Limestone· Renewal Rules
Keeping Limestone’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
- 4 of 4
- One-time tiers
- 0
- Tiers with published renewal terms
- 4
- Renewal risk profile
- low
Renewal risk profile
Limestone'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.
- Dean's Scholarship: See notes
- Founders Scholarship: See notes
- Presidential Palmetto Scholarship: See notes
- Fine Arts Scholarships (Art, Music, Theatre): See notes
Renewal terms by tier
Dean's Scholarship
Up to $12,500Entry requirements: 3.0+ GPA · 1100+ SAT · 24+ ACT
To keep it: Renewal terms not stated on the page opened.
Founders Scholarship
Up to $5,500Entry requirements: 2.0+ GPA
To keep it: Renewal terms not stated on the page opened.
Presidential Palmetto Scholarship
Full tuition, fees, room, and board (less any federal, state and outside scholarships/grants)To keep it: Up to four years, provided satisfactory academic progress continues with the student maintaining Palmetto renewal requirements.
Fine Arts Scholarships (Art, Music, Theatre)
Up to $4,500To keep it: Renewal terms not stated on the page opened.
How families lose this aid
- Missing the June 30 FAFSA / SC Tuition Grant deadlines.
The costs page instructs: 'Submit your FAFSA before June 30' and 'S.C. Tuition Grant application deadline is June 30th.' SC Tuition Grant also requires full-time fall enrollment — failing to enroll full-time in fall forfeits the entire award year (per the catalog).
- SC students assuming HOPE/LIFE/Palmetto Fellows combine.
Per the catalog and costs page, the three SC state awards are mutually exclusive, and LIFE has a strict four-year window from first college enrollment with 30-credit-per-year renewal.
Renewal questions families ask
- What merit scholarships does Limestone offer freshmen?
- Per the (dated) costs page: Dean's Scholarship up to $12,500 (3.0+ GPA and 1100+ SAT or 24+ ACT), Founders Scholarship up to $5,500 (2.0+ GPA), the need-based Limestone Grant, the Presidential Palmetto Scholarship (full direct costs, less other aid, for SC Palmetto designees), Fine Arts up to $4,500, and athletic awards. The current scholarships page could not be machine-read — confirm 2026-2027 amounts with the aid office at financialaid@limestone.edu.
How Limestone compares across our verified dataset
- 669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Limestone 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 Limestone’s own published materials.
More on Limestone merit aid
- Limestone merit aid overviewFull tier ladder, named scholarships, departmental awards, and how families decide.
- Limestone scholarship stackingWhether outside awards land as upside or quietly displace institutional aid.
- Does Limestone displace outside scholarships?The dollar math on a $5,000 outside award, plus peer schools that handle it differently.
