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University of West Alabama · Alabama

UWA Merit Aid

Verified Jul 202625 days ago· HX-AUTO
Merit tiers17See requirements
Last verifiedJul 2026Analyst HX-AUTO

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Checking merit aid at UWA

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The merit-aid verdict at UWA

UWA offers merit awards for students showing leadership, academic strength, or specialized talents across many fields.

Rules that bite at UWA

The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from UWA's own published policy, not generic advice.

  • capHard $33,399 cost-of-attendance ceiling

    Institutional aid at UWA cannot push the package past $33,399. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

Who this school is for

First-year students, transfer students, international applicants, and those with skills in areas like teaching, the arts, or regional leadership should explore these awards.

Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $33,399 for 2026-2027. Source

Federal cost and outcome data

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

Average annual net price by family income at UWA, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$12,179
$30,001–$48,000$12,523
$48,001–$75,000$14,606
$75,001–$110,000$18,550
All income levels (average)$12,684

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$10,990
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$20,090
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$12,684

That works out to roughly a 44% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $22,758 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

UWA 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
35%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
65%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$24,944 (~$264/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$44,232
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
65%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
71%

Institutional merit aid tiers

Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.

$10,000

Trustee Excellence Award

Application
SAT
1390
ACT
31

Source

$4,000

Directors Award

Application
GPA
3.75
SAT
1200
ACT
25

Source

$4,650

International Talent Scholarship

Application
GPA
3

Source

$2,000

Tiger Achievement Award

Application
GPA
3
SAT
1060
ACT
21

Source

$5,000

Deans Award

Application
SAT
1260
ACT
27

Source

$7,000

Presidents Award

Application
SAT
1330
ACT
29

Source

$3,000

Counselors Award

Application
GPA
3.25
SAT
1130
ACT
23

Source

$1,000

Exceptional International Student Scholarship

Application

Source

$12,000

Trustee Superior Award

Application
SAT
1450
ACT
33

Source

$3,500

Transfer Excellence Award

Application
GPA
3.25

Source

Up to $2,500

Trustee Leadership Awards

Application
GPA
2.5
SAT
990
ACT
19

Source

$3,000

Transfer Academic Award

Application
GPA
3

Source

Amount not published

Black Belt Leadership Program

Application

Source

$2,500

Out Of State Graduate Student Housing Award

ApplicationRenewable
View requirements
Renewal terms

Maintain 3 GPA

Source

Amount not published

Trustee Legacy Scholarship

Application
GPA
2.5
ACT
17

Source

$4,000

Presidential Award

Application
GPA
3.75

Source

$2,500

Valedictorian Salutatorian

Application

Source

Outside scholarship stacking policy

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.

Source

Lesser-known scholarships at UWA

Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityUWA BOSS II scholarship supports students financially and academically to complete their college degree within four years, leading to careers in biological or environmental sciences or graduate or professional schools.

Source

Amount$500–$1,000EligibilityKelly Land Writing Competition provides a $1,000.00 one-time scholarship to the winner and a $500.00 one-time scholarship to the second-place winner.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityJessica Hill Memorial Marine Biology Scholarship supports deserving full-time undergraduate students pursuing a degree in Marine Biology in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityDarryl Hutcheson Memorial scholarship amount varies and is available to students majoring in technology in engineering technology.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityBlack Belt Teacher Corps Teach for Alabama scholarship program is for addressing teacher shortages in Alabama’s Black Belt region, rural Alabama areas and Alabama high-needs public school districts.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityColquitt Language and Literature Memorial scholarship amount varies.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityAlabama Power scholarship is available to full-time UWA junior and senior students majoring in Environmental Science who are legal residents of Alabama.

Source

Amount$2,000EligibilityJulia S. Tutwiler Scholarship Fund awards two $2,000.00 scholarships each year to selected on-campus undergraduate students majoring in education; the scholarship is renewable, but funding is not guaranteed past the year of award.

Source

Amount$500–$1,000EligibilityJames Pate History Essay Competition Scholarship provides a $1,000.00 one-time scholarship to the winner and a $500.00 one-time scholarship to the second-place winner.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityUWA Choir scholarship amount varies and an audition is required.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityUWA Bands scholarship amount varies and an audition is required.

Source

AmountUp to $15,000EligibilityProject INSPIRE 2.0 offers scholarships for UWA math and science majors pursuing K-12 teacher certification, providing up to $15,000 annually.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityUWA Cheerleading offers yearly scholarships.

Source

AmountUp to $6,000EligibilityGlobal Scholars Community Scholarship is available to high school seniors up to $6,000.00 and UWA freshmen up to $3,000.00 for travel for students interested in study abroad.

Source

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityTheatre Scholarship amount varies.

Source

UWA merit aid FAQ

  • What is the deadline for Academic Leadership Trustee Scholarships?

    Students must be accepted to the University of West Alabama and complete the scholarship application by April 15 to be considered for academic or leadership scholarship assistance.

How UWA compares across our verified dataset

  • 241 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    UWA is in a recognizable cluster (241 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 668 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

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

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