Lipscomb University Scholarships (2026–2027)
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Last Updated on August 3, 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: ~68%
- Middle 50% ACT: 27
- Middle 50% SAT: 1245
- Average GPA: 3.7
Lipscomb is a private Christian university sitting on 113 acres in the Green Hills area of Nashville, about fifteen minutes from downtown. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ, enrolls roughly 3,500 undergraduates, and plays Division I athletics in the ASUN. That combination matters for how the money works here: Lipscomb behaves like a private school with a high sticker price and a deep discount, not like a public school with a published scholarship grid.
The practical version for parents: almost nobody pays the number on the website. Lipscomb reports that 99 percent of undergraduates receive some form of aid, and the federal average net price lands well under half the published cost. But because there is no automatic merit chart to point at, you will not know your real number until an offer shows up. That makes applying early and running the net price calculator more important here than at a school where you can look up your award in a table.
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📌 Lipscomb University at a Glance
🏆 Full tuition available (Trustee & National Merit)
Average Net Price
$25,610/year
Average paid.
Automatic Merit
$7,000–$23,000/yr typical (freshmen)
No separate application.
Scholarships Tracked
20 opportunities
9 automatic · 2 competitive · 8 hidden gem · 1 honors
Typical Qualifiers
Holistic review; no published grid
Benchmarks for top-tier awards.
Testing Policy
Test-optional
Superscores ACT/SAT.
Key Deadlines
Priority: Oct 15 • FAFSA: TBD
Full-Tuition / Full-Ride
Trustee, Transfer Trustee & National Merit
Honors College
Honors Program Available
Financial Aid Forms
FAFSA Only
🚨 Easy-to-Miss “Gotchas” at Lipscomb (Read This First)
- The biggest awards require living on campus. The Trustee Scholarship, the Scout Award, the Employment-Based Scholarships for ministry families, and the Kappa Iota Theta Scholarship all carry an on-campus residency requirement every single semester. Move off campus junior year and the award can go away. This is the single most expensive mistake families make at Lipscomb.
- Full-tuition awards replace your other aid, they do not add to it. If your student wins the Trustee Scholarship or qualifies as a National Merit Finalist, that award wipes out the rest of the Lipscomb institutional package rather than sitting on top of it. State and federal grants can still help with housing and fees.
- Test-optional for admission is not test-optional for the Trustee. Lipscomb states this in bold on its own page. Students who apply to the university test-optional must still submit an official ACT 30, SAT 1360, or CLT 97 to be eligible for the Trustee Scholarship.
- There is no published merit grid. Unlike a lot of Southern schools, Lipscomb does not post a GPA and test-score chart with guaranteed dollar amounts. Your offer comes out of a holistic review. Plan on a range, not a number.
- Lipscomb does not publish a FAFSA priority date, and that is not the same as it not mattering. Their own financial aid pages say need-based memorial funds are generally awarded to those who apply first. File in October when the FAFSA opens.
- Academic scholarships stop at 126 attempted hours. Double majors, major switchers, and students who load up on credits can run out of scholarship before they run out of degree.
- Watch the October 15 date, not December 1. Early Action 1 on October 15 is the only deadline that gives full merit consideration plus early access to top scholarship opportunities, the Honors College, and the Scholars Programs.
FAQ
Is this college test-optional? Yes — Lipscomb University is test-optional.
What is the middle 50% ACT/SAT? ACT: 27; SAT: 1245.
Average net price? About $25,610/year after aid.
Does this school use waivers/reciprocity?
No — private school; same rate for all.
💰 Cost of Attendance at Lipscomb University 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) |
$44,486 |
$44,486 |
| Housing & Meals (typical) |
$18,032 |
$18,032 |
| Total (Direct Costs) |
$62,518 |
$62,518 |
Average Federal Net Price: $25,610 — 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.
Private School Math: The Sticker Price Is Not the Story
Lipscomb charges every undergraduate the same tuition whether you live in Nashville or Anchorage. There is no in-state discount, no regional reciprocity, and no out-of-state waiver to chase, because there is no out-of-state rate to waive. What Lipscomb does instead is discount heavily on the back end through institutional scholarships and grants. That is why the published total and the average net price are so far apart, and it is also why two families with similar incomes can end up with very different bills.
One practical note on the numbers above: they show direct costs, meaning what Lipscomb actually bills you for tuition, fees, housing, and meals. Lipscomb’s own published cost of attendance is higher because it folds in estimates for books, transportation, and personal spending. Those are real expenses, but they are not on your invoice, and mixing them together is how families accidentally overestimate what they owe.
FAQ — Cost of Attendance at Lipscomb University
Does Lipscomb cost more if we live out of state?
No. Lipscomb is private, so tuition and fees are identical for a student from Nashville and a student from California. The only thing that changes your cost is your aid package, which means the conversation to have is about scholarships, not residency.
Why is the average net price so much lower than the published total?
Because Lipscomb discounts aggressively. Nearly every undergraduate receives some form of institutional aid, so the published price functions more like a starting point than a real bill. The federal net price figure reflects what families actually paid after grants and scholarships were applied.
Can we count on that average net price being our number?
No, and this is worth understanding clearly. An average blends families who qualified for large need-based aid with families who paid close to full freight. A high-income family with average academics may pay considerably more than the average. Run the net price calculator with your actual numbers before you get attached to a figure.
Are housing and meal costs the same for every student?
No. The figures here reflect a typical on-campus room and a standard meal plan. Lipscomb publishes separate cost estimates for students living off campus and students living with a parent, and those look very different. Just remember that several of Lipscomb’s best scholarships require on-campus residency, so the cheaper housing option can end up being the more expensive choice.
Does tuition go up every year?
Usually yes, in modest increments. Lipscomb’s most recent published increase moved tuition and fees up by a little under two thousand dollars year over year. Scholarship amounts, on the other hand, are generally fixed dollar figures, which means the gap tends to widen slightly each year unless your aid is expressed as a percentage of tuition.
Is there any Tennessee state aid that helps at a private school?
Yes. Tennessee residents who graduate from a Tennessee high school can bring the HOPE Scholarship with them to Lipscomb, and need-based TSAA grants are available at private institutions as well. You have to file the FAFSA to get either one, and if Lipscomb was not listed first on your FAFSA you may need to update that through the TSAC student portal.
