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University of Maryland, College Park · Maryland

University of Maryland scholarships and merit aid

Maryland's top merit is the full Banneker/Key Scholarship, with President's and Dean's Scholarships below it - the marquee award is highly competitive and covers most of the bill for its recipients.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago

The short answer

Is University of Maryland worth a closer look?

University of Maryland 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

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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 cost of attendance

Banneker Key Full Oncampus 2026 2027 Resident

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Notes

Official Banneker/Key policy snapshot gives 2026-2027 on/off-campus full award table: resident tuition $11,014, fees $1,820, housing $10,290, food $7,180, book allowance $1,250, total $31,554.

Source

Full cost of attendance

Banneker Key Full Oncampus 2026 2027 Oos

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Notes

Official Banneker/Key policy snapshot gives 2026-2027 on/off-campus full award table: non-resident tuition $42,266, fees $1,820, housing $10,290, food $7,180, book allowance $1,250, total $62,806.

Source

$2,000+

Presidents Scholarship

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Notes

Official admissions snapshot states President's Scholarship is a four-year scholarship ranging from $2,000 to $20,000 per year, available to in-state and out-of-state applicants, selected from admission application materials including listed factors, with notification by April 1.

Source

$1,500

Deans Scholarship 1yr

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Notes

Official admissions snapshot states Dean's Scholarship is $1,500 for freshman year or $4,500 for freshman and sophomore years, not renewable, only in-state applicants eligible, selected from admission materials including listed factors, roughly 400 recipients each fall, notified by April 1.

Source

$4,500

Deans Scholarship 2yr

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Notes

Official admissions snapshot states Dean's Scholarship offers $4,500 per year for freshman and sophomore years, is not renewable, only in-state applicants are eligible, selected from admission materials including listed factors, and selected students are notified by April 1.

Source

Full cost of attendance

Banneker Key Full Scholarship

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Notes

Official admissions snapshot identifies Banneker/Key as UMD most prestigious merit scholarship for incoming freshmen, covering up to tuition, mandatory fees, housing/food and book allowance with Honors College admission; it states Honors College admits/early-action applicants are considered with no extra materials, interview invitations by March 1 and final amount by April 1.

Source

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

High-achieving applicants to UMD College Park, students competitive for the full Banneker/Key, and Maryland residents and nonresidents weighing named-scholarship upside against cost.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $32,408 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at University of Maryland, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$2,962
$30,001–$48,000$6,051
$48,001–$75,000$10,273
$75,001–$110,000$18,250
$110,001+$26,691
All income levels (average)$15,678

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$11,809
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$41,186
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$15,678

That works out to roughly a 46% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $29,299 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

University of Maryland 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
89%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
96%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$19,000 (~$201/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$82,860
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
16%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
21%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): An overaward is when the total financial aid funds received by the student exceed their calculated financial need and/or their total cost of attendance. ... Overawards are resolved by reducing and/or canceling the financial aid offered. Undisbursed loans will be reduced before any reduction is made to previously disbursed awards. Overawards typically occur when the Office of Student Financial Aid, at the time of releasing the financial aid offer, is not aware of additional financial assistance a student is receiving. Students are responsible for notifying our office as soon as they are aware of additional aid they will receive. Separately, the school's own award-stacking rules: UMD's five institutional merit scholarships (Banneker/Key, Frederick Douglass, Maryland Transfer, President's, and Dean's) cannot be combined with each other. Students may receive only one. Official Banneker/Key policy snapshot states students may receive only one of Banneker/Key, Frederick Douglass, Maryland Transfer, President's, or Dean's; these cannot be combined with one another but can be combined with other grants and scholarships, subject to the stated cost-of-attendance cap. (per https://financialaid.umd.edu/resources-policies/bannekerkey-scholarship-policy)

Source

University of Maryland merit aid FAQ

  • What is the deadline for Merit Scholarship Application Deadline?

    Students must submit their undergraduate admission application and all required materials by the November 1 early action deadline to be automatically reviewed for merit scholarships. No additional application is required. Spring admit students are not considered for merit scholarships.

  • What is the deadline for Merit Scholarship Notification Deadline?

    Selected students for the President's Scholarship and Dean's Scholarship are notified of their awards by April 1. Banneker/Key Semifinalists receive their interview invitation by March 1 and are notified of their final scholarship amount by April 1.

See sources and other schools

How University of Maryland compares

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

    University of Maryland 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.

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

    University of Maryland 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 University of Maryland’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • Towson merit aid. Maryland public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
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  • Frostburg State merit aid. Maryland public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Salisbury merit aid. Maryland public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

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