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Dayton scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$72,365per year · 2025-2026 · On-campus
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Dayton awards automatic merit on admission. Dayton does not publish a GPA or test chart, so you cannot self-calculate the dollars.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jul 2026
3 school sources to explore

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

The award collection

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.

Where does your student land?

  1. Father Chaminade Scholarship$17,000–$19,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Father Chaminade Scholarship

    $17,000–$19,000 per year

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Father Chaminade Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Awarded automatically as part of the admission decision; based on GPA, test scores (if submitted), and academic rigor. No separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for all four years (eight semesters) as long as academic requirements are met each year.

  2. Deans' Merit Scholarship$21,000–$23,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Deans' Merit Scholarship

    $21,000–$23,000 per year

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Deans' Merit Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Awarded automatically as part of the admission decision. GPA and test-score thresholds are not published; Dayton evaluates each application holistically against the same merit criteria for every tier.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for eight semesters as long as academic requirements are met each year.

  3. President's Merit Scholarship$26,000–$29,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    President's Merit Scholarship

    $26,000–$29,000 per year

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for President's Merit Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Awarded automatically as part of the admission decision. Third of four published merit tiers.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for eight semesters as long as academic requirements are met each year.

  4. Trustees' Merit Scholarship$31,000–$33,000 per yearAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Trustees' Merit Scholarship

    $31,000–$33,000 per year

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    Start with the award’s published eligibility.

    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Trustees' Merit Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    Top published merit tier. Awarded automatically as part of the admission decision to the highest-credentialed applicants; no separate application.

    How to keep it

    Renewable for eight semesters as long as academic requirements are met each year. At the top end this covers roughly 64% of 2025-26 tuition.

Lights up against Dayton's published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office. Award terms and residency rules change; some awards differ for in-state and out-of-state students. Always confirm at the school’s source page.

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The fine print

Outside awardsNo published displacement order

Dayton'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.

What makes Dayton different

Marianist Catholic private with a fully automatic four-tier merit ladder running from roughly $17k to $33k per year, paired with a net-tuition guarantee that locks each year's discounted tuition at admission.

Merit tiers44 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

Published academic criteria

Start with the thresholds.

These awards are recorded as automatic on academic criteria. Match the published grades and scores, then check residency, entering year and every additional condition.

  1. Match the published criteria

    Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.

  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 Dayton'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 Dayton's aid office says

Per UD Admission, University of Dayton, August 2026. How we verify

The award is locked at admission

Does the award stay the same all four years even if tuition goes up?

It is locked and does not increase. The office confirmed merit is fixed at the time of admission, while need-based aid is recalculated year by year and can pick up additional grants or university funds as tuition rises. Only the need-based half of the package can respond to a cost increase.

“Yes, we will lock merit scholarships at the time of admission. So, merit scholarships do not increase. However, need-based aid is determined on a year-by-year basis. There may be additional grants or university funds available year-to-year, even if tuition increases.”
Outside scholarships

Does an outside scholarship reduce what Dayton already awarded?

No. The office stated it will not decrease scholarships or grants already awarded, and that students stack outside scholarships on top of the package.

“No, we will not decrease any scholarships or grants awarded. We let students stack outside scholarships on their award package.”
How merit is decided

What goes into the merit decision?

A holistic read — GPA, courses taken, recommendations, extracurriculars, and the essay, with test scores added to scholarship review only if the student submits them. There is no stat-to-dollar grid to reverse-engineer.

“We do a holistic review of students. So, we review their GPA, classes taken, letters of recommendation, extracurricular involvement, and the essay. If students choose to send their test scores, those also will be used in scholarship review.”
Where an applicant stands

What is the applicant profile at Dayton?

The office gave a middle 50% of 3.4–3.8 weighted GPA and 1140–1290 on test scores. Read those as the applicant pool, not as scholarship thresholds — they say where a student sits in the class, not what the award will be.

“Our middle 50% GPA range for students applying to UD is between 3.4-3.8 weighted GPA. As for test scores, the middle 50% is between 1140-1290.”
Applying test-optional

How does going test-optional change merit consideration?

It shifts the weight onto GPA. The office noted that withholding scores puts more emphasis on the transcript for merit decisions — which cuts both ways depending on whether the score or the GPA is the stronger half of the file.

“By going test optional, more emphasis is carried on the student's GPA when determining merit scholarships.”
Keeping the aid

What does a student have to do each year to keep the award?

Stay full-time at 12–18 semester hours and hold a 2.50 cumulative college GPA. The office framed that as the requirement for maintaining all financial aid, not merit alone.

“To maintain all financial aid, students must maintain full-time academic status (12-18 semester hours) and maintain academic eligibility. This is a 2.50 cumulative collegiate GPA.”

