Portland auto-awards exactly ONE named merit scholarship ($24,000-$35,000) that can't be combined with another, and the top $35,000 award is reserved for top-2% students from Catholic high schools.
Verified Jun 20263 months ago
The short answer
Is Portland worth a closer look?
Portland is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 6 published awards, and 6 are based on those numbers.
Merit tiers66 based on grades or scores
First-year students with school awards23%First-year students, CDS 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Research checkedJun 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.
$35,000
Archbishop Christie Scholarship
Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
Top 2% GPA at a Catholic high school
SAT
Optional
ACT
Optional
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
Advanced college prep curriculum; automatic consideration with admission; Catholic high school required
How to keep it
Available for up to 8 semesters (fall & spring); no increased award in the final semester if fewer than 8 semesters used; >8 semesters requires appeal to the Director of Financial Aid.
Notes
Top tier — restricted to Catholic high school graduates (a religious-school gate on the highest dollar amount).
Per the Office of Financial Aid, University of Portland, August 2026. How we verify
The award does not grow
Does the dollar amount stay fixed for four years even if tuition rises?
It stays fixed, and the office said so plainly: institutional aid and merit awards do not change to accommodate tuition increases. That makes the award a shrinking share of the bill every year — the four-year cost is not four times year one.
“Institutional Aid and Merit Awards do remain fixed and do not change to accommodate for rises in tuition.”
Outside scholarships
Can outside scholarships be combined with UP aid?
Generally yes, with a caveat worth reading twice: outside scholarships stack with institutional aid and merit awards, but individual awards carry their own eligibility requirements, and a large enough outside scholarship can force a reduction to satisfy them. The office called that rare rather than routine.
“Outside scholarships can be stacked with institutional aid and merit awards. However, some aid and awards have their own eligibility requirements and in rare cases if an outside scholarship is large enough an award may need to be reduced to offset the eligibility requirements of an award.”
Keeping the scholarship
What are the renewal requirements?
Three of them, checked per semester rather than annually: a minimum 2.0 GPA each semester, full-time enrollment, and staying on pace for graduation within the School of the declared major. The pace requirement is the one families rarely plan for — a light term can break it even with the GPA intact.
“Renewal requirements for Merit Awards include maintaining a minimum 2.0 GPA per semester, enrolled as a full-time student as well as maintain pace for graduation in their School of Major.”
Missing a requirement
Is there an appeal if a student misses one of those for a semester?
Yes — the office confirmed an appeal process covering a missed GPA, pace, or enrollment requirement for a semester.
“There is an appeal process if a student misses GPA, Pace or enrollment requirements for a semester.”
How merit is awarded
Is merit automatic with admission, or is a separate application needed?
Automatic — merit is awarded during the admission process. The office declined to give a typical range, noting the review weighs both academics and financial need shown through the FAFSA, so a merit estimate at Portland cannot be built from stats alone.
“Merit awards are awarded during the admission process.”
What families often miss
'Eligible students will only receive one of these named merit scholarships; these scholarships cannot be combined.' You get exactly one, not a stack of them.
The Archbishop Christie ($35,000) requires a top-2% GPA at a CATHOLIC high school, and the Holy Cross tier also requires a Catholic high school. Public/private/homeschool students top out at the $24,000-$26,000 Schulte/Vollum tiers — a religious-school gate on the highest dollars.
Merit is for up to 8 semesters (fall & spring only); 'Students utilizing less than 8 semesters of eligibility will not be eligible for an increased merit scholarship during their last semester,' and needing more than 8 semesters requires an appeal.
When adjusting for outside awards, UP reduces loans and/or work-study FIRST whenever possible — favorable to your gift aid.
The Cost of Attendance page lists figures PER SEMESTER (full-time tuition $30,500/semester = $61,000/year); housing and meal plans are also per-semester and vary by hall/plan.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Strong-GPA applicants — especially Catholic high school graduates, who qualify for the highest tiers (Archbishop Christie $35,000) — who understand only one named scholarship applies and it pays across fall/spring for up to 8 semesters.
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Portland, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Portland, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$20,070
$30,001–$48,000
$16,577
$48,001–$75,000
$23,858
$75,001–$110,000
$27,021
$110,001+
$37,284
All income levels (average)
$28,210
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Total cost of attendance (sticker), AY 2021-22
$73,224
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$58,100
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$28,210
That works out to an average 61% discount off the sticker price above — both figures come from the same federal AY 2021-22 Scorecard report, not a number the school itself published.
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
80%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
88%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$21,370 (~$227/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$82,804
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
30%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
44%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Only ONE named merit scholarship is awarded and they cannot be combined. For OUTSIDE/private scholarships, UP will reduce loans and/or work-study first whenever possible (favorable, loan-first). Awards under $1,000 generally apply to the semester received; larger ones split evenly fall/spring.
Institutional page: 'Eligible students will only receive one of these named merit scholarships; these scholarships cannot be combined.' Outside page: 'We may need to adjust your aid package to comply with federal guidelines. Whenever possible, we will reduce loans and/or work-study first.'
From the Portland Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated figures):
Merit penetrationHow likely is merit aid here?From Portland’s Common Data Set: the share of first-year students who receive institutional merit and the average dollar amount when they do.
23%of admitsget merit
Average award$29,685
At Portland, roughly 1 in 4 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $29,685.
As filed in Portland's CDS Section H2A: of 711 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 166 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $29,685. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 1,021 of 2,915, averaging $26,833. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.
The 2024-2025 column is marked "estimated" in the school's own CDS filing — school-projected figures, not final audited counts.
Receive institutional merit23%First-year students, Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Average merit award$29,685Across recipients, Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated)
Amount~80%+ tuition coverage in junior & senior years (25% UP Grant + PH&S assistance)EligibilityBSN students; sign a 3-year full-time employment contract with Providence Health & Services
Do I have to apply separately for merit scholarships?
No. All admitted first-year and transfer students (domestic and international) are automatically considered; you're notified of the named scholarship and amount with your acceptance letter.
Can I receive more than one named merit scholarship?
No. You will receive only one named merit scholarship; they cannot be combined.
How long does my merit scholarship last?
Up to 8 semesters (fall and spring) of undergraduate study. There is no increased award in a final partial semester, and more than 8 semesters requires an appeal to the Director of Financial Aid.
See sources and other schools+
How Portland compares
145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
Portland 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.
Portland 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 Portland’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
