Missouri State automatically considers admitted freshmen for a named academic merit award (1905 Award, Maroon & White, Bear Excellence, Mo State Scholars, Bear Merit, Mo State Achievement) when they apply, but the dollar amounts and GPA/test cutoffs are not published online; the one clearly-published number is the out-of-state Go Mo State Scholarship, a $50,000 value that covers non-resident tuition for students with a 3.25+ GPA.
Verified Jun 20268 days ago· CC
Merit tiers31 automatic on stats
Last verifiedJun 2026Analyst CC
Rules that bite at Missouri State
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Missouri State's own published policy, not generic advice.
displacementNo published displacement order
Missouri State's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Missouri State
Missouri State does not publish the award amounts or the GPA/test grid for its automatic academic merit awards. The Freshman Scholarships page only says 'Apply now to find out what funding you may be eligible for' — your actual offer comes after you apply and are admitted. Budget conservatively and confirm the figure in your admission/award letter.
Mizzou publishes a Chancellor's/Curators/Excellence/Provost automatic grid with specific dollar amounts; those numbers are NOT Missouri State's. Missouri State uses entirely different award names (1905 Award, Maroon & White, Bear Excellence, etc.). Do not apply Mizzou's grid to Missouri State.
The Go Mo State Scholarship is for out-of-state students with a high school GPA of 3.25 or higher and is the award that wipes out the non-resident tuition surcharge (a $50,000 value over up to five years). Just below a 3.25 and you may fall back to the lower-value Midwest Student Exchange waiver instead.
The Presidential Scholarship requires a 3.90 cumulative GPA, a 31 ACT/1390 SAT, AND a separate application with your sixth-semester transcript submitted by the December 1 deadline. Miss that deadline and you cannot be considered for it.
The $23,306 (resident) / $32,938 (non-resident) 'Total' for 2025-26 is the full estimated cost of attendance — tuition and fees PLUS average food and housing PLUS books and supplies — not tuition alone. A scholarship that 'covers tuition' still leaves living costs.
Who this school is for
Solid-to-strong students who want an automatic, application-only merit award at an affordable Missouri public university — and especially out-of-state students (3.25+ GPA) who want the Go Mo State Scholarship to wipe out the non-resident tuition surcharge.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $23,306 for 2025-2026. Source
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.
$50,000 value…$50,000 value (covers out-of-state tuition)
Go Mo State Scholarship
AutomaticRenewable
GPA
3.25 or higher on a 4.0 scale
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Out-of-state (non-Missouri-resident) entering students; awarded based on high school GPA. No separate application named on the page.
Renewal terms
Renewable for up to five years to cover the cost of out-of-state tuition. Institutional renewal standard is a 2.75 cumulative GPA and 30 credit hours per year (per the Scholarship Renewal Information page), for the lesser of 5 academic years or completion of a first baccalaureate degree.
Notes
This is the single automatic freshman award for which Missouri State publishes a dollar value. It is for OUT-OF-STATE students and is designed to cover the out-of-state tuition differential. The page states the GPA threshold and the $50,000 value but does not state a per-year amount; $50,000 is the stated total value, not an annual figure.
Academic Merit Awards (1905 Award, Maroon & White, Bear Excellence, Mo State Scholars, Bear Merit, Mo State Achievement, Show Me Mo State)
ApplicationRenewable
GPA
Not published
SAT
Not published
ACT
Not published
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Admitted entering freshmen are automatically considered for a merit award when they apply ('some scholarships you'll automatically qualify for when you apply and are admitted to MSU'). The specific GPA/test grid and dollar amounts are NOT published on missouristate.edu.
Renewal terms
All institutional scholarships can be renewed for the lesser of 5 academic years or the completion of a first baccalaureate degree, with a 2.75 cumulative GPA and 30 credit hours per year (for awards first enrolled Summer 2026 and beyond).
Notes
These named awards are confirmed by Missouri State's official Scholarship Renewal Information page, which lists them under 'Scholarships Awarded Summer 2026 and Beyond' with a 2.75 GPA / 30-credit-hour renewal rule. The award AMOUNTS and entry GPA/ACT/SAT cutoffs are not stated on any official missouristate.edu page found — the Freshman Scholarships page says only 'Merit Awards: Apply now to find out what funding you may be eligible for.' Do NOT assume a dollar figure. The 1905 Award is described elsewhere as the university's highest merit distinction; this could not be confirmed verbatim on a clean .edu scholarship page and is left unstated. See Section C for the exact aid-office question.
