Can I stack scholarships?

Your academic scholarship can be combined with the Test Score Bonus and with Thomas More Trust scholarships. But National Merit Full Tuition, the CIS Workship Full Tuition, and the Governor's Scholars $25,000 cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards.

What's the cost of attendance?

For 2025-26, a traditional undergraduate living on campus has an estimated COA of $57,623 (tuition $41,400 + orientation fee $275 + food/housing $10,500 + indirect costs).

Thomas More (KY)· Outside Scholarship Displacement

Will Thomas More (KY) Reduce Your Outside Scholarship?

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

Verified Jul 202615 days ago· COWORK

The rule at Thomas More (KY)

Displacement policy unclear

Thomas More (KY) has no published displacement order. In plain dollar terms, that means the published policy doesn't specify, so the family is guessing without a written aid-office answer.

thomasmore.edu publishes the $57,623 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Source: https://www.thomasmore.edu/admissions/scholarships-financial-aid/application-process/

The math: a $5,000 outside scholarship at Thomas More (KY)

Setup
Thomas More (KY)'s public stacking policy doesn't specify how outside scholarships are treated when added to institutional aid.
What Thomas More (KY) does
The financial-aid office can apply any of the displacement rules: loan-first, grant-first, COA-cap, or mixed. Without a written confirmation, families are guessing.
Family takeaway
Email the aid office with a specific dollar example before chasing private awards. Get the answer in writing so it's binding.

Schools with the same policy

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

Schools that handle this differently

If Thomas More (KY)’s policy concerns you, these schools treat outside scholarships under a different rule.

When this rule bites hardest

Assuming the full-tuition signature awards stack with your academic scholarship
The National Merit Full Tuition, CIS Workship Full Tuition, and Governor's Scholars $25,000 each explicitly 'Cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards' — you take one of these instead of, not on top of, your academic award.
Treating 'full tuition' as a full ride
National Merit and CIS Workship guarantees cover full TUITION only; with a full-COA near $57,623 (on campus, 2025-26) and tuition at $41,400, housing, food, and fees remain.

Displacement questions families ask

Can I stack scholarships?: Your academic scholarship can be combined with the Test Score Bonus and with Thomas More Trust scholarships. But National Merit Full Tuition, the CIS Workship Full Tuition, and the Governor's Scholars $25,000 cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships and awards.
What's the cost of attendance?: For 2025-26, a traditional undergraduate living on campus has an estimated COA of $57,623 (tuition $41,400 + orientation fee $275 + food/housing $10,500 + indirect costs).

Rules that bite at Thomas More (KY)

Trip wires derived from Thomas More (KY)'s own published policy. These are the things a custom playbook would flag in the first pass.

displacementNo published displacement order
Thomas More (KY)'s policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

The displacement rule is only binding when it's in writing. This script asks Thomas More (KY)'s aid office the specific question that matters for displacement policy unclear.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear Thomas More (KY) 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.thomasmore.edu/admissions/scholarships-financial-aid/application-process/ and the $57,623 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

The public policy doesn't specify how outside scholarships are treated against institutional merit and need-based aid. Can you confirm in writing whether outside awards reduce: (a) loans first, (b) institutional grant first, or (c) only trigger a reduction when total aid exceeds COA?

If the answer varies by aid type or award size, what's the dollar threshold or category split?

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 Thomas More (KY) compares across our verified dataset

134 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Thomas More (KY) is in a recognizable cluster (134 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
134 of 750 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
Thomas More (KY) is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
669 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Thomas More (KY) is one of them. The cohort minority (81 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 Thomas More (KY)’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.