How much merit aid can I get?

Academic scholarships are GPA-based and automatic: $8,000–$17,500/year for residential students and $6,400–$14,000/year for commuters (the scholarships page cites an overall $6,400–$17,000 range). Specific GPA cutoffs per tier are not published.

What does Brenau cost for 2026-27?

Residential undergraduates pay a total base of $24,884 per semester (about $49,768/year), which includes tuition ($16,936/sem), food & housing ($6,650/sem), the Women's College Comprehensive Fee if applicable, the University Services Fee, and the I&I Development Fee. Commuter day students pay $16,936/semester flat-rate tuition (12-18 hrs) plus fees.

Do transfer students get merit scholarships?

Yes — the scholarships page says academic scholarship tiers are offered to incoming first-year, transfer, and international students in full-time day programs. Amounts follow the same GPA-based ranges; specific transfer cutoffs are not published.

Brenau· Renewal Rules

Keeping Brenau’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 20264 days ago· COWORK

At a glance

Renewable tiers: 4 of 5
One-time tiers: 1
Tiers with published renewal terms: 4
Renewal risk profile: low

Renewal risk profile

Brenau's published renewal rules cluster around a 3.0 floor with no major-GPA gating, which is survivable for the typical freshman with steady study habits. The risk is non-renewal due to enrollment status (dropping below full-time), not GPA.

Academic Scholarships (Residential): See notes
Academic Scholarships (Commuter): See notes
Brenau Presidential Award: See notes
Brenau Promise for HOPE and Pell Recipients: 3.0 GPA

Renewal terms by tier

Academic Scholarships (Residential)
$8,000-$17,500
Entry requirements: Determined based on GPA; specific GPA cutoffs per tier are not published GPA
To keep it: Renewal terms not published on the pages opened.
Source: https://www.brenau.edu/admissions/financial-aid/undergraduate-aid/
Academic Scholarships (Commuter)
$6,400-$14,000
Entry requirements: Determined based on GPA; specific GPA cutoffs per tier are not published GPA
To keep it: Renewal terms not published on the pages opened.
Source: https://www.brenau.edu/admissions/financial-aid/undergraduate-aid/
Brenau Presidential Award
Full tuition
To keep it: Renewal terms not published on the pages opened.
Source: https://www.brenau.edu/admissions/financial-aid/scholarships/
Brenau Promise for HOPE and Pell Recipients
Amount not published
Entry requirements: HOPE/Zell eligibility (HOPE requires 3.0 cumulative GPA to maintain) GPA
To keep it: Renewal requires: full-time on-ground enrollment on the Gainesville campus; continued Georgia residency requirements; maintained Zell Miller or HOPE eligibility (minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA); annual FAFSA with any amount of Pell qualification.
Source: https://www.brenau.edu/admissions/financial-aid/promise/

How families lose this aid

Moving off campus (or to commuter status) without checking the merit-aid impact.
Brenau publishes separate merit ranges: residential $8,000–$17,500 vs. commuter $6,400–$14,000. Commuting can mean thousands less in merit aid per year. For Promise students, full-time on-ground enrollment is also a renewal condition.
A Promise student letting their GPA slip below HOPE's 3.0 threshold.
Promise renewal requires maintaining Zell Miller or HOPE eligibility, which carries a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Losing HOPE means losing the Promise — a double cliff.
Skipping the FAFSA because you already have merit aid.
Promise eligibility and renewal require filing the FAFSA annually (school code 001556) and qualifying for any amount of Pell. No FAFSA = no Promise.

Renewal questions families ask

How much merit aid can I get?: Academic scholarships are GPA-based and automatic: $8,000–$17,500/year for residential students and $6,400–$14,000/year for commuters (the scholarships page cites an overall $6,400–$17,000 range). Specific GPA cutoffs per tier are not published.
What does Brenau cost for 2026-27?: Residential undergraduates pay a total base of $24,884 per semester (about $49,768/year), which includes tuition ($16,936/sem), food & housing ($6,650/sem), the Women's College Comprehensive Fee if applicable, the University Services Fee, and the I&I Development Fee. Commuter day students pay $16,936/semester flat-rate tuition (12-18 hrs) plus fees.
Do transfer students get merit scholarships?: Yes — the scholarships page says academic scholarship tiers are offered to incoming first-year, transfer, and international students in full-time day programs. Amounts follow the same GPA-based ranges; specific transfer cutoffs are not published.

Rules that bite at Brenau

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

renewalBrenau Promise for HOPE and Pell Recipients: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewal requires: full-time on-ground enrollment on the Gainesville campus; continued Georgia residency requirements; maintained Zell Miller or HOPE eligibility (minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA); annual FAFSA with any amount of Pell qualification. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Brenau compares across our verified dataset

669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Brenau 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 Brenau’s own published materials.