Morehouse College Scholarships (2026–2027)
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Last Updated on September 9, 2026- 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: ~44%
- Middle 50% ACT: 18-25
- Middle 50% SAT: 950-1160
- Average GPA: 3.5
Here is the single most useful thing to understand about paying for Morehouse: this is not a school where you look up your ACT score on a chart and read off a dollar amount. There is no grid. Morehouse reviews the whole student, and a committee decides who gets what.
That cuts both ways. A student with a 3.5 GPA and a thin activity list can come away with less than a family expected. A student with the same 3.5 and a real record of leadership, service, and follow-through can come away with more. If your student has a story, this is a school where the story counts. If your plan was to lean on test scores alone, you will want to adjust.
Comparing multiple schools? Try the Scholarship Tool to search by GPA, test scores, and state →
📌 Morehouse College at a Glance
- That November 1 date is a binding commitment, not a soft priority. Morehouse runs three rounds. Early Decision closes November 1 and it is binding. Early Action closes December 15 and is not binding. Regular Decision closes February 1 with decisions in March. The card above shows Nov 1 because that is the earliest date on the calendar, but do not apply that round unless Morehouse is your student’s clear first choice.
- Test-optional for admission, test-required for the best opportunities. Morehouse does not require a score to admit your student. But the Howard Thurman Honors Program generally looks for a 1200 SAT or 27 ACT, and the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program requires a 1200 SAT or 26 ACT. A student who skips testing entirely has quietly closed two of the most valuable doors on this campus.
- Winning outside scholarships can shrink your Morehouse money. Morehouse’s GAP funding is reduced dollar for dollar when outside scholarships, grants, loans, or personal payments hit the account after it is applied. The Rotary Club check may not add to your total the way you expect. Ask Student Financial Services how outside awards will be treated before you count on them.
- Institutional awards do not travel. Morehouse money cannot be used for summer terms, for Morehouse Online, for study abroad, or for dual degree programs. If your student is eyeing the dual degree engineering path, that restriction is worth a conversation now, not junior year.
- Old scholarship lists are floating around online and they are wrong. Names like Presidential, Dewitt Dean, and Student of Distinction show up on aggregator sites and blog posts. None of them appear on Morehouse’s current awards page. Plan from the college’s own site, not from a list someone posted in 2016.
FAQ
Is this college test-optional? Yes — Morehouse College is test-optional.
What is the middle 50% ACT/SAT? ACT: 18-25; SAT: 950-1160.
Average net price? About $36,292/year after aid.
Does this school use waivers/reciprocity? No — private school; same rate for all.
Stamps Scholars Program Returns to Morehouse College: https://news.morehouse.edu/stamps-scholars-program
Morehouse College Scholarships: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/scholarships
Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Grant: https://morehouse.edu/aid/grants/ambff
Morehouse College Institutional Awards: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards
Morehouse College GAP Funding: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/gap-funding
Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholars Program: https://morehouse.edu/academics/programs/oprah-winfrey-scholars/
CollegeScorecard / Admissions: https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
💰 Cost of Attendance at Morehouse 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) | $33,924 | $33,924 |
| Housing & Meals (typical) | $15,618 | $15,618 |
| Total (Direct Costs) | $49,542 | $49,542 |
Average Federal Net Price: $36,292 — 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.
Morehouse is a private college, so there is no in-state discount and no out-of-state penalty. A family in Atlanta and a family in Seattle see the identical published price. That also means there is no reciprocity agreement or tuition waiver to chase here. The lever that actually moves your cost is aid, not residency.
One exception worth knowing: Georgia residents do get a real state-funded advantage. For 2026-2027, the HOPE Scholarship pays full-time students at private Georgia colleges $2,985 per semester, and the Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant adds $550 per semester. That is roughly $7,000 a year before Morehouse contributes a dollar of its own money, and it is available at Morehouse specifically because Morehouse is a Georgia private college. Both amounts are set by the legislature each year. See our Georgia state aid and grants guide for eligibility rules and how to apply.
FAQ — Cost of Attendance at Morehouse College
What does the $33,924 tuition figure actually include?
