Drake· Renewal Rules
Keeping Drake’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.
At a glance
- Renewable tiers
- 3 of 3
- One-time tiers
- 0
- Tiers with published renewal terms
- 3
- Renewal risk profile
- low
Renewal risk profile
Drake'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.
- Presidential Scholarship: See notes
- National Alumni Scholarship: See notes
- Carpenter Scholarship: See notes
Renewal terms by tier
Presidential Scholarship
$27,000–$35,000 per yearTo keep it: Renewable for students enrolling in at least 12 credit hours per semester and making satisfactory academic progress; renewable up to four years total or until a bachelor's degree is earned.
Source: https://www.drake.edu/admission/first-yearstudents/costsfinancialaid/scholarships/presidential/
National Alumni Scholarship
One full-tuition awardEntry requirements: 3.8 GPA
To keep it: Full-tuition award covering Drake tuition; competitive, awarded to one recipient.
Source: https://www.drake.edu/admission/first-yearstudents/costsfinancialaid/scholarships/nationalalumni/
Carpenter Scholarship
$10,000 per year (three awards)Entry requirements: 3.8 GPA
To keep it: Applied toward Drake tuition; three awards offered through the same competition as the National Alumni Scholarship.
Source: https://www.drake.edu/admission/first-yearstudents/costsfinancialaid/scholarships/nationalalumni/
How families lose this aid
- Assuming the Drake Tuition Guarantee also locks room and board.
The guarantee fixes tuition for four years only. Drake states the cost of room and board is not fixed and may fluctuate, so budget for annual increases on housing and the meal plan.
Renewal questions families ask
- What does it take to win Drake's full-tuition scholarship?
- The National Alumni Scholarship (one full-tuition award) and three $10,000 Carpenter Scholarships require entering directly from high school with a 3.8 GPA or a top-5% class rank, a separate scholarship application plus the admission application by December 1, and a virtual interview if you are named a semifinalist in early February.
- Is Drake's tuition locked for four years?
- Tuition is. The Drake Tuition Guarantee fixes tuition so it will not change during your four years (for first-year/transfer students entering Fall 2026). Room and board are not locked and may fluctuate.
How Drake compares across our verified dataset
- 178 of 203 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Drake is one of them. The cohort minority (25 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 Drake’s own published materials.
More on Drake merit aid
- Drake merit aid overviewFull tier ladder, named scholarships, departmental awards, and how families decide.
- Drake scholarship stackingWhether outside awards land as upside or quietly displace institutional aid.
- Does Drake displace outside scholarships?The dollar math on a $5,000 outside award, plus peer schools that handle it differently.