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Lamar· Renewal Rules

Keeping Lamar’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· COWORK

At a glance

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

Renewal risk profile

Lamar'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
  • Southeast Texas Legends Scholars: See notes
  • Smith-Hutson Scholars: See notes
  • Automatic Academic Scholarship ladder (Cardinal Elite, Academic Excellence, Distinguished, University Scholars): See notes

Renewal terms by tier

  • Presidential Scholarship

    $100,000

    Entry requirements: 4.40+ GPA (5.0 weighted scale) and Class Rank Top 10% GPA · 1330-1600 (alternative to GPA/rank) SAT · 29-36 (alternative to GPA/rank) ACT

    To keep it: Renewal terms not published on the pages reviewed (the headline figure appears to be a multi-year total; disbursement schedule not stated).

    Source: https://www.lamar.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/incoming-freshmen-scholarship.html

  • Southeast Texas Legends Scholars

    $100,000

    Entry requirements: 4.40+ GPA (5.0 weighted) and Class Rank Top 10% GPA · 1330-1600 (alternative) SAT · 29-36 (alternative) ACT

    To keep it: Renewal terms not published on the pages reviewed (headline figure appears to be a multi-year total).

    Source: https://www.lamar.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/incoming-freshmen-scholarship.html

  • Smith-Hutson Scholars

    $74,000

    To keep it: Renewal terms not published (headline figure appears to be a multi-year total).

    Source: https://www.lamar.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/incoming-freshmen-scholarship.html

  • Automatic Academic Scholarship ladder (Cardinal Elite, Academic Excellence, Distinguished, University Scholars)

    $8,000-$40,000

    Entry requirements: Cardinal Elite 4.25+ & Top 10%; Academic Excellence 3.95+ & Top 25%; Distinguished 3.65-3.94 & Top 25%; University 3.50-3.64 & Top 50% (5.0 weighted scale) GPA · Cardinal Elite 1330-1600; Academic Excellence 1200-1320; Distinguished 1080-1190; University 1010-1070 SAT · Cardinal Elite 29-36; Academic Excellence 25-28; Distinguished 21-24; University 19-21 (as an alternative to GPA/rank) ACT

    To keep it: Renewal terms not published (headline figures appear to be multi-year totals).

    Source: https://www.lamar.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/incoming-freshmen-scholarship.html

How families lose this aid

  • Ignoring the class-rank requirement

    Most tiers require a class rank (Top 10%/25%/50%) in addition to the GPA, OR a qualifying test score — though rank is waived for homeschool students and high schools that don't rank.

  • Using an unweighted GPA to check eligibility

    The grid GPA cutoffs are calculated on a 5.0 weighted scale, so an unweighted GPA will understate where you fall.

Renewal questions families ask

How is GPA calculated for these scholarships?
High school GPA is calculated on a 5.0 weighted scale; class rank requirements do not apply to homeschool students or schools that do not rank.

How Lamar compares across our verified dataset

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

    Lamar 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 Lamar’s own published materials.

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