Vanguard University of Southern California · California

Vanguard University scholarships and merit aid

Faith-centered students with arts, athletic, or leadership gifts find meaningful recognition at this Christian university.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago

The short answer

Is Vanguard University worth a closer look?

Vanguard University may be worth checking, but its awards do not follow a simple grades-and-scores chart. Start with the published scholarships below.

Merit tiers4See who qualifies

Research checkedJul 2026By our research team

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Checking merit aid at Vanguard University

Unweighted GPA

Test score

State

HS graduation year

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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.

Percentage of tuition (see source)

National Merit Finalist

Apply separatelyCan continue

See who qualifies

How to keep it

Maintain 3 GPA

Source

Amount not published

Assemblies Of God Church Grant Program

Apply separately

Source

$1,000

Ministry Grant For Traditional Undergraduates

Apply separatelyCan continue

Source

$1,500

Assemblies Of God Emerging Leader

Apply separatelyCan continue

GPA: 3

See who qualifies and how to keep it

How to keep it

Maintain 3 GPA

Source

See what could change an award

Straight from the aid office

What Vanguard University's aid office says

Per the Financial Aid Office, Vanguard University of Southern California, August 2026. How we verify

Combining merit scholarship with other aid

Can a first-year merit scholarship be combined with other institutional aid and private scholarships?

The merit scholarship can be combined with other institutional aid and private scholarships as long as they don't exceed the student's need or cost of attendance.

“Your merit scholarship can be combined with other institutional aid and private scholarships as long as they don't exceed your need or cost of attendance.”

Admissions question referral

Who should be contacted about the GPA/test cutoff question?

The Admissions Office should be contacted directly for the question about GPA or test cutoffs.

“You can contact the Admissions Office directly at admissions@vanguard.edu in regard to your first question.”

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

Students who bring spiritual commitment alongside artistic talent, athletic drive, or community leadership will find Vanguard's merit awards designed to support the whole person.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $64,780 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

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

Average annual net price by family income at Vanguard University, academic year 2021-22
Family income	Average net price paid
$0–$30,000	$17,225
$30,001–$48,000	$18,462
$48,001–$75,000	$18,976
$75,001–$110,000	$24,117
$110,001+	$27,684
All income levels (average)	$21,241

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23: $41,700
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22: $21,241

That works out to roughly a 60% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $52,665 (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: 57%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort: 70%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers: $22,000 (~$233/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21): $59,541
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22: 52%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22: 59%

How to read these numbers

Net price reflects only first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who received federal Title IV financial aid — not Vanguard University's full student body.
Published tuition is the catalog sticker price for all students, not a Title IV-only figure.
Graduation rate reflects the entire first-time, full-time, degree-seeking cohort — not only students who received Title IV aid.
Retention rate reflects all first-time, full-time, bachelor's-seeking students — not only Title IV aid recipients.
Median debt reflects only completers who took out federal student loans — not Vanguard University's full graduating class, and not limited to first-time, full-time students.
Median earnings reflect Title IV aid recipients who entered college and were working (not enrolled) roughly a decade later — not necessarily the graduating cohort, and not a recent graduate's paycheck.
Pell grant and federal loan participation covers first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students only.
Net price blends need-based aid and merit aid together — it is not a merit-specific estimate. It shows what similar-income families actually paid on average after every kind of aid, not what a strong-stats student could win in merit dollars alone. Treat it as cost context, not a merit forecast — a MeritPlaybook models merit aid specifically for your student’s own stats, which this net-price figure cannot do.

None of this is current-year data — the U.S. Department of Education reports it on a delay, and different figures below come from different reporting years. Net price is an academic year 2021-22 figure. Published tuition reflects the 2022-23 academic year. Graduation rate reflects the Fall 2016 entering, full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking cohort; completion measured within 150% of normal time (~6 years for a bachelor's degree). IPEDS Graduation Rates component (C150_4). Retention reflects the Fall 2021 full-time, first-time, bachelor's-seeking cohort retained into the following fall. IPEDS Fall Enrollment component (RET_FT4). Median debt reflects the NSLDS FY2020 and FY2021 pooled completer cohorts (GRAD_DEBT_MDN, GRAD_DEBT_MDN10YR_SUPP). Median earnings reflect the Treasury-matched cohort entering college in AY2009-10 or AY2010-11, earnings measured 10 years later in calendar years 2020 and 2021, inflation-adjusted to 2022 dollars (MD_EARN_WNE_P10).

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard.

See other scholarships and cost examples

Other Vanguard University scholarships worth checking

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

Music Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityThe Music Scholarship is available to Music majors, with exceptionally talented non-majors also considered; award amounts vary, are determined by the Music department, and require an audition.

Source

Theatre Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityThe Theatre Scholarship is available to students who make significant contributions to Theatre productions sophomore through senior year; award amounts vary, are determined by the Theater department, and require an audition.

Source

Music Theatre Scholarship

AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityThe Music Theatre Scholarship is available to Musical Theatre majors only; award amounts vary, are determined by the Theatre department, and require an audition.

Source

See sources and other schools

How Vanguard University compares

665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Vanguard University 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.
132 of 749 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Vanguard University is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.

Sources used on this page

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

Cost of attendanceVanguard University cost-of-attendance worksheet
Merit tiersNational Merit Finalist

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Keep exploring Vanguard University merit aid

Vanguard University four-year renewal rules. GPA floors, credit-hour pace, and the renewal cliffs that knock awards out by sophomore year.