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Bethune-Cookman· Renewal Rules

Keeping Bethune-Cookman’s Merit Aid for Four Years

What the financial-aid office actually requires after freshman year: minimum GPA, credit-hour pace, and the cliffs that quietly downgrade families mid-degree.

Verified Jun 20268 days ago· CC

At a glance

Renewable tiers
4 of 4
One-time tiers
0
Tiers with published renewal terms
4
Renewal risk profile
moderate

Renewal risk profile

Bethune-Cookman's renewal bar is achievable for steady students but isn't generous. Most awards require a cumulative GPA in the 3.0–3.4 band plus full-time enrollment. Audit the strictest tier on this school's list before assuming the four-year value is locked in.

  • Presidential Scholarship: 3.50 GPA
  • Excelsior Scholarship 1: 3.30 GPA
  • Excelsior Scholarship 2: 3.0 GPA
  • Academic Merit Award: 3.25 GPA

Renewal terms by tier

  • Presidential Scholarship

    Amount not published (last-dollar: covers full-time tuition, room, board, and books not covered by federal/state aid and other non-institutional scholarships)

    Entry requirements: Not published as a fixed cutoff; awarded to first-time-in-college high school graduates by holistic review. Renewal requires 3.50 cumulative GPA. GPA · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships SAT · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships ACT

    To keep it: Register for at least 12 semester hours and maintain a 3.50 cumulative GPA to renew.

    Source: https://catalog.cookman.edu/content.php?catoid=44&navoid=3034

  • Excelsior Scholarship 1

    Amount not published (last-dollar tuition: covers full-time tuition after federal/state aid and other non-institutional scholarships; does NOT cover room, board, or books)

    Entry requirements: Not published as an entry cutoff; first-time-in-college high school graduates. Renewal requires 3.30 cumulative GPA. GPA · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships SAT · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships ACT

    To keep it: Register for at least 12 semester hours and maintain a 3.30 cumulative GPA to renew. Under special circumstances, renewable for a maximum of 4 academic years.

    Source: https://catalog.cookman.edu/content.php?catoid=44&navoid=3034

  • Excelsior Scholarship 2

    Amount not published (last-dollar tuition: covers full-time tuition after federal/state aid and other non-institutional scholarships; does NOT cover room, board, or books)

    Entry requirements: Not published as an entry cutoff; first-time-in-college high school graduates. Renewal requires 3.0 cumulative GPA. GPA · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships SAT · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships ACT

    To keep it: Register for at least 12 semester hours and maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA to renew. Under special circumstances, renewable for a maximum of 4 academic years.

    Source: https://catalog.cookman.edu/content.php?catoid=44&navoid=3034

  • Academic Merit Award

    Amount not published

    Entry requirements: Not published as an entry cutoff. Renewal requires 3.25 cumulative GPA. GPA · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships SAT · Test scores must be submitted to be considered for Academic Scholarships ACT

    To keep it: Register for at least 12 semester hours and maintain a 3.25 cumulative GPA to renew. Granted on an annual basis — students must reapply each year.

    Source: https://catalog.cookman.edu/content.php?catoid=44&navoid=3034

How families lose this aid

  • Counting on the scholarship for the summer term or for the full cost of attendance.

    'Your merit scholarship does not apply to the summer semesters at B-CU.' Excelsior covers tuition only — not room, board, or books. The published 2026-27 cost of attendance is $35,208, of which $27,604 is direct (tuition/room/board/fees/Book Smart) and $7,604 is estimated indirect costs.

  • Assuming renewal is automatic once you have the award.

    Renewal GPAs differ by award and are strict: Presidential 3.50, Excelsior 1 3.30, Excelsior 2 3.0, Academic Merit 3.25 — all requiring at least 12 semester hours. The Academic Merit Award also must be reapplied for every year.

Renewal questions families ask

What GPA do I need to keep my scholarship?
Renewal requires at least 12 semester hours each term and a cumulative GPA of 3.50 (Presidential), 3.30 (Excelsior 1), 3.0 (Excelsior 2), or 3.25 (Academic Merit Award). The merit scholarship does not apply to summer semesters.

Rules that bite at Bethune-Cookman

The renewal trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook, derived from Bethune-Cookman's own tier rules and not generic advice.

  • renewalPresidential Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

    Register for at least 12 semester hours and maintain a 3.50 cumulative GPA to renew. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Bethune-Cookman compares across our verified dataset

  • 69 of 751 verified schools publish a top renewal tier requiring 3.5+ GPA or major-GPA gating.

    Bethune-Cookman is one of them. Calibrate year-one academic load against the renewal floor, not just freshman survival.

  • 669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Bethune-Cookman is one of them. The cohort minority (82 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.

Sources used on this page

Every renewal claim is checked against Bethune-Cookman’s own published materials.

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