works out to roughly a 66% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $68,224 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
84%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
93%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$22,954 (~$243/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$71,668
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
20%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
52%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Trinity publishes one of the clearest external-scholarship policies in higher ed: non-need families can stack outside scholarships on top of merit up to cost of attendance; need-based families have outside awards capped at financial need, with self-help (loans and work-study) reduced before any institutional gift aid.

Trinity's external-resources policy splits behavior by financial need. For students without demonstrated need, outside awards add to merit up to total cost of attendance with no displacement. For students with demonstrated need, the combined funding cap is the financial need amount — and in that case Trinity generally reduces work-study and need-based loans first before touching federal, state, or institutional gift aid. Students must report all external funds regardless of amount.

Source

More school data

From the Trinity (TX) Common Data Set 2024-2025:

Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Trinity (TX)’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
50%of admitsget merit
Average award$27,801Covers ~37% of $74,298 cost of attendance

At Trinity (TX), 50% of first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $27,801 — about 37% of total cost.

As filed in Trinity (TX)'s CDS Section H2A: of 650 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 327 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $27,801. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 1,424 of 2,479, averaging $26,592. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.

Receive institutional merit50%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025
Average merit award$27,801Across recipients, CDS 2024-2025

Source: Common Data Set 2024-2025 (verified 2026-07-23)

Other Trinity (TX) scholarships worth checking

These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.

AmountNeed-based partnership program with San Antonio ISDEligibilityAll students from San Antonio ISD are automatically considered. No additional application required.

Trinity and SAISD founded TCI specifically to make a Trinity education financially accessible to SAISD students — a publicly-named local pipeline that most national families do not know exists.

Source

AmountVaries; awarded through national Tuition Exchange and Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) reciprocal programsEligibilityDependent children of employees at participating institutions (e.g., Rice). Apply by February 1.

Source

Trinity (TX) merit aid FAQ

  • Will outside scholarships reduce my Trinity aid?

    It depends on whether you demonstrate financial need. Trinity states: 'If you do not demonstrate financial need, an outside award may be added to any merit awards up to Trinity's cost of attendance. If you do demonstrate financial need, an outside award when combined with other sources of funding, cannot exceed your financial need.' For need-based families, work-study and loans are reduced first.

  • What's the minimum GPA for the Trustees' or Murchison Scholarship?

    Trinity expects 'a minimum recalculated core GPA of 3.5' to be competitive. GPAs are recalculated on an unweighted 4.0 scale using the official high school transcript and curriculum rigor. Test scores are optional.

  • What's the deadline?

    February 1 for the standard automatic merit ladder (Trustees', Murchison, President's, Dean's, Trinity scholarships). November 1 for the Trinity Tower full-tuition competition. November 6 for the Semmes Distinguished Scholars in Science full-tuition track. Transfer scholarship deadline is April 1.

  • Can I keep my merit scholarship abroad or in the summer?

    Trinity merit scholarships 'are applied toward fall and spring charges, and are not available for summer study.' Academic progress is reviewed at the end of each academic year. Recipients must be enrolled full-time each semester to maintain the award.

  • How is the Trinity Tower Scholarship different from Murchison or Trustees'?

    Tower and Semmes are full-tuition awards selected through invitation-only Scholars Day competitions with November deadlines. Trustees' and Murchison are automatic on admission with February 1 deadlines and award $18,000-$30,000 per year. Select Murchison recipients are invited to compete for Tower or Semmes.

See sources and other schools

How Trinity (TX) compares

  • 32 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use mixed displacement.

    Trinity (TX) is in the small minority (32 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 667 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Trinity (TX) is one of them. The cohort minority (82 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 Trinity (TX)’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

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