What is not included in the table above?
Books and supplies, transportation, personal expenses, and estimated loan fees. Lipscomb budgets roughly six to seven thousand dollars a year across those categories. They vary enormously by student, so we keep them separate rather than baking them into a number that looks precise but is not.
Sources:
https://lipscomb.edu/admission/tuition-and-financial-aid/cost-attendance
https://lipscomb.edu/admissions/cost-financial-aid/resources/net-price-calculator
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?id=219976
📅 Lipscomb Scholarship Timeline (Simple Version)
- August 1: Application opens. Nothing happens until you are in the pipeline.
- October 1: FAFSA opens. File it now, not in the spring.
- October 15 (Early Action 1): The real deadline. Full merit and departmental scholarship consideration, plus early access to the top scholarship opportunities, the Honors College, and the Scholars Programs.
- November 15 (Early Action 2): Still full merit consideration, still Honors and Scholars access, but you are behind the first group.
- Early January: Trustee Scholarship application closes. Swang Scholars closes on the same date.
- January 15 (Regular): Merit consideration continues, Honors access continues, but the phrase “top scholarship opportunities” quietly drops off the benefits list.
- After January 15: Rolling admission as capacity allows. Honors access is now “as space allows.”
Parent rule of thumb: treat October 15 as your family’s deadline. Every benefit Lipscomb offers is on the table that day and something comes off the table at every date after it.
Automatic Merit Scholarships — Lipscomb University
Every admitted student is automatically considered for these awards. There is no separate scholarship application for most of them. Two things to understand before you read the cards: Lipscomb does superscore the ACT and SAT, so multiple sittings work in your favor, and Lipscomb does not publish a merit grid, so there is no chart where you can look up your GPA and find a guaranteed dollar figure.
Automatic
Merit-Based Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews
Holistic / Status Based
💡
Strategic Detail
This is the everyday merit money and most Lipscomb students get some version of it. Here is the honest catch. Lipscomb does not publish the dollar amounts or the GPA and test cutoffs anywhere on its own site, so anyone quoting you a specific range is guessing. The only way to learn your number is to apply, get admitted, and read the award letter. Talk to your admissions counselor early, because the offer is built off your admission file.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Almost everybody who gets in wins something here, so the real question is not whether you get it but how much. Stronger transcripts and test scores pull larger offers, and applying early gives the file more room to work with. Treat this as your baseline and then stack the targeted awards on top of it.
Automatic
Christian Education Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (2 GPA)
Holistic / Status Based
✚
Stacking & Combining
Combined with all other gift aid, this award cannot push you past full tuition. Children of Lipscomb employees are not eligible. Students holding the Trustee Scholarship, National Merit Finalist or Semi-Finalist awards, or the Lipscomb Academy Valedictorian Scholarship are not eligible, and neither are athletes whose combined Lipscomb aid already reaches full tuition.
💡
Strategic Detail
If your high school belongs to NCSA or CESA, this is 5,000 dollars a year you do not have to apply for. It comes off the admission file automatically. Worth checking your school's membership directly, because plenty of families never realize their school qualifies. Note that it will not stack on top of a full-tuition award, so if you land the Trustee you will not also collect this.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Purely a question of where you went to high school. If your school is on the NCSA or CESA membership list and you get admitted, you get it. The renewal bar of a 2.0 is low enough that essentially everyone who wants to keep it does.
Automatic
Church Match Program
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews
Holistic / Status Based
💡
Strategic Detail
If your home congregation is willing to put money toward your education, Lipscomb will double it up to 500 dollars a year. There is nothing for you to fill out. The Financial Aid Office adds the match automatically once the church's check arrives, so the only real task is asking your congregation early enough that the funds land before your bill is finalized.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
This one is decided by your congregation, not by your grades. Students from Churches of Christ with an active benevolence or education fund get it. If nobody at your church has been asked before, ask anyway, because many congregations will fund a member and simply have never been prompted.
Automatic⚠ Transfer Only
Community College Transfer Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (2 GPA)
🏫 2.0+ GPA🎓 Transfer
✚
Stacking & Combining
Stacks with the Lipscomb Pathways Scholarship and the Phi Theta Kappa and National Society of Leadership and Success award. It cannot be stacked with the Transfer Trustee Scholarship.
💡
Strategic Detail
A flat 2,000 dollars a year for coming to Lipscomb straight from a community college. Small on its own, but it is designed to sit on top of the Pathways award and the Phi Theta Kappa award, and together those three add up fast. The one detail that catches people is the word recent. If you went community college, then a four-year school, then Lipscomb, you have lost it.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Any community college transfer with a 2.0 who comes directly. There is no selection involved. The students who miss out are almost always the ones who made a stop at another four-year school in between.
App Required
Christian Education / Head of School (NCSA) Grant
📅 Deadline: Rolling; verification must be received before aid is finalized
✓ Renews (2 GPA, 4 yrs)
🏫 2.0+ GPA
✚
Stacking & Combining
May stack with academic scholarships and other institutional awards, but the NCSA Grant combined with all other gift aid may not exceed full tuition. Children of Lipscomb employees are not eligible. Trustee Scholarship recipients, National Merit Finalists/Semi-Finalists, Lipscomb Academy Valedictorian Scholarship recipients, and athletes whose combined Lipscomb aid is at or above full tuition are also ineligible.
📄
How to Apply
Graduate from an NCSA or CESA member school and submit the required head-of-school verification letter or form to Lipscomb Financial Aid before aid is packaged. No competitive application — eligibility is based entirely on school affiliation and documentation.
Selection criteria: Eligibility is based on school affiliation and verification, not competitive academic ranking.
💌 Letters of Rec
💡
Strategic Detail
$5,000 per year grant for students graduating from an NCSA or CESA member school. Renewal requires at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA and full-time enrollment. The award value may be reduced for students living off-campus. Children of Lipscomb employees and recipients of other full-tuition institutional awards are excluded. This grant combined with all other gift aid cannot exceed full tuition.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Graduates of qualifying NCSA or CESA member schools whose head of school submits the required documentation and who maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA at Lipscomb. Note that this grant can be partially reduced if living off-campus, as it falls under the on-and-off-campus award category.
