What GPA gets which Red and Black amount?

Per the official grid: 3.0-3.24 = $1,500/year; 3.25-3.49 = $2,000/year; 3.5-3.74 = $3,000/year; 3.75+ = $4,000/year. Add $1,000/year (ACT Excellence) with a 27+ ACT composite/superscore.

How do I keep the scholarship each year?

Maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA at UCM and stay enrolled full time (12+ hours). The Red and Black Scholarship renews for up to four years or eight semesters.

Central Missouri· Renewal Rules

Keeping Central Missouri’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: 5 of 6
One-time tiers: 1
Tiers with published renewal terms: 5
Renewal risk profile: low

Renewal risk profile

Central Missouri'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.

Freshman Red and Black Scholarship: 2.5 GPA
ACT Excellence Scholarship: 2.5 GPA
UCM Heritage Scholarship: See notes
Out-of-State Visit Award: See notes
Dual Credit Scholarship: See notes

Renewal terms by tier

Freshman Red and Black Scholarship
$1,500-$4,000 per year
Entry requirements: 3.0+ cumulative HS GPA (3.0-3.24 = $1,500; 3.25-3.49 = $2,000; 3.5-3.74 = $3,000; 3.75+ = $4,000) GPA · Not required (ACT optional; see ACT Excellence add-on) ACT
To keep it: Renewable up to four years / eight semesters. Students must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA at UCM and be enrolled full time (12+ hours) to renew.
Source: https://www.ucmo.edu/future-students/financing-your-education/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/future-freshman-scholarships/red-and-black/
ACT Excellence Scholarship
$1,000 per year
Entry requirements: 27+ official ACT composite / superscore ACT
To keep it: Up to 8 semesters; 2.5 GPA minimum and full-time enrollment, the same renewal terms as the Red and Black Scholarship it adds onto.
Source: https://www.ucmo.edu/future-students/financing-your-education/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/future-freshman-scholarships/red-and-black/
UCM Heritage Scholarship
$4,000 per year
Entry requirements: Minimum HS cumulative GPA of 2.5 GPA
To keep it: Renewal terms not stated on the freshman-scholarships page.
Source: https://www.ucmo.edu/future-students/financing-your-education/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/future-freshman-scholarships/
Out-of-State Visit Award
$1,000 per year
To keep it: Up to 8 semesters.
Source: https://www.ucmo.edu/future-students/financing-your-education/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/future-freshman-scholarships/
Dual Credit Scholarship
$1,000 per year ($500 per semester)
Entry requirements: 3.0 GPA or higher in all UCM dual-credit coursework GPA
To keep it: Renewable up to six (6) semesters.
Source: https://www.ucmo.edu/future-students/financing-your-education/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships/future-freshman-scholarships/

How families lose this aid

Thinking you must take the ACT to get the Red and Black Scholarship.
The Red and Black award is set purely on cumulative high-school GPA and students 'can still receive the Red and Black Scholarship even if they haven't taken the ACT.' The ACT only matters for the separate $1,000 ACT Excellence add-on at a 27+ composite.
Assuming the GPA award is locked in and can never be reduced.
The page guarantees the award if you qualify, but flags with an asterisk that it 'could be reduced or removed due to federal regulations to avoid over-awards' — i.e., winning large outside scholarships or other aid can push you past federal over-award limits and shrink the institutional award.
Letting your UCM GPA slip below 2.5 and losing renewal.
Renewal requires a 2.5 cumulative GPA at UCM and full-time enrollment (12+ hours); the award renews for up to four years / eight semesters only while that floor is met.
Skipping the separate application for the Missouri Boys/Girls State Scholarship.
Unlike the automatic GPA-based awards, the $1,500 Boys/Girls State Scholarship requires submitting the online scholarship application by February 1, 2026, and only 20 awards exist.

Renewal questions families ask

What GPA gets which Red and Black amount?: Per the official grid: 3.0-3.24 = $1,500/year; 3.25-3.49 = $2,000/year; 3.5-3.74 = $3,000/year; 3.75+ = $4,000/year. Add $1,000/year (ACT Excellence) with a 27+ ACT composite/superscore.
How do I keep the scholarship each year?: Maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA at UCM and stay enrolled full time (12+ hours). The Red and Black Scholarship renews for up to four years or eight semesters.

Rules that bite at Central Missouri

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

renewalFreshman Red and Black Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable up to four years / eight semesters. Students must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA at UCM and be enrolled full time (12+ hours) to renew. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Central Missouri compares across our verified dataset

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