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.

Minot State· Renewal Rules

Keeping Minot State’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: 2 of 2
One-time tiers: 0
Tiers with published renewal terms: 2
Renewal risk profile: moderate

Renewal risk profile

Minot State'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 Excellence Scholarship: Full-time enrollment
Automatic 4-Year Award (DISCONTINUED for new freshmen — renewal only): 3.0 GPA

Renewal terms by tier

Academic Excellence Scholarship
$2,500-$10,000 over four years
Entry requirements: 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) GPA · No test score required SAT · No test score required ACT
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.
Source: https://www.minotstateu.edu/finaid/scholarships/Academic-Excellence-Scholarship.shtml
Automatic 4-Year Award (DISCONTINUED for new freshmen — renewal only)
$8,000-$12,000 over four years (legacy grid)
Entry requirements: 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 GPA · 1360+, 1230-1350, etc. SAT · Used in the legacy grid (30+, 26-29, etc.) ACT
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.
Source: https://www.minotstateu.edu/finaid/scholarships/automatic-4-year.shtml

How families lose this aid

Using the old Automatic 4-Year Award chart
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.
Overlooking the 24-credit renewal requirement
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).
Reporting a weighted GPA
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.

Renewal questions families ask

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.

Rules that bite at Minot State

The renewal trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook, derived from Minot State's own tier rules and 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.

How Minot State compares across our verified dataset

669 of 751 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 renewal claim is checked against Minot State’s own published materials.