Automatic⚠ Transfer Only
Lipscomb Pathways Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (2.5 GPA)
$14,000–$20,000/yr
✔ Stackable
🏫 2.5+ GPA🎓 Transfer
✚
Stacking & Combining
Stacks with the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship, the Phi Theta Kappa award, and the Community College Transfer Scholarship. It does not combine with other Lipscomb institutional aid or with the Transfer Trustee Scholarship. Children of Lipscomb employees are not eligible.
💡
Strategic Detail
This is the anchor award for transfers and it is substantial, between 14,000 and 20,000 dollars a year, paid out by semester. You do not apply for it separately, but you do have to file the FAFSA, which trips up families who assume a merit award skips that step. Where your GPA lands in the 2.5 and up range drives where you fall in the range.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Effectively every transfer with 12 hours and a 2.5. This is not a contest, it is a published rate. The thing to watch is the stacking rule, because it locks you out of other Lipscomb institutional aid. Run the math on this plus HOPE plus the community college and Phi Theta Kappa awards against a Transfer Trustee application before you choose a lane.
Automaticpipeline
National Merit Finalist and Semi-Finalist Award
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
⚠ Lipscomb guarantees full tuition plus a small stipend for National Merit Finalists who enroll and designate Lipscomb as their first‑choice schoo
Holistic / Status Based
💡
Strategic Detail
Lipscomb does have a National Merit award and it is clearly a significant one, since holders are excluded from other scholarships for already reaching full tuition. But we could not find the actual dollar figure published anywhere on Lipscomb's own site, and the numbers floating around on scholarship aggregator sites do not trace back to the university. If you are a Finalist, call financial aid and get the amount in writing before you commit. Also know the value changes if you live off campus.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Roughly the top one percent of PSAT takers in your state, so this is settled long before you apply to Lipscomb. If you are a Finalist, you have real leverage here and should use it in conversation with admissions rather than waiting to see what shows up in the letter.
Automatic⚠ Transfer Only
Phi Theta Kappa and National Society of Leadership and Success Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (3 GPA)
🎓 Transfer
✚
Stacking & Combining
Combines with the Lipscomb Pathways Scholarship and the Community College Transfer Scholarship.
💡
Strategic Detail
If you joined Phi Theta Kappa at your community college, that membership is worth 3,500 dollars a year at Lipscomb. Bring the official documentation with you when you enroll rather than mentioning it later, because the award attaches when you enter. This one stacks with both of the other transfer awards.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Transfer students who bothered to accept the honor society invitation and kept the paperwork. Plenty of students get the PTK invite, pay the dues, and then never think about it again. Those are the ones leaving 3,500 dollars a year on the table.
Automatic
Scout Award
📅 Deadline: Prior to freshman year enrollment
✓ Renews (3 GPA, 4 yrs)
Holistic / Status Based
💡
Strategic Detail
All those years of scouting are worth 2,500 dollars a year here, and there is no application to write. Just send proof of the award before you enroll. Two conditions worth planning around. You have to live on campus to keep it, so moving off campus junior year will cost you the money, and you need to hold a 3.0.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Anyone who finished the capstone award in their organization. This is not competitive at all. The students who lose it are the ones who move off campus or slip below a 3.0, not the ones who fail to impress a committee.
* 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.
Reading the cards above: freshmen and transfers are two different worlds
Several of the awards listed are transfer-only, and the dollar figures are not comparable across the two groups. If your student is coming straight out of high school, the awards that apply are the Merit-Based Scholarship, the Christian Education Grant, the Scout Award, the Church Match, and National Merit. If your student is transferring, the relevant ones are the Lipscomb Pathways Scholarship, the Community College Transfer Scholarship, and the Phi Theta Kappa and NSLS award. Do not add a freshman number to a transfer number and expect that total to show up on an offer letter.
💡 The Transfer Story Most Families Miss
Lipscomb treats transfer students unusually well, and almost nobody talks about it. The Lipscomb Pathways Scholarship runs from $14,000 to $20,000 per year and is automatic for students bringing at least 12 credit hours with a 2.5 college GPA. What makes it interesting is that it stacks. A Tennessee community college graduate who is an active Phi Theta Kappa member can layer the $3,500 PTK award and the $2,000 Community College Transfer Scholarship on top of Pathways, and Tennessee HOPE stacks on top of that. That is a meaningful package built entirely out of awards nobody has to compete for.
The catch worth naming: none of that stacking works with the Transfer Trustee Scholarship. Transfer Trustee is full tuition, but it replaces the entire stack rather than adding to it. For most students full tuition still wins, but it is worth doing the arithmetic rather than assuming.
Automatic Merit — FAQs (Lipscomb University)
Is there a GPA and test score chart I can look up?
No, and this is the biggest structural difference between Lipscomb and most large public universities. Lipscomb reviews each admitted student holistically using weighted GPA, course rigor, and test scores if submitted. There is no published tier where a 3.8 and a 29 guarantee a specific dollar amount. Plan on a range and treat any specific figure you hear from another family as their outcome, not a promise.
Does Lipscomb superscore?
Yes. Lipscomb superscores the ACT and SAT, which means your student’s best section scores across multiple test dates get combined. If your student is close to a threshold, taking the test again is genuinely worth it here in a way it is not at schools that use a single sitting.
Do we have to submit test scores?
For admission, no. For the Trustee Scholarship, yes, without exception. Some individual majors and programs also require scores after admission. If your student has a decent score, sending it costs nothing and can only help the merit review.
Do these awards stack with each other?
Generally yes, within limits. The Merit-Based Scholarship, Christian Education Grant, Scout Award, and Church Match are designed to layer. But Lipscomb applies a Direct Cost Policy that caps total institutional gift aid, and several awards specify that they plus all other gift aid cannot exceed full tuition. Once you hit that ceiling, additional awards get reduced rather than added.
Are they renewable?
Yes, but the renewal GPA varies by award and some are lower than families expect. The Christian Education Grant and Community College Transfer Scholarship renew at a 2.0. Pathways renews at 2.5. The Scout Award and the PTK award require a 3.0. All of them require full-time enrollment, and all academic scholarships expire at 126 attempted hours.
What is the Church Match Program actually worth?