Tuition of $15,513 per semester plus the $1,449 mandatory student fee per semester, for a student registered in 12 to 18 credit hours. The mandatory fee is a bundled charge covering student activities, campus security, technology, health services, athletics, and capital improvements. It shows up as one line on the bill but funds all of that.
Is the housing number the cheapest option or the typical one?
It reflects a Traditional Residence Hall room with a roommate plus the unlimited meal plan. That is the standard first-year setup. Suite and apartment-style housing in Otis Moss or the New Residence Hall runs higher, and a single room adds roughly $1,000 to $2,500 a year. Choosing a smaller meal plan can bring the number down, but the unlimited plan is required for traditional residence hall residents.
What is not in this total?
Books, transportation, personal expenses, and health insurance. Health insurance is mandatory unless your student is approved for a waiver, at $570 for Fall and $790 for Spring and Summer. If your student has coverage through a parent’s plan, file the waiver early. It is real money.
Are there one-time costs we should budget for?
Yes, and they add up fast in the spring of senior year. The acceptance deposit is $600, new student orientation for fall is $808, the housing application fee is $200, and there is a refundable $224 damage deposit. That is well over $1,800 before your student ever moves in.
Is the average net price of about $36,300 realistic for us?
It is the federal average after grants and scholarships, and it is a wide average. About 77 percent of Morehouse undergraduates receive grant aid, and roughly half of the student body comes from families with household incomes at or below $40,000. Families at the low end of that range often pay dramatically less. Families with strong income and no merit award can land at or near the published total. Run the numbers for your own household rather than planning off the average.
Does Morehouse require the CSS Profile?
No. FAFSA only. That is a genuine convenience compared with many private colleges, and it means one form drives federal aid, Georgia state aid, and Morehouse institutional aid all at once.
Do costs stay flat all four years?
No. Morehouse raised tuition and fees from $16,962 to that figure between the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 schedules, and rates are reset annually. Scholarship amounts typically do not rise with them, so plan for the gap to widen slightly each year.
https://morehouse.edu/aid/student-accounts/schedule-of-fees/2026-2027
https://morehouse.edu/aid/student-accounts/cost-of-attendance
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
📅 Morehouse Scholarship Timeline (Simple Version)
- August 1: Application opens. Institutional award consideration starts with the admission application, so the clock starts here.
- November 1: Early Decision closes. This is also the round Stamps candidates come from, and finalists are typically identified in December.
- December 15: Early Action closes. Non-binding, still early enough for full scholarship consideration.
- January 31: FAFSA priority date at Morehouse. Institutional award review requires a FAFSA on file.
- February 1: Regular Decision closes. Decisions go out in March.
Parent rule of thumb: apply by December 15 at the latest. Everything valuable at Morehouse is decided by committee, and committees run out of money before they run out of qualified applicants.
Automatic Merit Scholarships — Morehouse College
🧠 Parent Translation: What “Four Distinguished Activities” Actually Means
The Morehouse College Academic Award is the named academic merit award behind that automatic review, and its published criteria are a 3.4 minimum high school GPA plus evaluation of four distinguished activities across academics, leadership, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation. That last piece is the part families skip.
Four distinguished activities does not mean four club memberships. It means four things a reader can point at and say that is real. Two years leading something. A job your student kept. A service commitment with hours behind it. A teacher who can write specifically rather than generically. If your student is a junior, this is the year to build that list on purpose. If your student is a senior, it is the year to describe what already exists clearly and completely on the application.
Note: Institutional awards at Morehouse are applied to the student account first, before all other eligible aid, and they are non-refundable. They cannot be used for summer terms, Morehouse Online, study abroad, or dual degree programs.
Automatic Merit — FAQs (Morehouse College)
Is there a separate scholarship application?
Not for incoming freshmen. Morehouse states that newly admitted freshmen are automatically considered based on their existing admission application, though in some cases students are contacted directly or directed to the scholarship portal. Currently enrolled students apply through the Morehouse College Scholarship Portal.
Why are there no dollar amounts listed?
Because Morehouse does not publish them. Award sizes vary by student and by year, and they depend on the applicant pool and available funding. Any site showing you a Morehouse merit chart with specific dollar tiers is either using retired award names or making it up.
