LeMoyne-Owen College Scholarships (2026–2027)

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Last Updated on August 5, 2026
What This Page Covers:
  • Tuition, housing, and average family net price
  • Automatic merit ranges and qualifier benchmarks
  • Flagship and hidden-gem awards
  • Honors and stacking strategy

📊 Admissions Snapshot

  • Acceptance Rate: ~99%
  • Middle 50% ACT: N/A
  • Middle 50% SAT: N/A
  • Average GPA: N/A

LeMoyne-Owen is a different kind of affordability story than most colleges on this site. There is no scholarship grid to chase, no ACT cutoff to hit, and no automatic merit tier waiting for a strong transcript. What there is instead is one of the lowest sticker prices you will find at any private college in the country, paired with a financial aid office that leans almost entirely on the Pell Grant and Tennessee state aid to close the gap. Roughly nine out of ten students here receive federal grant money. About a quarter receive an institutional grant. That ratio tells you exactly where the real money comes from, and it is not a merit letter.

Comparing multiple schools? Try the Scholarship Tool to search by GPA, test scores, and state →

📌 LeMoyne-Owen College at a Glance

Average Net Price
$6,542/year
Average paid.
Automatic Merit
No published merit grid
No separate application.
Scholarships Tracked
5 opportunities
1 automatic · 3 hidden gem · 1 honors
Merit Evaluation
Holistic Review / Varies
Merit depends on profile rigor.
Testing Policy
Test-optional
No superscore.
Key Deadlines
Priority: Apr 19 • FAFSA: Apr 19
Honors College
Honors Program Available
Financial Aid Forms
FAFSA Only
🚨 Easy-to-Miss “Gotchas” at LeMoyne-Owen College (Read This First)

  • The tuition number is priced per credit, not per year. LOC charges $472 a credit hour. Most published annual figures, including ours, assume 24 credits a year. That is 12 per semester, which is full-time but not four-year graduation pace. At 15 credits a semester you should budget closer to $14,800 in tuition and fees.
  • There is no merit scholarship grid, at all. No GPA tier, no test-score chart, no published award amounts. Nobody can tell you in advance what your student will get, and any website that quotes you a LeMoyne-Owen merit figure is guessing.
  • The April 19 scholarship deadline is written for students already enrolled. For incoming freshmen, the admissions office recommends award amounts as part of the admission decision, so there is no extra form. Parents read that deadline and panic. Read it carefully instead.
  • File the FAFSA early, and not because of LOC. Tennessee Student Assistance Award money is first-come, first-served and the state runs out. That deadline is functionally set by other families, not by the college.
  • The Magician Advantage program is not tuition aid. It is loan repayment help that kicks in after graduation. It is genuinely valuable, but you cannot subtract it from this year’s bill.
  • Live more than 200 miles away? There is a one-time $300 travel assessment fee. It is easy to miss on the cost page.

FAQ

Is this college test-optional? Yes — LeMoyne-Owen College is test-optional.

What is the middle 50% ACT/SAT? ACT: N/A; SAT: N/A.

Average net price? About $6,542/year after aid.

Does this school use waivers/reciprocity? No — private school; same rate for all.

Sources:
LeMoyne-Owen College 2025-2026 Catalog, The W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program, pp.22-23: https://loc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/COLLEGE-CATALOG-2025-2026-FINAL_10272025.pdf
LeMoyne-Owen College, Magician Advantage Loan Repayment Assistance Program: https://loc.edu/magician-advantage-loan-repayment-assistance-program/
LeMoyne-Owen College Office of Student Financial Aid, Scholarships: https://loc.edu/admissions/financial-aid-2/
CollegeScorecard / Admissions: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/

💰 Cost of Attendance at LeMoyne-Owen College 2026-2027

📅 2027–2028 Planning Note: The costs below reflect the most recently published figures (2026–2027). Universities typically finalize the next year’s rates in the spring, and we’ll update this page once official 2027–2028 numbers are released.

Planning tip: At large public universities, tuition, fees, and housing usually increase modestly each year (often in the 2–5% range). For early budgeting, families may want to plan for roughly $1,000–$1,500 more in-state or $2,000–$3,000 more out-of-state in total direct costs once new rates are published.

Category (2026–2027) In-State Out-of-State
Tuition & Mandatory Fees (2 semesters) $11,978 $11,978
Housing & Meals (typical) $6,240 $6,240
Total (Direct Costs) $18,218 $18,218

Average Federal Net Price: $6,542 — this is what families actually paid after grants and scholarships (no loans), based on the most recent federal data. Your specific cost could be significantly lower or higher depending on your financial aid eligibility and merit scholarships. New to Net Price & SAI? Read our guide.