Up to $500 per year, which is small, but it is completely free money that requires nothing from your student. If your family attends a Church of Christ, ask your congregation whether they contribute toward members’ college costs. Lipscomb matches whatever they send, dollar for dollar, up to $500. The financial aid office applies it automatically once the church’s funds arrive.
What happens if my student is a National Merit Finalist?
Lipscomb has a designated award for both Finalists and Semifinalists. Lipscomb does not currently publish the package details on a dedicated page, so contact financial aid directly for the current terms before you make an enrollment decision. What is documented is that it functions as a replacement award: it supersedes the rest of the Lipscomb institutional package rather than stacking on top of it.
Sources:
https://lipscomb.edu/admissions/tuition-and-financial-aid/current-students/types-aid-current-students/current-students-0
https://lipscomb.edu/admissions/freshmen-admissions/freshmen-admission-requirements
🏆 Flagship Scholarships (Competitive Scholarships)
Lipscomb runs exactly two flagship competitive awards, and both carry the same name for a reason. The Trustee Scholarship goes to about ten incoming freshmen a year. The Transfer Trustee Scholarship is its counterpart for transfer students, awarded in partnership with the Tennessee Board of Regents. Both cover full tuition. Neither covers housing or meals. That distinction is worth about $18,000 a year, so read the next paragraph carefully before you celebrate.
⚠️ “Full tuition” does not mean “free.”
A Trustee Scholarship covers tuition and fees. It does not cover housing, meals, books, or travel. And because the award requires on-campus residency, your student cannot cut the housing bill by moving off campus without putting the scholarship at risk. A Trustee winner is still looking at roughly $18,000 a year in room and board before books and personal expenses. For Tennessee residents, HOPE can be applied toward those non-tuition costs, which is the main reason in-state Trustee winners come out meaningfully ahead of out-of-state ones.
✅ Can You Stack Scholarships at Lipscomb?
| Aid Type |
Stacks with Merit? |
Lipscomb Parent Translation |
| Trustee / Transfer Trustee |
No, replaces |
Lipscomb states plainly that this is not stackable with any other institutional aid. Winning it deletes your merit award rather than adding to it. |
| National Merit award |
No, replaces |
Same structure as Trustee. It supersedes the rest of the Lipscomb institutional package. Confirm current terms with financial aid. |
| Automatic merit awards |
Usually yes |
The Merit-Based Scholarship, Christian Education Grant, Scout Award, and Church Match are built to layer, up to Lipscomb’s Direct Cost Policy cap. |
| Transfer awards |
Yes, with limits |
Pathways stacks with HOPE, PTK/NSLS, and the Community College Transfer award. None of them stack with Transfer Trustee. |
| Tennessee HOPE |
Yes |
State money, not Lipscomb money, so it survives the replacement rules. For Trustee winners living on campus, HOPE goes toward housing and fees. |
| Need-based grants (Pell, TSAA, memorials) |
Usually |
Meant to fill the gap after merit. Institutional memorial funds get adjusted if your other gift aid grows, so a new outside scholarship can quietly reduce them. |
| Outside scholarships |
Yes, but report them |
Lipscomb requires you to notify financial aid, and states outright that outside awards can affect your institutional aid eligibility. Report them anyway. Getting caught is worse. |
| Athletic aid |
Partially |
Athletes whose total Lipscomb aid reaches full tuition become ineligible for several other awards, including the Christian Education Grant. Anyone receiving $12,000 or more in athletic aid must file the FAFSA. |
Full TuitionApp Required⚠ Transfer Onlypipeline
Transfer Trustee Scholarship
📅 Deadline: March 1
✓ Renews (3.25 GPA)
Full Tuition
merit
✘ Not stackable
⚠ Full‑tuition Lipscomb scholarship for top transfers with ≥3.5 GPA and at least 30 transferable credits; requires a separate application and interview.
🏫 3.5+ GPA👥 ~Lipscomb's scholarships hub says eight awards; the dedicated program page says only a select number and does not give a figure. winners/yr🎓 Transfer
✚
Stacking & Combining
Does not combine with any other Lipscomb institutional aid. It can be held alongside the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship if you live on campus. If you live off campus and qualify for HOPE, that HOPE money is counted as part of the full-tuition package rather than added to it.
📄
How to Apply
Get admitted first, then complete the application in your Bison Portal. The window runs from November 1 to March 1. Submit a headshot, a one-page resume covering your college leadership, church involvement, work, and community service, and a two to three minute video choosing three of Lipscomb's Impact 360 values. Selected applicants interview in person in April, and slots are assigned first come first served.
✎ Essays🎤 Interview🌟 Finalist Event
💡
Strategic Detail
Full tuition for transfers, which is rare and genuinely worth building a plan around. The window opens November 1 and closes March 1, and you must be admitted before you can apply, so start the admission application in the fall. One warning on the renewal terms. The 3.25 requirement kicks in from your first semester at Lipscomb, with no grace period while you adjust.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Community college students with a clean 3.5 who transfer in with a full associate's worth of credit and can talk about leadership and service in an interview. Looking at recent recipients, Tennessee community colleges are heavily represented but out-of-state students clearly win it too. Note this locks out the Pathways award, so if you are borderline on the 3.5, the stackable transfer awards may pay you more reliably.
Full TuitionApp Required
Trustee Scholarship
📅 Deadline: January 7 · 📢 Results: Interviews are held in late January and February; selected applicants are contacted by email.
✓ Renews (3.25 GPA)
Full Tuition
merit
✘ Not stackable
⚠ Prestigious full‑tuition merit scholarship for top Lipscomb freshmen, awarded via separate application and interview; tuition only, no room or board.
🏫 3.5+ GPA✎ ~30 ACT✎ ~1360 SAT👥 ~10 incoming freshmen each year winners/yr
✚
Stacking & Combining
This scholarship is not stackable with any other Lipscomb institutional aid.
📄
How to Apply
Apply for admission first, since you must be admitted before you can apply. The application opens in mid to late October in your Bison Portal under the Trustee Scholarship Application tab. Submit a one-page resume covering school leadership, church involvement, work, and community service, plus a two to three minute video where you pick three of Lipscomb's Impact 360 values and explain how you live them out, plus a photo. Submit early, because interview slots are assigned first come first served.
