What does Kettering cost?

For 2026-27, full-time tuition is $26,335/term ($52,670/year). The in-state on-campus total cost of attendance is $67,986 (direct billed costs $63,740).

Kettering· Outside Scholarship Displacement

Will Kettering Reduce Your Outside Scholarship?

When you win a private scholarship, who actually keeps the money: your family, or the school?

Verified Jun 2026today· COWORK

The rule at Kettering

Mixed displacement

Kettering displaces some aid categories but not others. In plain dollar terms, that means one $5,000 outside award might land against loans, work-study, or institutional grant depending on the category, so outcomes vary.

kettering.edu publishes the $67,986 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Source: https://www.kettering.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid-affordability/financial-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships

The math: a $5,000 outside scholarship at Kettering

Setup
Kettering treats different aid types differently. You receive institutional merit + need-based grant + a federal loan offer, then win a $5,000 outside scholarship.
What Kettering does
Some categories reduce first; others stack. Without writing to the aid office, you cannot predict whether the $5,000 cuts loans, work-study, or institutional aid.
Family takeaway
Mixed-displacement schools require a written aid-office answer for each award size. Don't assume the answer matches a peer school.

Schools with the same policy

These schools also use mixed displacement for outside scholarships. The same dollar math above applies at each.

Schools that handle this differently

If Kettering’s policy concerns you, these schools treat outside scholarships under a different rule.

When this rule bites hardest

Assuming the core Merit Scholarship applies to your whole bill
The Kettering Merit Scholarship is applicable to TUITION ONLY — it cannot offset housing, food, or fees — and the dollar amount is not published (set at admission). Budget the rest of the cost of attendance separately.
Going below full-time and expecting the full scholarship
Merit Scholarships are proportionally reduced if you drop below full-time status and your tuition is reduced — and that term still counts as one of your 10 eligible terms.
Assuming an outside scholarship will never affect your Kettering aid
You must report outside scholarships; they 'will not typically reduce your Merit Scholarship,' but 'in certain circumstances this may happen.' VA tuition benefits may also adjust the award.

Displacement questions families ask

What does Kettering cost?: For 2026-27, full-time tuition is $26,335/term ($52,670/year). The in-state on-campus total cost of attendance is $67,986 (direct billed costs $63,740).

Rules that bite at Kettering

Trip wires derived from Kettering's own published policy. These are the things a custom playbook would flag in the first pass.

renewalKettering University Merit Scholarship (core): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Available up to five years (10 undergraduate academic terms). Must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress per the Undergraduate Catalog. Awards are set at admission and NOT increased during enrollment; proportionally reduced if you drop below full-time (and that term still counts toward the 10-term limit). A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
displacementDifferent aid types are displaced differently
Kettering treats loans, work-study, and institutional grant under different rules. The same $5,000 outside award can land against any of them depending on category.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

The displacement rule is only binding when it's in writing. This script asks Kettering's aid office the specific question that matters for mixed displacement.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear Kettering Financial Aid Office,

I'm a fall applicant reviewing how outside scholarships interact with my institutional aid package. I've read the public policy at https://www.kettering.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid-affordability/financial-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships and the $67,986 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

Which institutional aid types are protected from outside-award displacement, and which can be reduced?

Is the displacement order published anywhere internally, even if not on the public site? Families need this to compare schools.

A written answer (email is fine) is important because the outside-scholarship awarding bodies want confirmation before disbursing. Thank you for the time.

— [Student name], [Application ID if available]

How Kettering compares across our verified dataset

31 of 272 verified schools in our dataset use mixed displacement.
Kettering is in the modest minority (31 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
247 of 272 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Kettering is one of them. The cohort minority (25 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 Kettering’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.