📌 Regional Tuition & Waiver Options

LeMoyne-Owen is private and charges one tuition rate regardless of residency, so there is no out-of-state waiver and no residency discount to apply for. Tennessee residents do have an in-state advantage of a different kind: the Tennessee Student Assistance Award (TSAA) and the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship programs (HOPE, Aspire, GAMS, Access Grant) are usable at LOC and are driven entirely by the FAFSA. TSAA funds are first-come, first-served and run out, so filing the FAFSA early matters more here than at most schools. Out-of-state families should also budget for the $300 travel assessment, a one-time fee charged when a student's permanent residence is more than 200 miles from campus.
⚠️ The Credit-Hour Trap (This Is the Most Important Number on the Page)

LeMoyne-Owen publishes tuition per credit hour ($472), not as a flat annual rate. The figure in the table above annualizes at 24 credits, which matches the college’s own historical full-time basis and lines up with what federal databases report. Twelve credits a semester keeps your student full-time and keeps financial aid flowing.

It does not, however, graduate them in four years. A bachelor’s degree at LOC takes 120 credits. At 12 a semester that is five years. To finish in four, your student needs about 15 a semester, and the tuition math changes:

Pace Credits/Year Tuition + Fees Time to Degree
12 credits per semester 24 ~$11,978 About 5 years
15 credits per semester 30 ~$14,810 4 years

Parent translation: the cheaper-looking number costs you an extra year of housing, meals, and lost earnings. Budget the $14,810 figure and treat anything less as a bonus. Books run another $25.50 per credit, so add roughly $765 a year at graduation pace.

FAQ — Cost of Attendance at LeMoyne-Owen College

How much does LeMoyne-Owen College actually cost per year?
Published direct costs run about $18,218 a year for a student living on campus at 12 credits a semester, or roughly $21,050 at the 15-credit pace needed to finish in four years. But almost nobody pays that. The federal average net price, meaning what families actually paid after grants and scholarships, is $6,542.

Is out-of-state tuition higher at LeMoyne-Owen?
No. LOC is a private college and charges one tuition rate no matter where you live, so there is no residency discount to apply for and no waiver to chase. The one place residency shows up is a $300 travel assessment, a one-time fee for students whose permanent home is more than 200 miles from campus.

Can Tennessee students use HOPE or TSAA money here?
Yes, and this is where in-state families get a real advantage. The Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship programs (HOPE, Aspire, GAMS, and the Access Grant) and the Tennessee Student Assistance Award are all usable at LOC, and they are driven entirely by the FAFSA. TSAA funds in particular are handed out until the state budget runs dry, so filing early matters more here than at most colleges.

Is the $6,542 average net price real?
It is a real federal figure, but understand what it measures. It is the average out-of-pocket cost for students who received grant aid, and it lags the current year by design. Because most LOC students qualify for a large Pell Grant, that average sits well below the sticker price. A family with little financial need will land much closer to the published total, which is exactly why merit aid matters so little here and need-based aid matters so much.

Are housing and meals the same for every student?
The figures above assume a double-occupancy room at $1,800 a semester and the posted meal plan at $1,320 a semester. Room type and plan choices shift that. Commuting students obviously skip the whole line, which is a common path at LOC given how many students come from Memphis and Shelby County.

Why aren’t books and transportation in the total?
Because the college does not bill them. LOC invoices tuition, fees, housing, and meals. Books run $25.50 per credit hour, so plan on $600 to $800 a year depending on course load, and add your own travel and personal spending on top.

Does tuition rise every year?
LOC held its rate flat for several years before the most recent update, which is unusual. That said, no college guarantees a frozen rate, and a 2 to 5 percent bump is the normal planning assumption. Because pricing here is per credit, any increase hits harder for students taking a heavier load.

Sources:
https://loc.edu/admissions/financial-aid-2/cost/
https://loc.edu/admissions/financial-aid-2/
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?id=220604

📅 LeMoyne-Owen Money Timeline (Simple Version)

  • Senior fall, anytime: Apply for admission through the FutureMagician portal. Rolling, no fee, no deadline. A 2.0 GPA gets you admitted.
  • As soon as the FAFSA opens: File it. School code 003501. This is the real deadline, and Tennessee sets it, not LOC.
  • At admission: The admissions office recommends any scholarship award for incoming freshmen. Nothing extra to submit.
  • April 19: The College Scholarship application deadline. This one governs continuing students and is the date to know once your student is enrolled.
  • After you commit: Call the department that matches the major and ask what money it controls. Nobody will volunteer this.