✎ Essays🎤 Interview🌟 Finalist Event
💡
Strategic Detail
This is the big one at Lipscomb, full tuition for ten freshmen a year, and it is a real competition with a resume, a video essay, and an in-person interview. The deadline is early January, so the work happens over the fall of senior year. Two things families miss. If you applied test optional you still have to send a score to be considered, and the award replaces all other Lipscomb aid rather than adding to it.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Ten students out of a very large qualified pool, so meeting the 30 ACT and 3.5 GPA bar just gets you into the room. What separates winners is the video and interview, and Lipscomb is explicit that it is looking for fit with its Christian mission, so church and service involvement carries genuine weight here. If your resume is strong academically but thin on leadership and service, this is a long shot worth attempting but not worth counting on.
* 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.
❓ Flagship / Competitive Scholarship FAQs
What does the Trustee application actually involve?
Your student has to be admitted first, then apply through the Bison Portal. The application is a one-page résumé, a photo, and a two to three minute personal video essay responding to Lipscomb’s Impact 360 values prompt. Students choose three of eight values and explain how they live them out. Selected finalists come to campus for an in-person interview with faculty, staff, and current students. There is no remote option.
When are the deadlines?
The application opens in late October and closes in early January. Interviews happen across three Saturdays in late January and February. The important detail buried in Lipscomb’s own instructions: interview slots are assigned first-come, first-served. Submitting in November instead of the first week of January means your student gets a real choice of date. Confirm this year’s exact dates with Lipscomb before you plan around them.
What are the hard eligibility requirements?
A 3.5 cumulative high school GPA, weighted GPAs accepted, plus one of the following: ACT 30 or higher, SAT 1360 or higher, or CLT 97 or higher including superscores. Students who applied to Lipscomb test-optional must still submit an official score.
How many are awarded?
About ten Trustee Scholarships to incoming freshmen each year. For the Transfer Trustee, Lipscomb’s scholarships hub cites eight awards annually while the dedicated program page says only that a select number are awarded. Either way you are looking at single digits, so treat it as a long shot worth applying for rather than a plan.
What are the renewal terms?
A 3.25 cumulative GPA and continued on-campus residency. The GPA threshold is lower than the entry threshold, which is unusual and helpful, but the housing requirement is the one that trips people up in year three.
How should my student prepare?
The video essay is the differentiator, and it is not judged on production quality. Lipscomb says so explicitly. What they are evaluating is whether your student can speak specifically and honestly about how they live out three named values. Vague answers about leadership do not survive that format. Our Essay Toolkit and Brag Sheet Builder can help organize the raw material.
Is Lipscomb a Stamps Scholarship partner?
No. Lipscomb is not a current Stamps partner institution.
Is there a competitive full ride?
No. Lipscomb’s top competitive awards cover tuition only. Anyone telling you Lipscomb offers a competitive full ride is describing something the university does not currently publish.
Sources:
https://lipscomb.edu/admissions/tuition-and-financial-aid/current-students/types-aid-current-students/current-students-1
https://lipscomb.edu/transfer-trustee-scholarships
🧠 Parent Strategy: The “Who Do You Know” Awards
Lipscomb’s most valuable overlooked money is not tied to your student’s grades. It is tied to where the adults in your family work and worship. These awards are not advertised on the main scholarships page, they require a form rather than an essay, and almost nobody thinks to ask about them. Run down this list before you file anything:
- Does a parent work full time for a Church of Christ? Ministers, missionaries, and certain other full-time ministerial roles qualify their children for an Employment-Based Scholarship worth up to $11,000 per year. The top tier is capped at fifteen students and priority goes to families who submit the Employment Verification form by March 1.
- Does a parent work at a Christian K-12 school? If it is an NCSA member school, that is a $1,000 per year grant.
- Does a parent work at any Christian college or university? If it is one of the CCCU’s member institutions, the Tuition Waiver Exchange can mean full tuition at Lipscomb. This is one of the most underused benefits in Christian higher education, and it is coordinated through your parent’s employer, not through Lipscomb.
- Did your student graduate from an NCSA or CESA member school? That is an automatic $5,000 per year, but it needs a verification letter from the head of school.
- Does your congregation contribute toward members’ education? Lipscomb matches up to $500 a year.
Parent translation: at most schools the hidden money is departmental. At Lipscomb, a surprising share of it is about affiliation. Making three phone calls in October could be worth more than another point of GPA.
💎 Hidden Gem Scholarships
These awards are not part of the automatic package. Some require a separate application, some require an audition, and some require nothing more than a form from an employer. What they share is that they generally stack on top of merit rather than replacing it, which makes them the difference between Lipscomb being affordable and Lipscomb being a stretch.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Athletic Scholarships
📅 Deadline: Coach and NCAA recruiting timelines
✓ Renews
👥 ~Limited by NCAA scholarship limits and team budgets. winners/yr🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
Subject to NCAA rules and institutional policies; may affect or replace some institutional aid, while federal and state grants can still reduce net cost.
📄
How to Apply
Be recruited by a Lipscomb NCAA Division I coach, complete admission and NCAA eligibility requirements, and sign appropriate athletic scholarship documents if offered.
Selection criteria: Determined by coaching staff evaluations of athletic ability, potential impact on the team, and academic eligibility.
💡
Strategic Detail
Amounts vary widely by sport, position, and year; some students receive partial awards while a smaller number receive near-full or full tuition support.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Recruited student-athletes whose skills and fit meet roster needs in Lipscomb’s Division I sports programs.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
CCCU Tuition Waiver Exchange Program
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
💡
Strategic Detail
Lipscomb takes part in a tuition exchange program run across Christian colleges nationally, and applications go to Lipscomb directly. What Lipscomb does not publish is who qualifies, how much it is worth, or when to apply, because the CCCU sets those terms rather than the university. If this might apply to your family, call Lipscomb financial aid and ask for the current year's terms in writing rather than relying on what is posted.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Tuition exchange programs of this kind generally serve families connected to employment at participating member institutions, but since Lipscomb does not publish the criteria we are not going to guess at yours. Treat this as a phone call to make rather than an award to plan around.
