Skip to content

Tufts scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$96,028per year · 2025-2026 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Do not spend time looking for a merit scholarship here. Tufts says its aid is based on financial need.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
4 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

Explore the aid policy

Start with the financial aid office

This research does not list a merit award. Explore the recorded policies below and ask Tufts's financial aid office about current options.

Free Merit Check

Check the rules that could cut this.

The free Merit Check shows which Tufts award your student's numbers reach, and the rules that could change it. About 30 seconds.

Checking merit aid at Tufts

We’ll email you this result and a few short merit-aid pointers. We store score ranges only, never your student’s name. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.

This page covers one school.

Your playbook does this for every school on your list, sorted by what you’d pay.

Ready in under 10 minutes. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get my playbook$79
  • Secure payment through Stripe
  • “it told me what to ask and what the renewal GPA looked like, which I was not going to find on my own”Melissa

What makes Tufts different

Tufts does not offer merit scholarships to undergraduates. All aid is need-based, and Tufts meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for every admitted student regardless of citizenship. The outside-scholarship policy is loan-first — outside dollars reduce loans/work-study before any Tufts grant.

Read our full reasoning

Tufts is need-only. If a family is not in line for need-based aid, Tufts will be paid at sticker. The university explicitly will not match competitor merit offers.

Tufts is a clean need-only school. The university states directly: 'The university does not offer any merit-based scholarships to undergraduate students,' 'we award aid based entirely on need,' and 'Tufts does not offer merit-based aid or match financial aid offers from other institutions.' That last sentence matters — many peer privates will reconsider their offer if a student presents a competing merit package; Tufts does not. About 40% of undergraduates receive a Tufts Grant, which ranges from $1,000 to more than $75,000 and is awarded entirely on demonstrated need (FAFSA + CSS Profile). The two practical paths to a lower Tufts net price are (1) demonstrating financial need on the institutional methodology, or (2) being a UWC graduate eligible for the Davis United World College Scholars Program ($10,000/year need-based grant on top of regular Tufts aid). Outside scholarship layering is unusually favorable — Tufts uses outside dollars to wipe out student loans and work-study before reducing the Tufts Grant.

Merit tiers0See who qualifies
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Start with the aid policy

Find the right kind of aid.

This research does not list a merit award. Check the school's financial aid options and application requirements; an empty award list is not proof that no aid is available.

  1. Read the selection rules

    Look for the school's stated criteria and whether an additional application is needed.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. Know what happens next year

    Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.

The fine print / Three questions to carry forward

Before you count on it.

Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.

Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.

Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.

Take Tufts's decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

Straight from the aid office

What Tufts's aid office says

Per the AS&E Student Services, Tufts University, August 2026. How we verify

Financial need commitment

Does Tufts meet full demonstrated financial need for admitted students?

Tufts is committed to meeting 100% of the demonstrated financial need for all admitted students.

“Tufts is committed to meeting 100% of the demonstrated financial need for all admitted students.”
Applying for financial aid

How does an applicant apply for financial aid?

Applicants seeking financial aid should indicate their interest on the admission application and submit the required financial aid documents.

“Applicants seeking financial aid should indicate their interest on the admission application and submit the required financial aid documents”
Need-based vs. merit aid

Is Tufts aid based on need or merit?

Tufts financial aid and scholarships are based on need, not merit.

“Please note that we meet need, not merit in regard to financial aid and scholarships.”
Annual reassessment of need

Is financial aid determined once or reassessed each year?

Financial aid is determined based on the family's demonstrated need each year.

“Financial aid will be determined based on the demonstrated need of student’s family’s each year.”
Outside scholarships policy

Is there a policy on how outside scholarships affect aid?

There is an Outside Aid policy posted on the Tufts student services website that addresses this.

“You may review the Outside Aid policy listed on this website”

What families often miss

  1. Tufts states explicitly: 'Tufts does not offer merit-based aid or match financial aid offers from other institutions. Requests to match another institution's financial aid offer' are on the published list of appeals that will NOT be considered. The competitive-leverage strategy that works at some peer privates fails categorically at Tufts.

  2. Tufts caps the appeal window: 'Once you pay your deposit, we cannot consider you for any additional institutional aid. Appeals will not be accepted after the deposit deadline.' Missing the initial filing window for need-based aid can lock you out of meaningful Tufts grants for the duration of your enrollment.