Not published online…Not published online (competitive top award)
Presidential Scholarship
ApplicationRenewable
GPA
at least a 3.90 cumulative GPA (through the 6th semester / end of junior year)
SAT
1390 SAT
ACT
31 ACT
Requirements & details+
Eligibility
Competitive; requires a separate Presidential Scholarship application and submission of the sixth-semester transcript by the December 1 deadline.
Renewal terms
Listed on the Scholarship Renewal Information page with a 2.75 cumulative GPA requirement (and 30 credit hours per year for Summer 2026 and beyond).
Notes
Competitive (separate application), not automatic on stats. The page states the GPA/test cutoffs and the December 1 deadline but does NOT state the dollar value or what it covers. Do not assume full tuition.
Missouri State's published institutional scholarship policy states that scholarships 'may be combined, capped, or restricted in line with institutional guidelines and available funding.' No specific outside-scholarship displacement rule (loan-first vs grant-first) was found on an official page, so the displacement behavior is unclear.
The Op5.08-10 Institutional Scholarships policy (Freshman-policy.htm) grants the Vice President for Enrollment Management authority to set criteria and notes that 'Scholarships may be combined, capped, or restricted in line with institutional guidelines and available funding.' Several automatic awards (e.g., Out-of-State Tuition Waiver / Midwest Student Exchange waiver vs. Go Mo State) appear to be mutually exclusive or capped, but no page states how a third-party OUTSIDE scholarship affects institutional aid or whether it displaces grants vs. loans first.
Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.
Amount$2,000 renewableEligibilityIncoming freshmen (current high school seniors) at a Missouri high school with a GPA of 3.50 or higher and a Student Aid Index of 12,000 or less; must demonstrate community service, extracurricular participation, and/or work experience.
Need-aware (requires SAI of 12,000 or less), not pure merit. Application window: open February 1 – April 1, 2026. Source is the official Missouri State Financial Aid blog (blogs.missouristate.edu), not a static .edu scholarships page.
AmountUp to $5,000, renewableEligibilityMissouri undergraduates who will be sophomores, juniors, or seniors in 2026–2027 (incoming freshmen NOT eligible); 2.5+ GPA, demonstrated leadership, character, and academic performance; SAI and unmet need considered.
Not a freshman award — listed for completeness. Application open now through April 1, 2026. Source is the official Financial Aid blog.
AmountNot published onlineEligibilityExcellence in three of four areas (leadership, performing arts, volunteerism, athletics) plus class rank in the top 50% (or a 3.00 cumulative GPA at 6th semester) and a 20 ACT or 1030 SAT.
Competitive leadership scholarship requiring a separate application; dollar amount not stated on the Freshman Scholarships page.
AmountNot published onlineEligibilityQualified out-of-state students from participating MSEP states receive the Out-of-State Tuition Waiver.
The MSEP page confirms participation but does not list the qualifying states, the reduced tuition rate, or GPA/test thresholds. Likely an alternative to the Go Mo State Scholarship for some non-residents. Ask the aid office which applies.
AmountCovers tuition and fees not covered by other aidEligibilityNeed-based; covers 'tuition and fees that aren't already covered by federal, state and institutional scholarships and grants.'
NEED-BASED, not merit. Listed for completeness because it interacts with merit stacking. Renewal requires meeting SAP, maintaining Pell eligibility, and completing 24 MSU hours every year.
Are Missouri State's freshman merit scholarships automatic?
Yes — Missouri State says 'some scholarships you'll automatically qualify for when you apply and are admitted to MSU.' You are considered for an academic merit award just by applying for admission; no separate scholarship application is required for the automatic awards. The top Presidential Scholarship and the Hutchens/SGA Centennial Leaders Scholarship are exceptions that require separate applications.
How much is each Missouri State merit award worth?
Missouri State does not publish the dollar amounts (or the exact GPA/test cutoffs) for its automatic academic merit awards online. The one published figure is the out-of-state Go Mo State Scholarship, a $50,000 value that covers non-resident tuition for students with a 3.25+ GPA, renewable up to five years. Your specific in-state award amount appears in your admission/award offer.
What GPA do I need to keep my scholarship?
For institutional scholarships awarded Summer 2026 and beyond, you must maintain a 2.75 cumulative GPA and complete 30 credit hours per year. Scholarships renew for the lesser of five academic years or the completion of a first baccalaureate degree.
Do Missouri State scholarships stack with outside scholarships?
Missouri State's policy says scholarships 'may be combined, capped, or restricted in line with institutional guidelines and available funding,' but no page states exactly how an outside scholarship affects your institutional aid. Ask the aid office whether an outside award reduces your merit scholarship, your need-based aid, or your loans first.
How Missouri State compares across our verified dataset
199 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Missouri State is in a recognizable cluster (199 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
199 of 751 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
Missouri State is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Missouri 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 Missouri State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