App Required
Employment-Based Scholarship for Ministry Families
📅 Deadline: March 1
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
$5,000–$11,000/yr
✔ Stackable
👥 ~The 11,000 dollar level is limited to 15 students. winners/yr
✚
Stacking & Combining
Stacks with all other gift aid including outside scholarships and federal and state grants, but the total cannot exceed full tuition. If it does, this award is reduced. Children of Lipscomb employees are not eligible.
📄
How to Apply
Get admitted to Lipscomb, then have a church elder complete and sign the Employment Verification form confirming your parent's ministry role. Submit it by March 1 to be in line for the higher award level. Your parent has to send in a new verification form every year to keep the award.
💡
Strategic Detail
For a Church of Christ school this is the most valuable award almost nobody talks about, and it is buried under Grants rather than Scholarships on the site. There are two levels. 11,000 dollars a year goes to 15 students, with priority to those admitted and verified by March 1, and everyone else who qualifies gets 5,000. That March 1 date is the whole ballgame, because it is the difference between 11,000 and 5,000 for four years. Also plan on living on campus, since that is a condition.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Every qualifying ministry family gets at least 5,000. The 15 slots at 11,000 go to the families who got admitted and turned in the elder-signed verification form early, which is a paperwork race rather than a merit contest. If your parent is in ministry, treat March 1 as a hard deadline and start the elder signature conversation in January, because tracking down an elder in February is how families end up at the lower tier.
Full TuitionApp Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Lipscomb Educator Scholars
📅 Deadline: January 1, 2027 for Metro Nashville students · 📢 Results: March 16, 2027 for Metro Nashville applicants; other districts are notified two weeks after interviewing.
✓ Renews
Full Tuition
merit
✘ Not stackable
🏫 2.8+ GPA🎓 All Undergrad
📄
How to Apply
Submit the online Lipscomb Educator Scholars application. High school applicants should apply by February 10, with Metro Nashville students applying by January 1 for early interviews and early notification. Interviews run from late February through early April and last about 15 minutes with a College of Education faculty member. Recipients have until May 1 to accept. If you find out late, contact the office anyway, since they interview into the summer while funds remain. Current Lipscomb students apply by May 1 and are considered on a rolling basis.
✎ Essays🎤 Interview
💡
Strategic Detail
This is the single smartest application on Lipscomb's whole site if you want to teach. One form puts you in front of every scholarship the College of Education has, including Pionero, Noyce, Ayers Leadership Fellows, and Christian Educator Programs, and the awards run all the way up to full tuition. The GPA bar is only a 2.75 weighted, which is far lower than most families expect for money this size. Deadlines are unusually generous too, with a summer window still open if you decide late.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Students who genuinely want to teach and can say why in a 15-minute conversation. The academic bar is low by design, because the College of Education is recruiting future teachers rather than ranking transcripts. Metro Nashville students have a structural edge through the priority track with earlier interviews and earlier notification. Not every award reaches full tuition, so expect a range, but almost everyone who applies and interviews walks away with something.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Music Scholarships
📅 Deadline: Varies by audition dates; earlier auditions generally considered first
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
👥 ~Limited by School of Music scholarship budget and ensemble needs. winners/yr🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
Typically stacks with academic and need-based aid, subject to NCAA and institutional aid limits; renewal requires continued participation and satisfactory academic progress.
📄
How to Apply
Apply to Lipscomb and schedule an audition through the School of Music; awards are determined based on audition performance and ensemble or program needs.
Selection criteria: Awards are based on audition quality, musical potential, and the needs of specific ensembles or studios.
💡
Strategic Detail
Specific award names and amounts vary by year, area, and ensemble; scholarships may be available to both majors and non-majors in select ensembles.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Talented musicians majoring or minoring in music or participating in Lipscomb ensembles who perform strongly in auditions.
Automatic⚠ All Undergrad Only
Opportunity Scholarship Fund
📅 Deadline: June 30 (FAFSA deadline); earlier filing recommended
✓ Renews
👥 ~Subject to annual Opportunity Fund budget. winners/yr🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional need-based grant that stacks with federal, state, and merit aid but may adjust as other resources change to keep total aid within cost-of-attendance limits.
💡
Strategic Detail
Multi-year, need-based institutional funding; award size depends on available funds and individual need.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Admitted students whose remaining financial need is not fully met by other grants and scholarships and who complete the FAFSA.
App Requiredgeographicmajor
Pionero Scholars Program
📅 Deadline: January 1, 2027 for Metro Nashville students
✓ Renews (3 GPA)
$10,000/yr
✘ Not stackable
👥 ~Three to six students each year winners/yr
💡
Strategic Detail
Up to 10,000 dollars a year for local students who want to teach in the Nashville area, and only three to six are given out annually. The hard requirement is geographic, meaning a public high school in one of seven Middle Tennessee counties. Being first-generation or low-income helps your case but is not required, which is a common misreading. Apply through the same Lipscomb Educator Scholars form that covers all the College of Education awards. Be ready for real obligations beyond grades, including group meetings, recruitment help, and five service hours a semester.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
With three to six awards a year against seven counties of eligible graduates, this is genuinely selective. The stated preferences tell you the profile, meaning students who are first in their family to attend college, come from tighter financial circumstances, and can speak credibly about returning to teach in the community they grew up in. If you are a suburban Williamson County student with no financial need, you are eligible but not the target. The good news is the same application also considers you for every other Education award.
App Required
College of Business Swang Scholars Program
📅 Deadline: January 7 · 📢 Results: Decisions are finalized by March 15 and posted in the Bison Portal.
Non-Renewable
🏫 3.5+ GPA✎ ~30 ACT✎ ~1360 SAT
📄
How to Apply
Apply for admission first, then apply through the Bison Portal by January 7. Selection is based on academic record, business interest and experience, essays, a video submission, and a faculty interview. Interviews are held in late January and February with both virtual and in-person options. You may apply to a maximum of two scholars programs.
✎ Essays🎤 Interview🌟 Finalist Event
💡
Strategic Detail
Worth being clear about what this is and is not. Swang Scholars is a business honors-style cohort, not a tuition scholarship. The money attached is a one-time 1,000 dollars toward the College of Business Aspire study abroad program. The real value is the access, meaning executive networking, the Dean's Student Leadership Council, company visits, and faculty mentoring. It uses the same academic bar and the same January 7 deadline as the Trustee, so if you clear that bar you can apply to both.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Strong business-minded students who clear the 30 ACT and 3.5 GPA gate and can show genuine business interest in an essay and interview. Cohorts run small, roughly seven to ten students. Do not choose Lipscomb over another school because of this award, since the cash is 1,000 dollars once. Do apply if you are already coming, because the doors it opens in Nashville are the actual payoff.