  3. Tufts' loan-first policy is unusually friendly. Outside aid first wipes out the Tufts Loan, then Direct Loan and work-study — these are real reductions in self-help that bring down family debt even if the headline Tufts Grant doesn't change. Only when outside aid exceeds total self-help does the grant shrink.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Tufts' no-merit-aid policy — what it actually means for families

Tufts is one of about two dozen U.S. colleges and universities that explicitly do not offer merit scholarships. The school's published rationale is that 'financial means should never stand between talented students and a top-tier education' — so all institutional aid is reserved for demonstrated need. Two important corollaries follow. First, Tufts will not match merit offers from peer schools: 'Tufts does not offer merit-based aid or match financial aid offers from other institutions. Requests to match another institution's financial aid offer' are explicitly not considered in appeals. Second, families with no demonstrated need will pay close to sticker — there is no academic-profile lever that brings the price down. For the right family financial profile, Tufts can be cheaper than a generous-merit private; for the wrong profile, it will be more expensive than even Alabama at full out-of-state.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Need-eligible families (Tufts' financial-aid net price for low- and middle-income students is competitive with the most generous Ivies) and full-pay families committed to Tufts' interdisciplinary academic profile. If your goal is automatic merit dollars, Tufts is structurally off the list — the school does not offer merit aid and explicitly states it will not match offers from competitors.

Cost of attendance$96,028 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$96,028
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Personal

First-year on-campus. Health insurance ($4,693) excluded as waivable.

Tufts cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Tufts, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$11,284
$30,001–$48,000$9,811
$48,001–$75,000$14,923
$75,001–$110,000$23,311
$110,001+$58,570
All income levels (average)$39,998

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$70,704
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$39,998

That works out to roughly a 55% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $88,300 (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
94%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
96%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$16,250 (~$172/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$83,214
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
11%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
20%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Tufts is explicitly need-based only — no merit aid. The published outside-scholarship rule is one of the clearest loan-first policies in higher ed: outside aid first reduces the Tufts Loan, then the Direct Loan and work-study, and only after self-help is exhausted does the Tufts Grant decrease. Family contribution is not reduced by outside aid.

Tufts publishes its outside-aid rule directly: outside scholarships are applied first to reduce or eliminate the student loan and/or work-study components of the financial aid offer. Only when outside aid exceeds the total of loans and work-study does the Tufts Grant get reduced. Federal/state grants are treated as a special case — an unexpected Pell or state grant will reduce the Tufts Grant. Outside aid does NOT normally reduce family contribution. Tuition benefits received from an employer and ROTC benefits are both considered outside aid.

Source

Other Tufts scholarships worth checking

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

AmountNeed-based grant of up to $10,000 per year (on top of regular Tufts financial aid)EligibilityGraduates of United World College Schools (UWC). Generously funded by the Shelby Davis family.

Multi-year award (up to four years), renewable if the student maintains good academic standing. UWC graduates with additional need may apply to Tufts for additional need-based financial aid layered on top.

Source

AmountFederal grant — amount varies by institutionEligibilityUndergraduate students with exceptional financial need. Distributed by Tufts as part of the federal SEOG program.

Source

Tufts merit aid FAQ

  • Does Tufts offer any merit scholarships?

    No. Tufts states directly: 'The university does not offer any merit-based scholarships to undergraduate students.' All institutional aid is awarded based entirely on demonstrated financial need calculated via FAFSA and CSS Profile.

  • Will Tufts match a merit offer from another school?

    No. Tufts publishes the rule: 'Tufts does not offer merit-based aid or match financial aid offers from other institutions.' Requests to match another institution's offer are on the explicit list of appeals that will not be considered.

  • Does Tufts meet 100% of demonstrated financial need?

    Yes — for every admitted undergraduate. Tufts states: 'Tufts proudly meets 100% of the demonstrated financial need of every admitted student, regardless of citizenship.' Demonstrated need is determined by Tufts' analysis of family financial resources via FAFSA and CSS Profile.

  • Will an outside scholarship affect my Tufts award?

    Yes, but in a student-friendly order. Tufts states: 'Outside aid will reduce the loan and/or Work-Study portion of your award. If your outside aid exceeds your total loan and/or Work-Study, your Tufts Grant will then be reduced.' Outside aid does NOT normally reduce family contribution.

  • What's the Davis UWC Scholars Program?

    A $10,000/year need-based grant for graduates of United World College Schools, funded by the Shelby Davis family. Layers on top of regular Tufts financial aid for UWC graduates with additional need. Multi-year award up to four years, renewable with good academic standing.

See sources and other schools

How Tufts compares

  • 145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.

    Tufts is in a recognizable cluster (145 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Tufts’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • Olin College merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Mount Holyoke merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Smith merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • BU Wheelock merit aid. Massachusetts private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Tufts merit aid

The next chapter

Where does Tufts fit in your plan?

You have the school’s rules. Now put them in the context of your student and the rest of your list.

  1. Check your student’s numbers, free
  2. Explore another school
  3. See how the research becomes a plan

Ready to work through your whole list? Get my playbook

Inside the sample

Jordan’s playbook

Same student.
Four schools.
Four very different bills.

An illustrative student profile, with a school order, scholarship research and a to-do list. Open the sample to see how it works.

Open the sample playbook