Do we have to file the FAFSA to be considered?
Yes for the Morehouse College Academic Award, which lists the current-year FAFSA as an initial criterion alongside the GPA and activity requirements. Morehouse also strongly encourages the FAFSA for all scholarship consideration. International students are not required to file it and should contact the Designated School Official in the Office of Student Services.
What GPA keeps the award once we have it?
For the MCAA, a cumulative 2.75 at the end of the first year, then a cumulative 3.0 at the end of each year after that, along with a minimum of 28 earned institutional credit hours per academic year and continuous full-time fall and spring enrollment. The step up from 2.75 to 3.0 after freshman year catches people off guard.
How long does it renew?
Academic awards renew for a maximum of eight semesters. Renewal eligibility is reviewed at the end of each summer term.
Can the award cover summer classes?
No. MCAA funding cannot be used for summer courses. Your student can still take summer credit at Morehouse to earn quality points and raise a cumulative GPA, but you are paying for those out of pocket.
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/scholarships
https://morehouse.edu/admissions/requirements-and-deadlines
🏆 Flagship Scholarships (Competitive Scholarships)
Morehouse relaunched its Stamps partnership in 2024 and welcomed its first modern cohort that fall. Understand what “top five candidates from the applicant pool” means in practice: there is no Stamps application at Morehouse. Your student’s regular admission application is the entry. Which is exactly why applying early matters so much here, and why a thin application in the November round costs more than most families realize.
✅ Can You Stack Scholarships at Morehouse?
| Aid Type | Stacks? | Morehouse Parent Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Stamps Scholarship | Replaces | It covers the entire cost of attending. Other aid is adjusted around it rather than added to it. |
| Institutional awards (MCAA, Talent, Athletic) | Yes, with priority | These post to the account first, before all other eligible aid. Everything else is layered underneath. |
| Georgia HOPE and GTEG | Yes | Georgia residents only. Real money that stacks with Morehouse aid and is worth roughly $7,000 a year full-time. |
| Federal Pell and SEOG | Yes | Need-based federal grants layer on top. Pell eligibility is also the gate for the Blank Foundation gap grant. |
| Outside scholarships | Careful | Morehouse reassesses restricted and need-based aid when outside funds arrive, and GAP funding is reduced dollar for dollar. Call Student Financial Services before you assume it adds. |
| ROTC | Usually | Morehouse hosts ROTC. Check the award letter for replacement language. |
The honest read: if your student is chasing multiple large essay-and-interview scholarships, Morehouse is not built like the big public flagships with a dozen named competitive awards. It has one enormous one and then a deep bench of smaller institutional and endowed awards. The strategy is different. You are not stacking trophies. You are getting admitted early with a strong file, then working the smaller awards and the gap programs.
❓ Flagship / Competitive Scholarship FAQs
How do we apply for the Stamps Scholarship?
You do not, separately. Stamps candidates are drawn from the College’s own applicant pool, with the top five selected. That makes the admission application itself the scholarship application, and it makes applying in the earliest round you are comfortable with the whole ballgame.
What is the Stamps award actually worth?
Up to $230,000 per student across four years. Morehouse describes it as covering the entire cost of attending, and recipients also get an enrichment fund covering fees for study abroad and academic and leadership conferences.
How many are awarded?
Five freshmen annually. The inaugural relaunch cohort in 2024 was four students, with the cohort growing to at least five in subsequent years.
Is there a published GPA or test cutoff for Stamps?
Morehouse does not publish one for the current program. Treat it as a top-of-the-pool award: strongest academics in the applicant group, plus the leadership and service profile Morehouse selects for everywhere else. Older sources citing a hard 3.7 minimum are describing the earlier version of the program.
Does Morehouse participate in National Merit or QuestBridge?
No to both. If your student is a National Merit Finalist, that recognition helps the application read well but does not trigger a Morehouse package the way it does at some public universities. See our National Merit guide for schools that do.
What should our student prepare?