Parent rule of thumb: at LOC the FAFSA is the scholarship application. Treat it that way and you will not be surprised.

Automatic Merit Scholarships — LeMoyne-Owen College

Let’s be straight with you: LeMoyne-Owen does not have automatic merit scholarships.

There is no published GPA grid, no ACT or SAT tier chart, and no guaranteed award amount tied to a transcript. Test scores are optional and almost nobody submits them, which is why you will not find a score range anywhere on this page. Instead, the admissions office recommends scholarship amounts for incoming students as part of the admission decision, and a campus Scholarship Committee makes the call. The college says it awards more than $1 million in scholarship grants a year across all programs, but it does not publish what any individual award is worth.

The one thing that is automatic at LOC is listed below, and it is not tuition money. Read it carefully so it does not distort your budget.

Automatic
Magician Advantage Loan Repayment Assistance Program
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
Varies
✘ Not stackable
Automatic enrollment for first-time freshmen admitted with a cumulative high school GPA of 2.5 or higher. The 2.5 is the admission threshold that triggers auto-enrollment, not a scholarship award cutoff.
💡
Strategic Detail
This one is not a scholarship and it will not lower your tuition bill, so read it carefully. It is a safety net for after you graduate. Every incoming freshman admitted with a 2.5 GPA or better is enrolled automatically, with nothing to fill out and no form to remember. If you graduate and end up earning less than $45,000 a year, the program helps pay back your loans, including federal loans, private loans, and even parent PLUS loans, up to a lifetime total of $80,000. LOC says it is the only college in Tennessee offering this to all eligible incoming freshmen. Treat it as insurance against a soft first job, not as aid you can subtract from this year's cost of attendance.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Everybody who gets in with a 2.5, which at a school that admits at a 2.0 is most students. The benefit only pays out if your income after graduation is low, so the people it actually helps are the ones who struggle to land a well paying job right away. If you graduate into a $60,000 salary you will never touch a dollar of it, and that is a good outcome. For a family that is nervous about borrowing to attend, this meaningfully lowers the downside risk of taking on loans, and that is worth real money even though it will never appear as a line on your award letter.
* GPA/test bands are estimates based on official selectivity and prior cohort profiles. "Who Actually Wins" insights are pulled from external peer-sourced data where students and parents have reported real-world award results. Because colleges can change funding thresholds and deadlines at any time, always verify these details with the institution before finalizing your application strategy.
How to Think About the Magician Advantage

It will not reduce a single dollar of this year’s bill, so do not put it in your cost spreadsheet. What it does is cap the downside if the first job after graduation pays poorly. If your student earns less than $45,000 a year, the program helps repay federal loans, private loans, and parent PLUS loans up to a lifetime total of $80,000. If they graduate into a $60,000 salary, they never touch it, and that is the good outcome.

For a family that is nervous about borrowing to attend, that is worth real money even though it will never appear as a line on an award letter. It is insurance, not aid.

Automatic Merit — FAQs (LeMoyne-Owen College)

Does LeMoyne-Owen guarantee a scholarship for a certain GPA or test score?
No. There is no published grid of any kind. Any site telling you a specific dollar amount for a specific GPA at LOC is making it up.

Then how does an incoming freshman get institutional money?
The admissions office recommends awards for incoming students, both first-time freshmen and transfers, as part of the admission process. There is no separate freshman scholarship application. Complete the admission application and the FAFSA, and you are in the pool.

Do ACT or SAT scores help at all?
LeMoyne-Owen is test-optional and does not superscore. Very few applicants submit scores, and admission requires only a 2.0 GPA. Sending a strong score cannot hurt, but there is no published mechanism by which it converts to dollars.

Is the Magician Advantage really automatic?
Yes. Every incoming freshman admitted with a 2.5 GPA or higher is enrolled automatically. There is nothing to fill out and no form to remember. LOC says it is the only college in Tennessee offering this to all eligible incoming freshmen.

So what actually makes LeMoyne-Owen affordable?
The Pell Grant and Tennessee state aid, in that order, sitting on top of one of the lowest private-college sticker prices in the country. Around 90 percent of students receive federal grant aid. About a quarter receive an institutional grant. Build your budget around the low sticker price and the Pell Grant, not around a merit award.

