Columbus, OH · Private · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for Capital University
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$104,598
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $6,600.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Capital University, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at Capital University
| Full price | $64,197 |
| After grants, at your income | $22,194 |
99% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $30,398 on average.
At this income, 16 of Ohio's other 38 colleges cost less after grants, and 22 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. $20,000 to $30,000 a year, from a 2.5 GPA.
Capital University's promise. Capital Gateway Scholarship: full tuition and fees, after other awards, for Ohio high school seniors with a household income of $60,000 or less and a 3.5 GPA. The conditions ↓
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At Capital University, our scenarios for Ohio households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $8,600 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →Merit scholarships
What Capital University says it awards for grades and test scores.
$20,000 to $30,000 a year, from a 2.5 GPA
GPA 4.0 or higher $30,000 a year Presidential Scholarship GPA 3.8 or higher $29,000 a year Provost Scholarship GPA 3.5 or higher $28,000 a year Trustees Scholarship GPA 3.2 or higher $25,000 a year Deans Scholarship GPA 3.0 or higher $23,000 a year Founders Scholarship GPA 2.5 or higher $20,000 a year 1830 Award Apply for admission; the scholarship is set by your high school GPA. Capital also gives residential students a $5,000 Comet Community Award toward housing, which is not counted here.
Enter your student's GPA in our college comparison to see this scholarship beside your family's price.
Published guarantees you may qualify for
We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.
Capital Gateway Scholarship: full tuition and fees, after other awards, for Ohio high school seniors with a household income of $60,000 or less and a 3.5 GPA
Household income up to $60,000. Covers tuition, fees.
- For a current Ohio high school senior with a 3.5 GPA who completes the FAFSA every year. It raises the total of other scholarships, awards and grants up to full tuition and fees.
“Capital Gateway Scholarship Minimum 3.5 GPA | Up to full tuition and fees | Ohio residents The Capital Gateway Scholarship will bring your total award up to full tuition and fees after other qualifying scholarships, awards, and grants are applied. Available to current Ohio high school seniors with an annual household income of $60,000 or less who complete the FAFSA annually.”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what Capital University reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit. For a family that lives in Ohio, it also counts Ohio's tax deduction for money you put through its 529 plan.
The $8,600 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Capital University's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in Ohio, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Capital University at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from Capital University, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for Capital University →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Capital University's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing and food, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. Books are the College Scorecard's. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Capital University. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Ohio Wesleyan University$21,874 a year
- Cedarville University$22,037 a year
- Capital University$22,194 a year
- Wittenberg University$22,205 a year
- Walsh University$23,099 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every Ohio college →