* 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.
Also Worth Asking About (Not Listed Above)
- Memorial Scholarships: Lipscomb’s umbrella term for need-based institutional aid. More than seventy funds exist, many designated for specific majors including art, Bible, biology, business, chemistry, dietetics, English, history, journalism, pre-med, pre-nursing, and social work. Awarded on FAFSA results, generally to those who apply first.
- Engineering departmental awards: Typically $500 to $2,500 per year through the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, renewable up to four years. Applications are reviewed starting in January.
- Presidential Leadership Scholars and Engineering Scholars Programs: Competitive cohort programs open to any major and to engineering majors respectively. The Engineering program includes guaranteed funding for a Peugeot Center engineering mission trip.
- Noyce Scholars: For STEM majors committing to teach math or science in grades 6 through 12 in high-need districts. Requires a separate application from the general education scholarship process.
- Lipscomb Academy Valedictorian Scholarship and the Kappa Iota Theta Scholarship: Both appear in Lipscomb’s official award lists but have no public detail pages. Ask financial aid directly if either might apply.
❓ Hidden Gems FAQ
Do these stack with merit aid?
Most do, but Lipscomb enforces a Direct Cost Policy that caps total institutional gift aid, and several of these awards state specifically that they plus all other gift aid cannot exceed full tuition. If your student is already near full tuition through merit, an additional award may get reduced rather than added. Read your award letter line by line.
Who is excluded from the Christian Education Grant?
Children of Lipscomb employees, Trustee Scholarship recipients, National Merit Finalists and Semifinalists, Lipscomb Academy Valedictorian Scholarship recipients, and athletes whose combined Lipscomb aid already reaches full tuition. It is a gap filler, not a bonus for students who already have a full-tuition award.
Does living off campus affect these?
For some, yes, and in two different ways. The Employment-Based Scholarships carry a hard on-campus residency requirement, with the NCSA K-12 grant as the exception. The Head of School grant is classified as an “on and off campus award,” meaning it does not disappear if you live off campus but its value gets reduced. Ask about this before you sign a lease.
How does the Pionero Scholars Program work?
It is narrower than most people assume. Pionero awards go to three to six students a year, worth up to $10,000, and applicants must be graduating from a public high school in Davidson, Cheatham, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Wilson, or Williamson County and heading into teacher licensure. You apply through the single Lipscomb Educator Scholars application, and Metro Nashville students have an earlier priority date. Renewal requires a 3.0 GPA plus group meetings and service hours.
What is Lipscomb Educator Scholars?
One application that puts your student in front of every College of Education scholarship they might qualify for, with awards ranging up to full tuition. If your student is thinking about teaching at all, this is the highest-leverage form on this entire page. Noyce candidates apply separately.
How do music scholarships work?
Through audition with the School of Music inside the George Shinn College of Entertainment and the Arts. Amounts vary by year, instrument, and what the ensembles need. Some awards are available to non-majors who participate in ensembles, which surprises people. Earlier audition dates are generally considered first.
What about the Opportunity Scholarship Fund?
This is Lipscomb’s institutional need-based funding, awarded through the financial aid packaging process rather than a student application. There is no form to fill out beyond the FAFSA. Most awards renew across four years as long as the student stays in good standing.
If there is no deadline listed, when should we act?
Treat October as the working deadline for anything requiring an employer form, and treat the FAFSA opening date as the deadline for anything need-based. Lipscomb’s own language about need-based memorial funds being awarded to those who apply first is the tell.
Sources:
https://lipscomb.edu/admissions/financial-aid/types-aid/grants
https://lipscomb.edu/education/college-education-academic-programs/scholarships/lipscomb-educator-scholars
https://lipscomb.edu/admissions/freshmen-admissions/scholars-programs
https://lipscomb.edu/engineering/engineering-scholarship
Honors College at Lipscomb University
The Lipscomb Honors College is built around a Liberal Arts Heritage curriculum rather than a stack of extra requirements. Honors courses replace much of the standard general education core, which means joining does not add time to the degree. Students choose courses across six areas: the Ancient World, the Modern World, Literature, the Sciences, Society and Perspectives, and Faith and Reason. Graduating as an Honors Scholar requires finishing that curriculum. Graduating as an Honors Fellow requires the curriculum plus a thesis.
🚨 The step families miss: check the box.
Lipscomb does not make incoming freshmen write a separate Honors application. Eligible students are reviewed automatically during admissions. But that review only happens if your student checks the box on the Lipscomb application indicating interest in the Honors College. Miss the box and a qualified student can sail through admissions without ever being considered. If an offer comes, you accept it in the Bison Portal.
- Entering freshmen: 3.85 high school GPA, plus ACT 28 or SAT 1310. Lipscomb notes it makes exceptions for students with other notable qualifications, so a near miss is worth an email.
- Transfer students: Eligible with a strong record from the previous institution.
- Current Lipscomb students: A 3.5 Lipscomb GPA plus two letters of recommendation from Lipscomb professors.
- To stay in: A 3.5 GPA. Falling below puts a student on provisional status rather than immediately out.
Honors College Scholarships
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Honors College Scholarships
📅 Deadline: Varies; announced each January for the following academic year
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
Awarded in addition to standard academic scholarships, subject to institutional stacking caps and direct cost limits.
📄
How to Apply
Gain admission to the Lipscomb Honors College. Once enrolled, submit the Honors College scholarship application by the annual deadline, which is typically announced each January for the following academic year. Application includes essay responses.
Selection criteria: Holistic review of academic performance, Honors engagement, and essay responses; criteria and prompts vary each year.
✎ Essays
💡
Strategic Detail
The Honors College administers annual scholarships worth up to $5,000 for enrolled Honors College students. Selection criteria, number of awards, and prompts may vary year to year and are managed internally. Details are announced each January; students should watch for the announcement from the Honors College and apply promptly.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Honors College students who demonstrate strong academic engagement, active participation in Honors coursework and community, and compelling responses to the annual scholarship prompts. Being in the Honors College is the entry ticket — the scholarship application is a separate step worth taking every year.