Who should I call if I want a real number?
The Office of Student Financial Aid. Because nothing is published, a phone call is genuinely the only way to find out what your student is likely to receive. Run the Net Price Calculator first so you have something to compare against.

Sources:
https://loc.edu/magician-advantage-loan-repayment-assistance-program/
https://loc.edu/admissions/financial-aid-2/
https://loc.edu/admissions/admissions-3/

🏆 Flagship Scholarships (Competitive Scholarships)

LeMoyne-Owen does not run a flagship competitive scholarship program, and we are not going to invent one.

There is no essay competition, no finalist weekend, no named full-ride award, and no interview day where a handful of students walk away with four years paid. If that is the model your student is chasing, LOC is not the school for it, and you should know that before you spend a fall writing applications.

The closest thing to a competitive award here is admission to the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program, the college’s honors program, which does carry scholarship funding and does require an application and an interview. We cover it in the Honors section below.

✅ Can You Stack Aid at LeMoyne-Owen?

This is where LOC is actually more generous than it first appears. Because the college’s award budgets are split across separate offices, each with its own pot, a student can hold more than one institutional award at a time, and all of it layers on top of federal and state grants.

Aid Type Stacks? LOC Parent Translation
Federal Pell Grant Yes This is the engine. Around 90 percent of LOC students get federal grant aid, and for many it covers most of tuition on its own.
Tennessee state aid (TSAA, HOPE, Aspire, GAMS, Access) Yes In-state families should treat this as the second layer. All of it runs off the FAFSA, and TSAA money runs out during the year.
LOC institutional scholarships Yes, with a catch Endowed funds, the General Academic Award, and music or band awards all come from separate budgets and can combine. But LOC scholarship dollars post to the student account and are not refundable as cash, unlike leftover federal aid.
Du Bois Scholars funding Yes Honors is a separate recommending body with its own budget. Being a Du Bois Scholar does not disqualify a student from other LOC awards.
ROTC scholarships Usually LOC students access Air Force, Army, and Navy programs through crosstown agreements at the University of Memphis. Read the award letter for replacement language.
Outside scholarships (UNCF, TMCF, local) Yes Because LOC’s own award amounts are modest, an outside scholarship goes further here than it would at a school where it just displaces institutional aid.
Magician Advantage (LRAP) Not applicable It never touches your bill, so it cannot conflict with anything. It sits entirely after graduation.

This institution does not offer designated Competitive scholarships at this time.

❓ Competitive Scholarship FAQs

Does LeMoyne-Owen offer a full ride?
Not as a published, named program. Plenty of LOC students end up paying very little, but that happens through Pell plus Tennessee aid plus institutional grants stacking together, not through winning a full-ride competition.

Is LOC a National Merit or Stamps partner?
No to both. It is also not a QuestBridge partner. If your student is a National Merit Finalist, that recognition does not translate into a published package here.

Does LeMoyne-Owen require the CSS Profile?
No. The FAFSA is the only financial aid form. School code 003501.

Are there essay or interview requirements for any LOC scholarship?
Only for the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program, which asks for a personal statement, an activities and service list, a recommendation letter, and an interview with the program director. Everything else runs off the FAFSA and the College Scholarship application.

Is LOC part of UNCF or the Thurgood Marshall College Fund?
LeMoyne-Owen is a UNCF member institution and also points students to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Both run their own scholarship portals with awards your student applies to directly, separate from anything LOC controls. Creating a UNCF profile is one of the highest-value hours a LOC-bound student can spend.

What should a strong student do instead of chasing competitive awards here?
Two things. Apply to the Du Bois Scholars Program, and put the essay energy into national and regional outside scholarships. Our Essay Toolkit and Brag Sheet Builder are built for exactly that.

Sources:
https://loc.edu/admissions/financial-aid-2/
https://loc.edu/academics/w-e-b-du-bois-scholars-program-2/

🧠 Parent Strategy: The Two Forms Rule at LeMoyne-Owen

LOC does not use an online scholarship marketplace where students browse and apply award by award. Everything funnels through two documents, and campus offices do the matching behind the scenes.

  1. The FAFSA. School code 003501. This unlocks federal aid, Tennessee state aid, and LeMoyne-Owen scholarships all at once.
  2. The College Scholarship application. A separate short form, available through the Office of Student Affairs. This is what puts your student’s name in front of the Scholarship Committee.
  3. Then talk to humans. Call the department that matches the major, and call financial aid. Ask which endowed funds fit your student’s major, GPA, class year, or affiliation.
  4. Save your confirmations. Screenshot or print everything after you submit.