What families often miss

  1. Dayton publishes the four-tier dollar ranges but does not publish a stat-banded ladder. The tier you receive is decided holistically inside the admission review against GPA, test scores (if submitted), and academic rigor. Do not assume 'X test score = Trustees' tier' — there is no published threshold.

  2. The merit scholarship is the dollar amount of the award. The net-tuition guarantee is a separate four-year promise that whatever discounted tuition you are offered at admission will not increase across your eight semesters. Housing, meals, and fees are not locked — only tuition is.

  3. Dayton's public site documents only the reporting requirement (notify via the Porches portal) and is silent on whether outside scholarships displace institutional merit aid. Top-tier merit awards can already cover a large share of tuition, so an outside award may displace institutional aid rather than add to it. Ask the office directly before counting on the dollars.

See award cutoffs and special programs

Trustees' Merit Scholarship — Dayton's top automatic tier

The Trustees' Merit Scholarship is Dayton's highest published merit tier at $31,000 to $33,000 per year, renewable for all four years (eight semesters) as long as the recipient maintains academic standing. Unlike many top-tier private-school scholarships at peer institutions, the Trustees' award is fully automatic on the admission decision — there is no separate application, no on-campus interview weekend, and no essay competition. Dayton's published criteria are GPA, test scores (if submitted), and academic rigor. At the $33,000 top of the range, this covers roughly 64% of 2025-26 published tuition ($50,610), but leaves housing, meals, and fees (about $21,755 more) for the family. Combined with Dayton's net-tuition guarantee, the discounted tuition that the Trustees' award produces is locked at admission for all four years.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Strong students looking for a mid-sized Catholic university where merit aid is awarded automatically at admission and the offered tuition price will not change year over year. Particularly attractive to out-of-state families who do not want to chase competitive scholarship applications.

Cost of attendance$72,365 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$72,365
  • Tuition & fees
  • Housing & food
  • Books
  • Travel
  • Personal
  • Loan fees

Tuition figure includes a $50 professional/license/certificate fee allowance. 2025-26 used to match input year.

Dayton cost-of-attendance source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Dayton, academic year 2021-22
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$21,736
$30,001–$48,000$21,595
$48,001–$75,000$24,155
$75,001–$110,000$26,871
$110,001+$33,731
All income levels (average)$29,533

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$49,140
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$29,533

That works out to roughly a 55% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $65,881 (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
80%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
89%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$23,250 (~$246/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$75,537
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
17%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
49%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Dayton requires students to report outside scholarships through the Porches student portal but does not publish a displacement formula. Families cannot tell from the public site whether an outside award will offset institutional merit aid, loans, or work-study — call Flyer Student Services before banking on stacking on top of a Trustees' or President's award.

The University of Dayton's public 'External Scholarships' resource page covers how to find and vet third-party awards and tells students to notify the university via the Porches portal, but it does not state whether outside scholarships reduce institutional aid, reduce loans first, or only fill unmet need. The displacement rule is decided case-by-case by Flyer Student Services (fss@udayton.edu, 937-229-4141).

Source

Dayton merit aid FAQ

  • Do I have to apply separately for Dayton's merit scholarships?

    No. Dayton says explicitly that 'you will automatically be considered for a merit scholarship as part of the admission process.' All four tiers — Chaminade, Deans', President's, and Trustees' — are awarded inside the admission decision based on GPA, test scores (if submitted), and academic rigor.

  • What GPA or ACT/SAT score do I need for the Trustees' Merit Scholarship?

    Dayton does not publish stat cutoffs. The merit page lists the four tiers and their dollar ranges, but only says that awards are 'based on a variety of criteria including GPA, test scores (if submitted) and academic rigor.' The decision is holistic, not formulaic.

  • Is the merit scholarship locked for four years?

    Yes — both at the award level and at the tuition level. Dayton's merit scholarships are 'renewable for all four years, or eight semesters,' as long as you 'meet academic requirements each year,' and the net tuition produced by your award is guaranteed not to increase. Housing, food, and fees are not part of that guarantee.

  • Will an outside scholarship reduce my Dayton merit award?

    Dayton requires that you report outside scholarships through the Porches portal, but the public site does not publish a displacement rule. That means the effect of an outside award on your institutional aid, loans, or work-study is decided case-by-case by Flyer Student Services. Call (937-229-4141) or email fss@udayton.edu before counting on stacking.

  • What's the actual published 2025-26 price?

    Tuition is $50,610. Total cost of attendance for a residential first-year student is $72,365. Tuition is the same for all majors and all states. For 2026-27, Dayton lists tuition at $51,910 and COA at $74,940.

See sources and other schools

How Dayton compares

  • 133 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.

    Dayton is in a recognizable cluster (133 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 133 of 749 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.

    Dayton is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.

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

    Dayton 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 Dayton’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

Keep exploring Dayton merit aid

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