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The merit-aid verdict at Minot State
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.
Rules that bite at Minot State
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Minot State's own published policy, not generic advice.
renewalAcademic 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.
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.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Minot State
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.
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.
Total institutional funds (award programs and endowed scholarships) cannot exceed tuition, fees, books, and room/meals — they're capped at direct costs.
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).
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.
Who this school is 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.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $24,476 for 2026-2027. Source
Federal cost and outcome data
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 income
Average 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%
Institutional merit aid tiers
Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.
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.
Renewal terms
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.
Notes
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.
$8,000-$12,000 over four years…$8,000-$12,000 over four years (legacy grid)
Automatic 4-Year Award (DISCONTINUED for new freshmen — renewal only)
AutomaticRenewable
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.)
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Replaced by the Academic Excellence Scholarship; shown for context and for students renewing an existing award. GED 165+ with ACT 30+ = $1,500/year.
Renewal terms
Same renewal criteria as AES (3.0 GPA, 24 credits/year, full-time, up to 8 semesters). No longer awarded to new freshmen.
Notes
The page states: 'This scholarship is no longer being awarded to new freshman.' Included only because the grid remains published for current recipients' renewals.
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).
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.
How Minot State compares across our verified dataset
241 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Minot State is in a recognizable cluster (241 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
668 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Minot State 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 claim is checked against Minot State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