Parent translation: at most colleges you find the money by searching a portal. At LOC you find it by picking up the phone. Families who do that consistently do better than families who wait for an award letter to explain itself.

💎 Hidden Gem Scholarships

These are the awards that actually move the number at LeMoyne-Owen. None of them are automatic, none publish an amount, and all of them require you to have a complete file in on time. They also stack, both with each other and with Pell and Tennessee aid, which is what makes them worth the effort.

App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Endowed Scholarships
📅 Deadline: April 1 for the following academic year
Non-Renewable
Varies
✔ Stackable
👥 ~The catalog describes more than fifty endowed funds and lists roughly ninety-five by name. winners/yr🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
LOC scholarship funds are applied to your student account and are not refundable as cash.
📄
How to Apply
Complete the FAFSA and the College Scholarship application. Campus offices verify your record against each donor's conditions and forward eligible names to the Scholarship Committee. You do not apply to individual funds. If you spot a fund name in the catalog that sounds like it fits your major or your affiliation, call financial aid and ask what that specific one requires.
💡
Strategic Detail
Alumni and friends of the college have set up a large collection of named scholarship funds, and the catalog lists them all by name across a few pages. Each one has its own rules written by the donor, which might be a specific major, a minimum GPA, a class year, or a church or organization tie. You do not apply to these one by one. You complete the single College Scholarship application and the FAFSA, and campus offices match your record against the donor conditions and send eligible names to the Scholarship Committee. The catalog prints the fund names but no amounts and no individual criteria, so if you see a name that sounds like you, such as a math and science fund or a ministerial fund, call financial aid and ask what that particular one requires.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
This is the most overlooked money at LOC and also the hardest to plan around. Because the criteria live with the donor rather than on the website, students win these by having a complete file in on time rather than by targeting a specific fund. The practical move is simple. Get the FAFSA and the scholarship application in early, make sure your major and GPA are accurately on record, and mention any church, fraternity, sorority, or civic organization connection when you talk to financial aid, because several of these funds are tied to exactly that and nobody will know to check unless you say it out loud.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
LOC General Academic Award
📅 Deadline: April 1 for the following academic year
Non-Renewable
Varies
✔ Stackable
🏫 3.0+ GPA🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
LOC scholarship funds are applied to your student account and are not refundable as cash. Leftover aid from other sources can be refunded to you, but LOC scholarship dollars cannot.
📄
How to Apply
Complete the FAFSA using LeMoyne-Owen school code 003501. Then complete the separate College Scholarship application, which is available from the Office of Student Affairs. Submit both by the earliest published deadline, and call financial aid to confirm the current date, because the catalog and the website list different ones.
💡
Strategic Detail
LeMoyne-Owen does not publish a merit scholarship grid, so this is the main way institutional academic money gets handed out. You fill out one College Scholarship application, complete the FAFSA, and a campus Scholarship Committee decides who gets what. Division chairs recommend students from their own departments, and you need at least a 3.0 GPA to be in the running. The college says it awards more than $1 million in scholarship grants each year across all of its programs, but it does not publish what any single award is worth, so ask the financial aid office for a real number before you count on it. One heads up on the deadline. The 2025-2026 catalog says March 15, the financial aid webpage says April 19, and the general aid priority date is April 1. Apply by the earliest one and call to confirm.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Realistically this goes to students who are already enrolled and already doing well. The 3.0 floor plus a division chair recommendation means somebody in your major has to know your name and be willing to vouch for you, which quietly favors students who show up to office hours, join the department club, and are not invisible in class. Incoming freshmen are not shut out, since admissions recommends awards for new students too, but the machinery is built around current students. If your GPA is a 2.9 you are not in the conversation. If it is a 3.5 and a professor likes you, you have a real shot.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Music and Band Scholarships
📅 Deadline: April 1 for the following academic year
Non-Renewable
Varies
✔ Stackable
🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
LOC scholarship funds are applied to your student account and are not refundable as cash.
📄
How to Apply
Complete the FAFSA and the College Scholarship application. Then contact the Music Department directly and ask the Director of Bands or the music faculty what they look for and whether they want to hear you play, because the award decision comes from their recommendation rather than from the form.
💡
Strategic Detail
The music department and the band program each get their own slice of the scholarship budget, and awards come from faculty recommendations rather than an open competition. There is no separate music application listed anywhere. You apply through the same College Scholarship application, complete the FAFSA, and the Director of Bands or the music faculty put names forward to the Scholarship Committee. The college does not publish amounts, audition requirements, or how many awards go out in a year, so contact the music department directly and ask what they look for.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Band and music students, full stop. This money is controlled by people who already know your playing, which means the students who win it are usually the ones who visited campus, met the director, and made an impression before the committee ever sat down. If you play an instrument and you are seriously considering LOC, emailing the Director of Bands during your senior year of high school is worth more than anything you write on a form.
* GPA/test bands are estimates based on official selectivity and prior cohort profiles. "Who Actually Wins" insights are pulled from external peer-sourced data where students and parents have reported real-world award results. Because colleges can change funding thresholds and deadlines at any time, always verify these details with the institution before finalizing your application strategy.

