How much merit aid do freshmen get?

HPU does not publish freshman merit amounts or a GPA/test grid. You are notified 'at the time of admission, whether or not you have been awarded an academic merit scholarship.' Hawai'i high school 2026 graduates with a 2.75+ GPA who apply by January 15, 2026 are guaranteed at minimum a $15,000 annual tuition scholarship under GSAP.

How much merit aid do transfer students get?

Per the published grid: 3.75-4.00 GPA = $11,000; 3.50-3.74 = $8,000; 3.25-3.49 = $6,000; 3.00-3.24 = $5,000; 2.75-2.99 = $3,000 per year, split between fall and spring. Active Phi Theta Kappa members can add a $5,000/year PTK scholarship on top (application and advisor recommendation required).

Are HPU merit scholarships renewable?

The GSAP scholarship is renewable for 3 additional years (maximum eight consecutive fall/spring semesters). Other merit scholarships: 'Continuing/returning students may receive their Merit Scholarships in subsequent years based on the guidelines/restrictions of the awards,' and all institutional scholarships and grants require full-time enrollment (12+ credit hours per semester). The PTK scholarship is capped at four semesters and requires a 2.0+ cumulative GPA. A specific renewal GPA for freshman academic merit is not published.

Hawaii Pacific· Renewal Rules

Keeping Hawaii Pacific’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: 5 of 5
One-time tiers: 0
Tiers with published renewal terms: 5
Renewal risk profile: moderate

Renewal risk profile

Hawaii Pacific'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.

Academic Merit Scholarships (new undergraduate freshmen): Full-time enrollment
Guaranteed Scholarship and Admission Program (GSAP): See notes
Transfer Academic Merit Scholarships (GPA grid): Full-time enrollment
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship: Full-time enrollment
#YouAreWelcomeHere Scholarship (international F-1 students): See notes

Renewal terms by tier

Academic Merit Scholarships (new undergraduate freshmen)
Amount not published
To keep it: Continuing/returning students may receive their Merit Scholarships in subsequent years based on the guidelines/restrictions of the awards. All institutional scholarships and grants require full-time enrollment (12-plus credit hours per semester).
Source: https://www.hpu.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/new-undergraduate/index.html
Guaranteed Scholarship and Admission Program (GSAP)
$15,000 minimum
Entry requirements: Minimum 2.75 cumulative GPA through the end of junior year GPA
To keep it: Annual tuition scholarship is renewable. Award is divided between fall/spring semesters towards the completion of an undergraduate bachelor's degree. Maximum eight consecutive semesters (fall/spring). Scholarship is renewable for 3 additional years.
Source: https://hpu.edu/undergraduate-admissions/guarantee-scholarship-and-admission-program.html
Transfer Academic Merit Scholarships (GPA grid)
$3,000-$11,000
Entry requirements: 2.75-4.00 cumulative college transfer GPA (see grid) GPA
To keep it: Continuing/returning students may receive their Merit Scholarships in subsequent years based on the guidelines/restrictions of the awards. Full-time enrollment (12-plus credit hours per semester) required for institutional scholarships and grants.
Source: https://www.hpu.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/new-undergraduate/index.html
Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship
$5,000
Entry requirements: A minimum 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale and 45 transferable credit hours from the institution where the transfer student is a member of PTK is preferred GPA
To keep it: Maximum PTK scholarship award is four semesters (fall and spring only), provided that scholarship recipients are full-time enrolled (12 credits minimum per semester) and maintain a 2.0 or higher cumulative GPA.
Source: https://www.hpu.edu/undergraduate-admissions/transfer/phi-theta-kappa-scholarship.html
#YouAreWelcomeHere Scholarship (international F-1 students)
$12,815
To keep it: Described as a renewable scholarship; renewal conditions not stated on the page.
Source: https://www.hpu.edu/undergraduate-admissions/international/scholarships.html

How families lose this aid

Expecting a published freshman merit grid to predict your award.
HPU publishes no freshman GPA/test award grid and no freshman merit dollar amounts — freshmen are 'considered for academic merit scholarships at the time of admission based on academic abilities' and only learn the award with their admission decision. Only the transfer grid ($3,000-$11,000 by GPA) is published.
Dropping below full-time enrollment and losing institutional awards.
'All institutional scholarships and grants require full-time enrollment (12-plus credit hours per semester) to receive the award... Failure to maintain full-time enrollment may result in a loss of these awards.'
PTK transfers assuming the $5,000 scholarship runs all the way to graduation or covers summer.
The PTK award is capped at four semesters (fall/spring only), requires full-time enrollment and a 2.0+ cumulative GPA, is not awarded for summer terms, and is applicable to undergraduate tuition only.
Pell Grant recipients not realizing big scholarship packages can eliminate Pell starting 2026-27.
HPU's What's New page states that for 2026-2027, 'Pell Grant eligibility may be reduced in the following instances: Grants & Scholarships cover the Cost of Attendance,' and Pell is lost if your SAI is twice the maximum Pell award.

Renewal questions families ask

How much merit aid do freshmen get?: HPU does not publish freshman merit amounts or a GPA/test grid. You are notified 'at the time of admission, whether or not you have been awarded an academic merit scholarship.' Hawai'i high school 2026 graduates with a 2.75+ GPA who apply by January 15, 2026 are guaranteed at minimum a $15,000 annual tuition scholarship under GSAP.
How much merit aid do transfer students get?: Per the published grid: 3.75-4.00 GPA = $11,000; 3.50-3.74 = $8,000; 3.25-3.49 = $6,000; 3.00-3.24 = $5,000; 2.75-2.99 = $3,000 per year, split between fall and spring. Active Phi Theta Kappa members can add a $5,000/year PTK scholarship on top (application and advisor recommendation required).
Are HPU merit scholarships renewable?: The GSAP scholarship is renewable for 3 additional years (maximum eight consecutive fall/spring semesters). Other merit scholarships: 'Continuing/returning students may receive their Merit Scholarships in subsequent years based on the guidelines/restrictions of the awards,' and all institutional scholarships and grants require full-time enrollment (12+ credit hours per semester). The PTK scholarship is capped at four semesters and requires a 2.0+ cumulative GPA. A specific renewal GPA for freshman academic merit is not published.

Rules that bite at Hawaii Pacific

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

renewalAcademic Merit Scholarships (new undergraduate freshmen): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Continuing/returning students may receive their Merit Scholarships in subsequent years based on the guidelines/restrictions of the awards. All institutional scholarships and grants require full-time enrollment (12-plus credit hours per semester). A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Hawaii Pacific compares across our verified dataset

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