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Minot State scholarships and merit aid

Two prices: the posted one, and yours.

Posted price$24,476per year · 2026-2027 · cost of attendance
Yours?depends on the rules below

The short answer

Minot State is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 2 published awards, and 2 are based on those numbers.

Where does your student land?

Verified Jun 2026
4 school sources to explore

Published rules, with the school sources close at hand. Confirm the details before you count on an award.

Step 1 of comparing your list

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Checking merit aid at Minot State

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The award collection

Published scholarships

These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.

Where does your student land?

  1. Academic Excellence Scholarship$2,500-$10,000 over four yearsAutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Academic Excellence Scholarship

    $2,500-$10,000 over four years

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Unweighted HS GPA: 3.9+ = $10,000 ($2,500/yr); 3.7-3.89 = $7,500 ($1,875/yr); 3.5-3.69 = $5,000 ($1,250/yr); 3.0-3.49 = $2,500 ($625/yr)
    SAT
    No test score required
    ACT
    No test score required
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Academic Excellence Scholarship

    Who qualifies

    New freshmen admitted by the February 15 deadline; no additional application beyond the admission application. Awarded as a tuition waiver that may not be combined with other waivers.

    How to keep it

    Renewable up to eight consecutive fall and spring semesters: maintain a 3.0+ cumulative GPA, complete 24+ Minot State credits during fall and spring, and stay continuously enrolled full-time (12+ credits). Evaluated for renewal at the end of each spring. Award is reduced if the final unweighted HS GPA is lower than the in-progress GPA used initially.

    Worth knowing

    Current freshman award (replaced the discontinued Automatic 4-Year Award). Based on official unweighted high school GPA. Each amount is a four-year total disbursed equally between fall and spring.

  2. Automatic 4-Year Award (DISCONTINUED for new freshmen — renewal only)$8,000-$12,000 over four years (legacy grid)AutomaticRenewable
    Published awardAcademic thresholds

    Automatic 4-Year Award (DISCONTINUED for new freshmen — renewal only)

    $8,000-$12,000 over four years (legacy grid)

    Published rangeAll published eligibility conditions still apply. Confirm the policy year with the school.

    GPA
    Legacy grid combined GPA and test: e.g., ACT 30+ (or SAT 1360+) with GPA 3.8-4.0 = $3,000/yr ($12,000/4yr), 3.5-3.79 = $2,000/yr, 3.0-3.49 = $1,500/yr; ACT 26-29 (or SAT 1230-1350) tier = $8,000/4yr with GPA 3.8-4.0 = $2,000/yr, 3.5-3.79 = $1,500/yr
    SAT
    1360+, 1230-1350, etc.
    ACT
    Used in the legacy grid (30+, 26-29, etc.)
    RenewableCheck the conditions
    Open award details for Automatic 4-Year Award (DISCONTINUED for new freshmen — renewal only)

    Who qualifies

    Replaced by the Academic Excellence Scholarship; shown for context and for students renewing an existing award. GED 165+ with ACT 30+ = $1,500/year.

    How to keep it

    Same renewal criteria as AES (3.0 GPA, 24 credits/year, full-time, up to 8 semesters). No longer awarded to new freshmen.

    Worth knowing

    The page states: 'This scholarship is no longer being awarded to new freshman.' Included only because the grid remains published for current recipients' renewals.

Lights up against Minot State's published cutoffs. Not an award offer; confirm with the financial aid office. Award terms and residency rules change; some awards differ for in-state and out-of-state students. Always confirm at the school’s source page.

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  • “it told me what to ask and what the renewal GPA looked like, which I was not going to find on my own”Melissa

The fine print

Renewal ruleAcademic Excellence Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

Renewable up to eight consecutive fall and spring semesters: maintain a 3.0+ cumulative GPA, complete 24+ Minot State credits during fall and spring, and stay continuously enrolled full-time (12+ credits). Evaluated for renewal at the end of each spring. Award is reduced if the final unweighted HS GPA is lower than the in-progress GPA used initially. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

Aid capHard $24,476 cost-of-attendance ceiling

Institutional aid at Minot State cannot push the package past $24,476. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

What makes Minot State different

Minot State's current freshman merit award is the Academic Excellence Scholarship — an automatic, unweighted-GPA tuition waiver of $2,500 to $10,000 over four years — but because it's a waiver it can't be combined with other tuition waivers, and total institutional funds are capped at direct costs.

Merit tiers22 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJun 2026By our research team

Published academic criteria

Start with the thresholds.

These awards are recorded as automatic on academic criteria. Match the published grades and scores, then check residency, entering year and every additional condition.