🎯 Three More Money Sources LOC Points To (But Does Not Control)

These are not LeMoyne-Owen scholarships, so they will not show up in an award letter automatically. Your student applies to each one directly, and because LOC’s own awards are modest, outside money goes further here than it would at a school that would just claw back institutional aid to offset it.

  • United Negro College Fund (UNCF). LeMoyne-Owen is a UNCF member institution, which means students can build a profile on the UNCF site and apply to a large catalog of scholarships restricted to students at member schools. This is the single most overlooked source on this page.
  • Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF). LOC lists TMCF as a resource for students. Awards weigh academics, leadership, and community commitment.
  • ROTC through the University of Memphis. LOC students participate in Air Force, Army, and Navy crosstown programs based at U of M, and those scholarships can cover most of the cost of a degree. There is a service commitment after graduation, so this is a family conversation, not a checkbox.

❓ Hidden Gems FAQ

How many endowed scholarships does LeMoyne-Owen have?
More than fifty endowed funds have been established by graduates and friends of the college, and the catalog lists them by name across several pages. What the catalog does not print is amounts or individual criteria, because each donor set their own conditions.

Do I apply to endowed scholarships one by one?
No, and this trips people up. You complete the FAFSA and the single College Scholarship application. Campus offices then verify your student’s record against each donor’s stated conditions and forward eligible names to the Scholarship Committee. Your job is to make sure your record is accurate and complete, not to hunt individual funds.

So how do I make sure my student gets matched?
Say things out loud that are not on the form. Several endowed funds are tied to a specific major, a church, a fraternity or sorority, or a civic organization. Nobody at LOC will know to check unless you mention it. If you see a fund name in the catalog that sounds like your student, call financial aid and ask what that particular one requires.

What is the actual deadline?
This is genuinely muddy and we would rather tell you than pretend. The 2025-2026 catalog says March 15. The financial aid webpage says April 19 and states plainly that no late applications are accepted. The general aid priority date is April 1. Apply by the earliest of those, then call to confirm the current-cycle date. The published year references on LOC’s aid page also lag, so verify by phone.

Are music and band scholarships audition-based?
LOC does not publish an audition requirement or a separate music application. Awards come from faculty recommendations, with the Director of Bands and the music faculty putting names forward to the Scholarship Committee. Practically speaking, if your student plays, emailing the Director of Bands during senior year of high school is worth more than anything they write on a form.

Can current LOC students get these?
Yes, and the system is really built around them. The General Academic Award requires a 3.0 GPA and a division chair recommendation, which means a professor in the major has to know your student’s name. Show up to office hours, join the department club, do not be invisible in class. That is not soft advice here, it is the mechanism.

Does scholarship money ever come back to me as a refund?
Not the LOC portion. LeMoyne-Owen scholarship funds are applied to the student account and are not refundable as cash. Leftover federal aid can be refunded to the student, but institutional scholarship dollars stay on the account.

Sources:
https://loc.edu/admissions/financial-aid-2/
https://loc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/COLLEGE-CATALOG-2025-2026-FINAL_10272025.pdf

The W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program at LeMoyne-Owen College

LeMoyne-Owen does not have an honors college. It has an honors program, and it has had one since 1988, when then-president Dr. Irving P. McPhail asked French professor Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis to start an honors society. She proposed naming it for W.E.B. Du Bois, whose line about the Talented Tenth the program still quotes. Nearly forty years later the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program is an institutional member of the National Collegiate Honors Council, the Tennessee Collegiate Honors Council, and the Southern Collegiate Honors Council.

