Comparison · Merit aid head-to-head

Arkansas vs LSU Merit Aid

Side-by-side merit aid comparison: automatic award tiers, stacking rules, renewal conditions, and what each school actually costs after merit aid for Arkansas and LSU.

Verified May 20265 days ago· MP

Outside scholarship treatment

These schools sit in different displacement categories. That single rule difference can swing what the family actually pays by thousands of dollars when an outside award arrives — the per-school breakdown below shows where each policy bites.

Arkansas

Cost-of-attendance cap

Arkansas applies a Cost of Attendance Overaward Policy: combined institutional aid + state aid + outside scholarships cannot exceed the COA. Awards are reduced (cancelled or reduced) until the overaward is eliminated. The NRTA is treated as a tuition reduction (not a cash scholarship), which means it does not displace need-based aid the way a cash scholarship would.

Arkansas only cuts institutional aid when the COA ceiling is hit. That ceiling means stacking is upside until total aid approaches COA.

admissions.uark.edu publishes the $53,744 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

https://admissions.uark.edu/cost_and_aid/

LSU

Displacement policy unclear

LSU does not publish a dedicated stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy on lsu.edu. Total aid from all sources cannot exceed cost of attendance (federal requirement). TOPS (state-funded) stacks with institutional aid subject to the COA cap.

LSU has an ambiguous displacement order. Without a written aid-office answer, families are estimating.

lsu.edu publishes the $36,844 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

https://www.lsu.edu/financialaid/policies/index.php

Automatic merit on published stats

Tiers that award automatically on the student’s GPA + test combination — no separate scholarship application required.

Arkansas

New Arkansan NRTA — 90% Tier (9 eligible states)
Pays 90% of the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition (~$18,948/year, $75,792 over four years at the 2025-26 rates)
3.80+ cumulative high school GPA on a 4.0 scale GPA
New Arkansan NRTA — 80% Tier (9 eligible states)
Pays 80% of the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition (~$16,843/year, $67,372 over four years)
3.60-3.79 cumulative high school GPA GPA
New Arkansan NRTA — 70% Tier (9 eligible states)
Pays 70% of the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition (~$14,738/year, $58,952 over four years)
3.20-3.59 cumulative high school GPA GPA
Extended States NRTA — 80% Tier
Pays 80% of the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition (~$16,843/year)
3.60+ cumulative high school GPA GPA
Extended States NRTA — 50% Tier
Pays 50% of the difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition (~$10,527/year)
3.20-3.59 cumulative high school GPA GPA
Chancellor's Merit Scholarship (National Merit Finalists)
$12,000/year ($48,000 over four years)

LSU

Louisiana Tiger Legacy Scholarship
ACT 24-25: $500/year; ACT 26-27: $750/year; ACT 28+: $1,000/year
24+ ACT

Four-year renewal rules

A four-year award is only as good as its renewal rules. A 3.0 cumulative-GPA floor is forgiving; a 3.5 major-GPA floor with full-time enrollment can quietly knock the award out by sophomore year.

Arkansas

10 renewable awards · 9 distinct renewal rules

24+ credit hours/year and 2.75+ cumulative GPA at U of A.
Applies to 2 awards
Show award names
- New Arkansan NRTA — 80% Tier (9 eligible states)
- New Arkansan NRTA — 70% Tier (9 eligible states)
Complete 24 or more credit hours per academic year and maintain a 2.75+ cumulative GPA. The NRTA Renewal page details specific term-by-term hour requirements. Renewable for 4 years (5 years for Architecture students).
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- New Arkansan NRTA — 90% Tier (9 eligible states)
Same renewal terms as the main NRTA: 24+ hours/year, 2.75+ GPA.
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Extended States NRTA — 80% Tier
24+ hours/year, 2.75+ GPA.
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Extended States NRTA — 50% Tier
Cumulative 3.00 GPA and 27 hours earned by the end of the second semester of each academic year, and 30 hours earned in each subsequent academic year. Renewable for 4 years or 8 semesters total. For programs with degree plans longer than 4 years, extra semester(s) of funding may be available.
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Bodenhamer Fellowship
Cumulative 3.00 GPA and 27 hours earned by the end of the second semester of each academic year, and 30 hours earned in each subsequent academic year. Renewable for 4 years or 8 semesters total.
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Sturgis Fellowship
Cumulative 2.75 GPA and 30 hours earned by the end of the second semester of each award year. 4 years or 8 semesters total (5 years for Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Landscape Architecture).
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Chancellor's Merit Scholarship (National Merit Finalists)
Same renewal as Chancellor's Merit: 2.75 GPA + 30 hours/year. Renewable 4 years (5 years for Architecture).
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Chancellor's Scholarship
Cumulative 3.00 GPA, 27 hours by end of Year 1, 30 hours/year subsequently. Renewable 4 years (5 for Architecture).
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Honors College Fellowship

LSU

4 renewable awards · 3 distinct renewal rules

Renewable for four years. Requires 3.0 cumulative GPA and 24 credit hours per year.
Applies to 2 awards
Show award names
- Stamps Scholarship
- President's Alumni Scholars Award
All require 3.0 cumulative GPA and 24 credit hours per year, checked at end of spring semester. One academic year of probation to restore GPA if it drops below 3.0.
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- University Scholarships (multiple named awards)
Requires 3.0 cumulative GPA and 24 credit hours per year. Three sub-tiers: Excellence, Superior, and Merit.
Applies to 1 award
Show award names
- Louisiana Tiger Legacy Scholarship

Cohort facts across our verified dataset

How each school’s policy compares to the rest of the verified 78-school dataset. Same-category schools still differ in dollar terms; these facts surface where each school sits before you choose.

Arkansas

30 of 78 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Arkansas is in a recognizable cluster — 30 schools share this category — useful framing when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
70 of 78 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Arkansas is one of them. The cohort minority (8 schools) only awards one-year scholarships — meaning the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
38 of 78 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Arkansas 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.

LSU

9 of 78 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
LSU is in the modest minority — 9 schools share this category — useful framing when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
9 of 78 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
LSU is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
70 of 78 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
LSU is one of them. The cohort minority (8 schools) only awards one-year scholarships — meaning 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 each school’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set across both schools.