  1. Match the published criteria

    Use all requirements together, including residency and the entering class.

  2. Check the application dates

    Confirm the current admission and scholarship deadlines directly with the school.

  3. Know what happens next year

    Check renewal, credit requirements and how other aid affects the award.

The fine print / Three questions to carry forward

Before you count on it.

Does it apply to us? Confirm the entering year, residency and every eligibility condition.

Can we keep it? Check renewal GPA, credits and how long the award lasts.

Can we combine it? Ask how outside scholarships and other school awards change the offer.

Take Minot State's decision sheet

A printable research summary, source links and room for your questions.

See what could change an award

What families often miss

  1. That award 'is no longer being awarded to new freshman' — the current freshman award is the Academic Excellence Scholarship (a GPA-only tuition waiver up to $10,000). Don't plan around the legacy $12,000/$8,000 ACT-based grid.

  2. It is a tuition waiver that 'may not be eligible for combination with other waivers'; if you qualify for more than one tuition waiver you receive only the greater of the awards.

  3. Total institutional funds (award programs and endowed scholarships) cannot exceed tuition, fees, books, and room/meals — they're capped at direct costs.

  4. Renewal requires both a 3.0 cumulative GPA AND completing 24 total Minot State credits during fall and spring; falling short ends the award for future years (summer can be used to catch up).

  5. The award is based on your official UNWEIGHTED high school GPA, and it will be reduced if your final unweighted GPA is lower than the in-progress GPA used for the initial offer.

See costs and school data

Who this school may work for

North Dakota and out-of-state freshmen with at least a 3.0 unweighted GPA who are admitted by February 15 — the award is automatic with no extra application and scales cleanly with GPA.

Published yearly cost: Approximately $24,476 for 2026-2027. Source

Cost and graduation facts

Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Minot State, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.

Average annual net price by family income at Minot State, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family incomeAverage net price paid
$0–$30,000$9,492
$30,001–$48,000$10,388
$48,001–$75,000$11,359
$75,001–$110,000$13,674
$110,001+$15,632
All income levels (average)$12,703

Sticker price vs. what students actually pay

Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$8,702
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$12,703

That works out to roughly a 34% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $19,339 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).

Minot State is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.

Outcomes for students who enrolled here

Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
45%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
66%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$19,609 (~$208/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$51,759
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
34%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
48%
See other scholarships and cost examples

If your student brings another scholarship

Total institutional funds (award programs plus endowed scholarships) cannot exceed tuition, fees, books, and room/meals (if living on campus). The Academic Excellence Scholarship is a tuition waiver that cannot be combined with other tuition waivers, and a student eligible for more than one tuition waiver receives only the greater award.

The scholarships overview states institutional funds may not exceed direct costs (tuition, fees, books, room and meals). The AES page adds that the award is a tuition waiver 'which may not be eligible for combination with other waivers,' and that students eligible for more than one tuition waiver receive the offer of greater value (other waivers: Spouse/Dependent, ND Veterans Dependent, Cultural Diversity).

Source

Other Minot State scholarships worth checking

These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.

AmountAmount not published (not captured this session)EligibilitySee Minot State scholarships nav

Listed in the Scholarships & Awards navigation.

Source

AmountAmount not published (not captured this session)EligibilitySee Minot State scholarships nav

Listed in the Scholarships & Awards navigation.

Source

AmountAmount not published (not captured this session)EligibilityTransfer students

Listed in the Scholarships & Awards navigation.

Source

AmountAmount not published (not captured this session)EligibilityNative American students

Tuition waiver listed in navigation.

Source

Minot State merit aid FAQ

  • What is the scholarship deadline?

    New freshmen must be admitted by February 15 to be considered for the Academic Excellence Scholarship; no application beyond the admission application is required.

  • Do I need a test score?

    No. The current Academic Excellence Scholarship is based on your official unweighted high school GPA only.

  • How is the award paid and renewed?

    It's a tuition waiver disbursed equally between fall and spring, renewable up to eight consecutive fall/spring semesters if you keep a 3.0 GPA, complete 24 credits per year, and stay continuously enrolled full-time.

See sources and other schools

How Minot State compares

  • 235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    Minot State is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Minot State is one of them. The cohort minority (84 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 claim is checked against Minot State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

Compare with similar schools

  • North Dakota merit aid. North Dakota public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • NDSU merit aid. North Dakota public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • UAFS merit aid. Arkansas public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Central Arkansas merit aid. Arkansas public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

Keep exploring Minot State merit aid

The next chapter

Where does Minot State fit in your plan?

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