For a student with real academic ambition, this is the most valuable thing at LeMoyne-Owen, and it is not primarily about money. The program is built around getting students into graduate and professional school. Freshmen are usually invited rather than applying cold.

  • Freshman and transfer entry: 3.75 GPA, a personal statement about goals and accomplishments, an activities and community service list, a recommendation from a counselor or faculty member, and an interview with the program director
  • Current student entry: after the first semester with a 3.65 GPA and two letters
  • What it takes: roughly 18 credit hours of honors coursework, a Semester of Service project, and a senior honors thesis
  • To stay in: hold a 3.75. Drop below it and you can lose the program and the scholarship attached to it
  • Where to start: the Scholars Program Director, WEBD Room in the Student Center

Du Bois Scholars Funding

App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program Award
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (3.75 GPA)
Varies
✔ Stackable
🏫 3.8+ GPA🎓 All Undergrad
📄
How to Apply
Contact the Scholars Program Director in the WEBD Room of the Student Center. Submit a personal statement covering your goals and accomplishments, a list of your extracurricular activities and community service projects, and a letter of recommendation from a guidance counselor or faculty member. Then schedule an interview with the program director.
✎ Essays🎤 Interview💌 Letters of Rec
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Strategic Detail
The W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program is LOC's honors program, and it carries scholarship money with it, though the college does not publish how much. Getting in as a freshman or transfer takes a 3.75 GPA, a personal statement about your goals, a list of your activities and community service, a letter from a counselor or teacher, and an interview with the program director. Current students can apply after their first semester with a 3.65 and two letters. Freshmen are usually invited rather than applying cold. Once you are in, you take about 18 credit hours of honors coursework, complete a Semester of Service project, and write a senior honors thesis, and the designation goes on both your transcript and your degree. You have to hold a 3.75 to stay in, and dropping below it can cost you the program and the scholarship attached to it.
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Who Actually Wins
Students who sat near the top of their high school class and are aiming at graduate or professional school afterward. The 3.75 bar does most of the filtering before the interview even happens. The part families underestimate is the maintenance. Losing the GPA means losing the money, and honors coursework plus a thesis is real work stacked on top of a normal major. Go after this if you want the structure and the faculty mentorship, which are the genuine prizes here. Do not chase it purely for a dollar figure, because the college has not published one.
* GPA/test bands are estimates based on official selectivity and prior cohort profiles. "Who Actually Wins" insights are pulled from external peer-sourced data where students and parents have reported real-world award results. Because colleges can change funding thresholds and deadlines at any time, always verify these details with the institution before finalizing your application strategy.
Honest note on the dollar figure: LeMoyne-Owen does not publish what Du Bois Scholars funding is worth, and we are not going to guess at it. The college’s own language is that membership brings “eligibility for scholarships and internships,” which is softer than a guarantee. Ask the program director for a real number before you factor it into a budget.
What Du Bois Scholars Actually Get (Beyond Money)
  • Individualized advising and priority in course selection every registration period, which at a small college with limited section counts is worth more than it sounds
  • Some priority in housing selection
  • Honors conference travel and the chance to present research
  • Graduate school recommendations from faculty who have worked with the student closely for four years
  • An Honors Program Center lounge with computers and study space
  • Honors designation on the transcript plus stoles at graduation and an Honors Day Convocation

Honors — FAQs (LeMoyne-Owen College)

Is honors admission automatic for high-GPA students?
No. Freshmen are generally considered by invitation, but the program still wants a personal statement, an activities list, a letter, and an interview. Sophomores and juniors can be considered too, and occasionally seniors under special circumstances.

Is honors coursework just more work?
The program is explicit that it is not about increasing the volume of material. Honors work has to go above and beyond the regular classroom, and if a student completes it with a B or better, the course gets labeled as taken for honors credit. Students also create a contract with faculty for the additional assignments.

What is the Semester of Service?
A required community service project. It fits the program’s stated purpose, which includes preparing students for service and leadership, not just graduate school admission.

What happens if the GPA slips?
This is the part families underestimate. The 3.75 is both the entry bar and the maintenance bar. Falling below it can cost the program membership and the scholarship attached to it, and honors coursework plus a thesis is real work stacked on top of a normal major.

Is it worth applying if my student is not sure about graduate school?
Probably yes, because the advising and faculty mentorship are the genuine prizes here, and at a college where retention is a known challenge, being in a small cohort where professors know your name is a real advantage. Just do not chase it for a dollar figure the college has not published.