Essays and a clear activity record, because everything here runs through committee review. Our Essay Toolkit and Brag Sheet Builder are built for exactly this kind of holistic file.
https://news.morehouse.edu/stamps-scholars-program
https://www.stampsscholars.org/2013/01/25/morehouse-college-atlanta-ga/
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards
The Howard Thurman Honors Program at Morehouse
Morehouse has an Honors Program, not an Honors College, and the distinction matters for how you plan. Named for Dr. Howard Thurman, the theologian and Morehouse alumnus who mentored a generation of civil rights leaders, it is a four-year program built around a stimulating learning environment aimed at academics, leadership, service, and global awareness, drawing students from across the College’s academic departments.
- Typical admit profile: generally a minimum 1200 SAT or 27 ACT, plus a minimum 3.4 high school GPA
- Required: completion of the Honors Program Student Profile
- Timing: applications are accepted on a rolling basis
- Second chances: second-semester freshmen and first-semester sophomores may be considered if they are not admitted at the start of freshman year, as capacity allows
- Near misses: freshmen whose entrance scores fall just below the minimum may be admitted on a one-semester conditional basis
This institution does not offer designated Honors College scholarships at this time.
⚠️ The Testing Trap, Spelled Out
Morehouse will admit your student without a test score. Howard Thurman Honors generally will not, and neither will the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program. That means a student who reads “test-optional” and stops preparing has, without realizing it, taken themselves out of the honors track and out of one of the largest endowed scholarship programs on campus.
Practical version: if your student can reasonably reach a 1200 SAT or 26 to 27 ACT, test. If they cannot get near it, submitting nothing is the right call for admission and you plan around the honors and Oprah paths. The mistake is not deciding at all.
Honors Program — FAQs (Morehouse College)
Is Honors admission automatic if my student qualifies?
No. It requires a separate Honors Program Student Profile, and admission is by review. Meeting the score and GPA thresholds makes your student a candidate, not a member.
Can my student join later?
Yes. Second-semester freshmen and first-semester sophomores may be considered as capacity allows. That is a real second door, and it is worth walking through it during the first year rather than assuming it closed.
Does Honors come with priority registration or special housing?
Morehouse does not publish a list of specific perks. Ask the program office directly during a campus visit. That is a good question for an admitted students weekend.
Are Honors courses just harder?
They are structured around depth, discussion, and global engagement rather than added volume. The program emphasizes leadership and social outreach in classes and in co-curricular activity across all four years.
If there is no honors scholarship, why bother?
Smaller cohorts, faculty attention, and the kind of record that supports Rhodes, Fulbright, Marshall, and graduate school applications later. The financial return shows up on the back end, not in the freshman award letter.
https://morehouse.edu/academics/programs/howard-thurman-honors-program/
https://morehouse.edu/academics/programs/oprah-winfrey-scholars/
⭐ College Specialty
Morehouse is the only historically Black liberal arts college in the country dedicated to educating men, founded in 1867 and sitting on about 2,200 undergraduates in Atlanta’s West End. That scale is the point. It is small enough that faculty know students by name, and connected enough that the alumni network reaches into government, law, medicine, film, and finance at a level no school this size has any business reaching.
Business and Economics. By a wide margin the largest program on campus, producing roughly 150 business administration and management degrees a year out of a graduating class of about 410. Economics graduates post among the strongest early earnings of any major here. The Morehouse Real Estate Institute and the Center for Black Entrepreneurs sit alongside it.
- Biology and the pre-health pipeline: The second largest degree program, and the front end of a well-worn path into medicine. Note carefully that Morehouse School of Medicine is a separate, independent institution. Attending Morehouse College does not grant admission there, and the two have distinct applications and finances. Families confuse this constantly.
- Political science and public leadership: The department behind a lineage that runs from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Senator Raphael Warnock. The Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership and the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Institute give this more institutional weight than a course catalog suggests.
- Computer science and STEM research: Morehouse houses the Center for Broadening Participation in Computing and co-leads the HBCU STEM US Research Center, plus a Public Health Sciences Institute. Real research access for undergraduates at a liberal arts college is not common.
- Psychology and sociology: Both are quietly among the larger degree producers and feed graduate programs, social work, and public policy careers.