* 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.
Important distinction: getting into the Honors College is one thing, and getting Honors money is another. Admission is reviewed automatically. The Honors College scholarships, worth up to $5,000, require a separate application with essay responses, and the deadline is announced each January for the following year. This is an annual opportunity, not a one-time freshman thing, so students should watch for the announcement every year they are enrolled.
What Honors Actually Gets You Beyond the Money
- Priority registration: Honors students register early, which over four years is worth more than most families realize for staying on track.
- Honors Housing: A dedicated block of rooms in the freshman dorms, with a pilot program extending Honors Housing to juniors and seniors.
- Research funding: Application-based support for undergraduate research projects and travel funding to present at national and international conferences.
- National scholarship advising: Guided support for Fulbright and other competitive post-graduate awards, plus dedicated advising for graduate and professional school applications.
- The Honors House and peer mentoring: Upperclassmen paired with younger students, plus a physical home base on campus.
Honors College — FAQs (Lipscomb University)
Is Honors admission automatic if we hit the numbers?
Close, but not quite. Eligible applicants are reviewed automatically, and the thresholds are published, but admission is described as competitive. The one thing entirely in your control is checking the interest box on the application.
Does Honors add work or add time to graduation?
Neither, by design. Lipscomb addresses this directly on its own site: honors courses go deeper rather than piling on volume, and they satisfy general education credit. Smaller, discussion-based classes with the college’s strongest faculty is the actual trade.
Do Honors students automatically get scholarship money?
No. The Honors College scholarships are a separate annual application with essay responses. Being in the Honors College is the entry ticket, not the award.
Can a student apply to Honors after freshman year?
Yes. Current Lipscomb students with a 3.5 GPA can apply with two faculty recommendations. If your student’s high school record was not quite there, this is a real second door.
Does Honors stack with the Trustee Scholarship?
Honors participation itself is not aid, so there is no conflict. But Trustee is explicitly not stackable with other institutional aid, so a Trustee recipient should confirm with financial aid before assuming an Honors scholarship would land on top.
Is Honors worth it for a pre-professional student?
Often yes, and the research support is the reason. Application-based funding for projects and conference travel is unusual at a school this size, and it is exactly the kind of line that matters on a medical, law, or graduate school application.
Sources:
https://lipscomb.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/honors-college/about-honors-college
https://lipscomb.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/honors-college/honors-college-common-questions
https://lipscomb.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/honors-college/students-scholarships
⭐ College Specialty
Lipscomb’s real advantage is not a ranking, it is a zip code. The campus sits inside Nashville, which means the entertainment industry, a fast-growing corporate economy, and one of the country’s largest healthcare hubs are all a short drive away. That geography shows up in where students intern and who teaches them. Several programs here are taught by people who still work in the field during the week.
Nationally Known Program:
George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts — This is the program that makes Lipscomb genuinely distinctive rather than just solid. Students train with Grammy and Dove Award winning musicians, learn animation from former Disney feature animators, work on productions with professional companies, and curate shows at a gallery in downtown Nashville. The college houses the School of Music, the School of Theatre and Film, the School of Art, and the School of Fashion and Design. For a student pursuing commercial music, songwriting, film production, or animation, being in Nashville with working professionals as faculty is a structural advantage no ranking captures.
- College of Business: AACSB accredited, which puts it in the top tier of business schools globally and separates it from most schools Lipscomb’s size. The Swang Scholars Program adds faculty mentoring, executive networking, field trips to Nashville companies, and study abroad funding. Majors span accounting, finance, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, data analytics, and data science.
- Health Sciences: The deepest bench on campus. Nursing is ACEN accredited, the pharmacy program is ACPE accredited, and Lipscomb runs graduate programs in physician assistant studies, cardiovascular perfusion, and anesthesiology assistant. For a pre-health undergraduate, having those programs on the same campus means research access, shadowing, and clear pipelines that are hard to find at a school with 3,500 undergraduates.
- Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering: ABET accredited in electrical and computer, civil, and mechanical engineering. The signature element is the Peugeot Center engineering mission trip program, where students apply their coursework to infrastructure and water projects abroad. The Engineering Scholars Program guarantees funding for that trip.
- College of Education: CAEP accredited, and home to the most generous scholarship pipeline on campus. Between Lipscomb Educator Scholars, the Pionero Scholars Program, and Noyce Scholars for STEM teaching, a student committed to teaching can access awards ranging up to full tuition through a single application.
- Law, Justice and Society: An unusual undergraduate major that shows up repeatedly among Lipscomb’s top scholarship winners. It sits in the College of Leadership and Public Service and is aimed at students heading toward law, public service, nonprofit management, or policy work.
One honest note on fit. Lipscomb is a Christ-centered institution affiliated with the Churches of Christ, and that is not a background detail. It shapes the curriculum, chapel, the scholarship structure, and the values framework at the center of the Trustee application. Families for whom that is the draw will find it a very strong match. Families for whom it is incidental should visit before committing, because it is present in daily life rather than optional.
🔗 Official Lipscomb University Links
Every link below was checked and is live. Because Lipscomb does not publish a merit grid, these official pages matter more here than at most schools. Use them to confirm deadlines, award terms, and residency requirements before you make an enrollment decision.
✅ Wrapping It Up
Here is the honest read on Lipscomb. It is a small Christian university in a great city with a genuinely strong business school, a health sciences pipeline that punches above its size, and an entertainment and arts program that most schools three times larger cannot match. It also carries a private school price tag and discounts it heavily behind a curtain, which means you will not know your real number until an offer arrives.
What that changes about your strategy: at a school with a published merit grid, you can calculate your outcome in advance. Here you cannot, so the levers you actually control are timing and affiliation. Apply by October 15. File the FAFSA in October. And spend twenty minutes finding out whether anyone in your family works for a Church of Christ, a Christian K-12 school, or a CCCU member institution, because those three questions are worth more at Lipscomb than almost anywhere else, and nobody is going to ask them for you.
The two things not to get wrong: full tuition here means tuition, not room and board, and the biggest awards evaporate if your student moves off campus. Understand both of those before you sign anything, and Lipscomb can work out to a very reasonable number for the right family.
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