Sources:
https://loc.edu/academics/w-e-b-du-bois-scholars-program-2/
https://loc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/COLLEGE-CATALOG-2025-2026-FINAL_10272025.pdf

⭐ College Specialty

LeMoyne-Owen is a small liberal arts college with about 660 students, a 9 to 1 student-faculty ratio, and a 15-acre campus in the Soulsville neighborhood of South Memphis, a few blocks from where Stax Records made its name. It traces its roots to 1862, which makes it the fifth-oldest HBCU in the country and the only one in Memphis. Roughly 22 areas of study run through six academic divisions, leading to the BA, BS, and BBA, plus associate degrees in general studies.

A college this size does not do everything. What it does do, it does in small rooms with faculty who know every student by name, and the programs below are where that shows up most clearly.

Signature Program:
The Center for Cyber Defense — This is LOC’s most distinctive academic asset. It supports a computer science program with a cyber defense concentration and, unusually, a criminal justice program with a cyber defense concentration, so a student interested in investigation rather than engineering has a real path. The center runs a 30-person lab where students work with industry-standard digital forensics tools, and the college has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to expand coursework. Coursework covers digital forensics, network security, cryptography, advanced networking, and cyber law and ethics.

Ask on your visit: LOC’s own published data shows computer science majors completing major coursework at a lower rate than any other program on campus in 2024-25. That is not a reason to rule it out, but it is a reason to ask the division chair directly what tutoring and advising support exists for students in the sequence.

  • Social Work (BS): Quietly one of the strongest programs at LOC by the college’s own numbers, with a dedicated field placement coordinator and consistently high major course completion. If your student wants a licensable, employable degree tied directly to Memphis community work, this is the one to look at first.
  • Business Administration: The largest and most reliable pathway on campus, with major course completion running above 90 percent recently. It also anchors the Accelerated Studies for Adult Professionals track, which is built for working adults finishing a BBA.
  • Criminal Justice: Strong completion numbers, an accelerated adult track of its own, and the cyber defense concentration through the Center for Cyber Defense. In a city with the law enforcement and legal services footprint Memphis has, that combination has real local pull.
  • Education and Special Education: LOC has been training Memphis teachers for well over a century, and special education posts some of the highest course completion rates of any major here. Student teaching placements are local, which matters if your student intends to stay.
  • Music: A working program with a band, and one of only four campus offices that controls its own scholarship budget. If your student plays, this is both an academic home and a funding source.
  • Natural and Mathematical Sciences: Biology, chemistry, and mathematics for students headed toward health professions or graduate work. Pair it with the Du Bois Scholars Program if the goal is medical or graduate school.

✅ Wrapping It Up

LeMoyne-Owen asks you to think about affordability backwards from how most college pages train you to think. There is no merit grid to hit, no scholarship competition to win, no tier chart to tape to the refrigerator. What there is instead is a sticker price low enough that the Pell Grant plus Tennessee state aid can cover most of it, which is why the average family here pays about $6,542 a year after grants. If your student qualifies for significant need-based aid, this is one of the least expensive four-year degrees in the country. If your family has little demonstrated need, be honest with yourself that LOC has thin institutional money to close that gap.

The moves that pay off here are unglamorous. File the FAFSA the week it opens, because Tennessee runs out of TSAA money and nobody sends a warning. Complete the College Scholarship application. Then call the department that matches the major and call financial aid, because at a college that publishes almost no award amounts, a phone call is genuinely the fastest way to a real number. Mention the church, the sorority, the civic club, the specific major. Several endowed funds are tied to exactly those things, and nobody will check unless you say it.

Two things deserve a straight conversation before you commit. The first is the credit-hour math: budget the 15-credit pace, around $14,800 in tuition and fees, not the 12-credit number, or you are quietly planning for a fifth year. The second is completion. LeMoyne-Owen publishes its own retention and graduation figures, and they are honest about the challenge, with first-year retention falling to 48 percent for the most recent tracked cohort and six-year graduation running in the twenties to low thirties. That is not a reason to cross LOC off a list. Plenty of students finish here and go on to graduate school, and job placement at graduation ran around 60 percent last year. But it is a reason to spend your campus visit asking pointed questions about advising, tutoring, and who calls your student when they stop showing up to class. Ask those questions, get real answers, and this becomes one of the better values in the region.

And if your student has the grades, apply to the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Program. Small cohort, individualized advising, faculty who write real recommendation letters. At a college this size, being known by name is the whole game.

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