- The Atlanta University Center: Morehouse students cross-register with Spelman and Clark Atlanta and share the Robert W. Woodruff Library. Practically, a small men’s college gives your student access to the course catalogs and social life of a much larger campus. It is the best structural argument for Morehouse that almost nobody makes on a tour.
- Music and the arts: The Morehouse College Glee Club and the marching band are institutions in their own right, performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and at every commencement. This is also where the Talent Awards live, so it is a funding path as well as a passion.
One planning note tied to money: Morehouse institutional awards cannot be applied to dual degree programs. If your student is drawn to a dual degree engineering track, price that path separately and ask admissions how aid works across the two institutions before senior year.
🔗 Official Morehouse College Links
Every link below was checked live. Morehouse does not publish scholarship dollar amounts, so these pages are where final award terms, deadlines, and costs actually come from. If a third-party site tells you something these pages do not, believe these pages.
-
Undergraduate Admissions:
https://morehouse.edu/admissions -
Requirements & Deadlines (ED, EA, and Regular Decision):
https://morehouse.edu/admissions/requirements-and-deadlines -
Financial Aid & Scholarships (main hub):
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/ -
Scholarships & Scholarship Portal:
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/scholarships -
Institutional Awards (MCAA, Athletic, Talent terms):
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards -
GAP Funding:
https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/gap-funding -
Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Grant:
https://morehouse.edu/aid/grants/ambff -
2026-2027 Schedule of Fees (the real numbers):
https://morehouse.edu/aid/student-accounts/schedule-of-fees/2026-2027 -
Cost of Attendance:
https://morehouse.edu/aid/student-accounts/cost-of-attendance -
Tuition & Fees Overview:
https://morehouse.edu/admissions/tuition-and-fees -
Howard Thurman Honors Program:
https://morehouse.edu/academics/programs/howard-thurman-honors-program/ -
Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program:
https://morehouse.edu/academics/programs/oprah-winfrey-scholars/ -
Common Data Set (institutional data):
https://morehouse.edu/about/offices-and-services/data-analytics-institutional-research-and-effectiveness/common-data-set/
Morehouse’s own net price calculator link has moved during a site rebuild and we could not verify a working URL, so we have left it off rather than send you to a dead page. In the meantime the federal Student Aid Estimator, which Morehouse links from its own financial aid navigation, will get you a usable first number.
✅ Wrapping It Up
Here is the short version. Morehouse costs about $49,500 a year in direct charges, and the average family ends up paying roughly $36,300 after grants and scholarships. There is no merit chart to look up, because a committee decides. What that committee rewards is a 3.4 or better GPA paired with four things your student can actually point to and defend.
The single biggest award, the Stamps Scholarship, requires no separate application at all. Five students a year get a full ride worth up to $230,000 out of the regular applicant pool. That fact alone should reshape your timeline: apply in the fall, not in January, and make the application as strong as you can make it, because it is doing double duty.
Then work the back half. If your student is Pell eligible and carrying 15 hours, the Blank Foundation gap grant is automatic. If they can reach a 1200 SAT or 26 ACT, the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program and Howard Thurman Honors open up. If they play an instrument or sing, the Talent Awards are real money. And if you are a Georgia family, HOPE and GTEG add roughly $7,000 a year that has nothing to do with Morehouse’s own budget.
The place families get hurt here is the gap, not the front door. Morehouse says outright that finding additional funding is the family’s responsibility and that GAP money may not be available. Take that seriously. File the FAFSA by January 31, enroll at 15 hours, and call Student Financial Services before you accept an outside scholarship rather than after.
Most families build a college list first and think about scholarships second, which is backwards. This free four-part series shows you where the money actually comes from, and how to build a list around it. After the series, about once a month, sometimes twice during application season. No drip funnels, no affiliate pitches, and we never sell your information. Unsubscribe anytime.Your kid did everything right. That does not mean the money follows.
Leo Dimilo
Leo built CollegeReadyParent after going through the college affordability maze with his own daughter. Every guide here is free, ungated, and checked against the college’s own published pages. No paywall, no lead forms, no selling your information. More about Leo →