If you're in the hunt for merit scholarships, be sure to stay on top of explicit deadlines a school on your list might have.
In some cases, like Boston University and USC, it's a hard deadline that you have to meet in order for you to be considered at all. In others, like Indiana University and many other public institutions, it's a "priority" deadline that maximizes your chances of merit aid before the money runs out. Either way, merit aid continues to be an excellent way for good students to defray the cost of an education.
We've compiled a sampling of schools in our coverage universe with explicit deadlines, along with some stats to help you gauge the size and breadth of the institution's merit offerings. We've also included links to each school's scholarship page for easy access to the details.
Most of these schools automatically consider you for merit scholarships without the need for an additional application.
College Kickstart subscribers: full listings of 2026-27 explicit merit scholarship deadlines and schools with generous merit aid are already incorporated into the product.
Class of 2031 Merit Scholarship Deadlines
College Kickstart LLC
| Institution | Merit Deadline | Awarded Merit | Average Award | Link |
|---|
| Agnes Scott College |
1/15 |
15% |
$33,763 |
|
| Arizona State University |
11/1 |
34% |
$9,393 |
|
| Auburn University |
12/1 |
31% |
$8,461 |
|
| Austin College |
2/1 |
20% |
$21,660 |
|
| Baylor University |
11/1 |
46% |
$18,646 |
|
| Boston College |
11/1 |
3% |
$16,927 |
|
| Boston University |
12/1 |
4% |
$35,604 |
|
| Claremont McKenna College |
12/1 |
7% |
$17,427 |
|
| College of Charleston |
11/1 |
33% |
$13,185 |
|
| Emory University |
11/15 |
7% |
$29,319 |
|
| Florida International University |
11/1 (resident)
12/3 (non-resident) |
5% |
$2,044 |
|
| Florida State University |
12/1 |
17% |
$4,380 |
|
| Furman University |
11/1 |
51% |
$33,660 |
|
| Grinnell College |
12/1 |
26% |
$21,305 |
|
| Hillsdale College |
11/15 |
50% |
$20,540 |
|
| Indiana University |
11/1 |
38% |
$6,640 |
|
| Louisiana State University |
12/1 |
20% |
$7,450 |
|
| Loyola University Chicago |
12/1 |
37% |
$24,260 |
|
| Marquette University |
2/1 |
46% |
$27,434 |
|
| Miami University - Oxford |
12/1 |
55% |
$11,644 |
|
| Michigan State University |
11/1 |
10% |
$6,189 |
|
| North Carolina State University |
2/15 |
8% |
$5,111 |
|
| Ohio State University - Columbus |
11/1 |
24% |
$7,637 |
|
| Oregon State University |
2/3 |
34% |
$8,145 |
|
| Pennsylvania State University - University Park |
12/1 |
5% |
$7,302 |
|
| Purdue University |
11/1 |
21% |
$5,446 |
|
| Rhodes College |
12/1 |
50% |
$34,842 |
|
| Rutgers University - New Brunswick |
12/1 |
6% |
$8,686 |
|
| Southwestern University |
12/1 |
41% |
$30,055 |
|
| State University of New York - Buffalo |
12/8 |
6% |
$4,590 |
|
| Temple University |
2/1 |
22% |
$9,403 |
|
| Texas A&M University |
12/1 |
16% |
$4,965 |
|
| Texas Christian University |
11/1 |
43% |
$22,330 |
|
| Trinity University |
11/1 |
53% |
$27,556 |
|
| University of Alabama |
12/4 |
40% |
$17,494 |
|
| University of Cincinnati |
12/1 |
24% |
$6,180 |
|
| University of Connecticut - Storrs |
12/1 |
23% |
$11,624 |
|
| University of Florida |
11/1 |
10% |
$3,282 |
|
| University of Illinois - Chicago |
11/2 |
5% |
$6,927 |
|
| University of Iowa |
2/1 |
35% |
$6,056 |
|
| University of Maryland - College Park |
11/1 |
18% |
$7,801 |
|
| University of Miami |
11/1 |
27% |
$23,579 |
|
| University of Mississippi |
1/10 |
34% |
$11,501 |
|
| University of Pittsburgh |
12/1 |
11% |
$8,943 |
|
| University of Richmond |
12/1 |
24% |
$28,289 |
|
| University of Rochester |
12/1 |
24% |
$16,569 |
|
| University of South Carolina |
1/15 |
24% |
$4,665 |
|
| University of South Florida |
1/15 |
13% |
$3,367 |
|
| University of Southern California |
11/1 |
25% |
$19,182 |
|
| University of Tennessee - Knoxville |
11/1 |
39% |
$6,528 |
|
| Vanderbilt University |
12/1 |
10% |
$33,730 |
|
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute |
1/22 |
15% |
$3,681 |
|
| Wake Forest University |
11/15 |
2% |
$17,117 |
|
| Washington and Lee University |
12/1 |
7% |
$49,209 |
|
