Scholarship Amount Calculator

Drop in your tuition, fees, room and board, and other costs, then list each scholarship by amount and type (one-time, renewable, percentage of tuition). The calculator subtracts scholarships from total cost-of-attendance and shows your net price plus the gap you'll need to cover via savings, work, or loans.

Renewable scholarships matter more than one-time ones at the same nominal value. A $5,000/year award over four years is $20,000; a $5,000 one-time award is $5,000. The calculator multiplies renewables by the number of years they apply, so the comparison reflects real lifetime value.

Note that some scholarships affect financial aid eligibility — federal aid can shrink when private scholarships push your aid package over need. The calculator flags this but doesn't model your specific FAFSA situation.

The math: total_cost_of_attendance × years − sum(renewable_awards × years) − sum(one_time_awards) = net_cost. Then subtract savings and expected family contribution to get the loan/work gap. Tuition-percentage scholarships need to be recalculated each year — if the school raises tuition 4%/year, a 50% tuition scholarship rises with it, while a $20,000 flat award doesn't. Over four years, percentage awards usually pull ahead at high-tuition schools.

Worked example: you're choosing between two schools. School A: $55k/year COA, 50% tuition scholarship ($30k tuition cut), $5k flat per year. Net per year: 55 - 30 - 5 = $20k. Four years: $80k. School B: $45k/year COA, $15k flat scholarship per year. Net per year: 45 - 15 = $30k. Four years: $120k. School A wins by $40k despite the higher sticker price — the percentage award scaled with the higher tuition. Now run the same comparison assuming both schools raise tuition 4%/year: School A's percentage award scales (saves you more); School B's flat award doesn't (saves you the same nominal amount on a higher base). The gap widens further.

Where it misrepresents reality: scholarships can interact with each other and with financial aid in complex ways. Some schools 'displace' institutional aid dollar-for-dollar when external scholarships come in — meaning the external award doesn't reduce your bill, it just replaces grant aid you'd already have gotten. Federal aid (Pell Grant, subsidized loans) can shrink when total aid exceeds calculated need. Some merit awards have GPA renewal conditions; lose the GPA, lose the renewal. The calculator does the arithmetic but can't see your school's specific aid policies. Call the financial aid office and ask: 'How does an external scholarship interact with my institutional grant?' before assuming the math holds.