What GPA do I need for the Academic Award?

A 3.4 minimum high school GPA plus four distinguished activities and a completed FAFSA. To renew, keep a 2.75 cumulative GPA after year one and a 3.0 every year after.

What are the Oprah Winfrey Scholars eligibility requirements?

A 3.2 high school GPA (or 3.0 at Morehouse), SAT 1200 or ACT 26, demonstrated commitment to service, and an Expected Family Contribution of $5,000 or less.

Morehouse· Renewal Rules

Keeping Morehouse’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 2026today· COWORK

At a glance

Renewable tiers: 5 of 5
One-time tiers: 0
Tiers with published renewal terms: 5
Renewal risk profile: moderate

Renewal risk profile

Morehouse'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.

Institutional Scholarships (Automatic Scholarship Match for newly admitted students): See notes
Morehouse College Academic Award (MCAA): 2.75 GPA
Morehouse College Athletic Awards: 2.0 GPA
Morehouse College Talent Awards: 2.0 GPA
Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholars Program: 3.0 GPA

Renewal terms by tier

Institutional Scholarships (Automatic Scholarship Match for newly admitted students)
Amount not published
To keep it: Continued eligibility requires meeting donor criteria, maintaining GPA / community service hours / other conditions, and submitting required documents.
Source: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/scholarships
Morehouse College Academic Award (MCAA)
Amount not published
Entry requirements: 3.4 minimum high school GPA GPA
To keep it: Freshmen: cumulative 2.75 GPA at end of first year; upperclassmen: cumulative 3.0 GPA at end of each year. Must earn 28-36 institutional credit hours/year, file FAFSA, maintain continuous full-time Fall+Spring enrollment. Renewable a maximum of 8 semesters; cannot be used for summer courses.
Source: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards
Morehouse College Athletic Awards
Amount not published
Entry requirements: 2.0 cumulative GPA
To keep it: Maintain 2.0 cumulative GPA; earn 9 credits/semester or 24/year; file FAFSA; remain NCAA-compliant. Renewed annually; cover up to 36 credit hours/year. May be reduced or cancelled for ineligibility, misconduct, voluntarily quitting the sport, or transfer notification.
Source: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards
Morehouse College Talent Awards
Amount not published
Entry requirements: 2.0 cumulative GPA
To keep it: Granted on a semester basis (not summer); maintain 2.0 cumulative GPA; participate in all required rehearsals/practices and assigned performances; must reapply each year. Failure to perform required concerts can cancel the award.
Source: https://morehouse.edu/aid/financial-aid/institutional-awards
Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholars Program
Amount not published
Entry requirements: 3.2 minimum high school GPA (or 3.0 Morehouse GPA) GPA · 1200 SAT · 26 ACT
To keep it: Maintain cumulative 3.0 GPA, complete 15 credit hours each semester, and fulfill annual service/program participation requirements (mentoring, leadership program implementation).
Source: https://morehouse.edu/academics/programs/oprah-winfrey-scholars/

How families lose this aid

Expecting to see merit dollar amounts before applying
Morehouse withholds institutional scholarship amounts — newly admitted students are matched automatically from the admission application and notified at admission, and current students apply through the AcademicWorks scholarship portal. There is no published GPA-to-dollar grid, so plan around 'amount not published.'
Overlooking the Academic Award renewal cliff
The MCAA requires a 2.75 cumulative GPA at the end of the first year and a 3.0 cumulative GPA every year thereafter, plus 28-36 earned institutional credits per year and continuous full-time enrollment; it is renewable for a maximum of 8 semesters and cannot pay for summer courses.
Assuming the Oprah Winfrey Scholars award is merit-only
It is a need+merit hybrid with a hard need cap — eligibility requires an Expected Family Contribution of $5,000 or less (plus 3.2 HS GPA, SAT 1200/ACT 26, and demonstrated service), and renewal requires a 3.0 GPA, 15 credits/semester, and completing service requirements.

Renewal questions families ask

What GPA do I need for the Academic Award?: A 3.4 minimum high school GPA plus four distinguished activities and a completed FAFSA. To renew, keep a 2.75 cumulative GPA after year one and a 3.0 every year after.
What are the Oprah Winfrey Scholars eligibility requirements?: A 3.2 high school GPA (or 3.0 at Morehouse), SAT 1200 or ACT 26, demonstrated commitment to service, and an Expected Family Contribution of $5,000 or less.

Rules that bite at Morehouse

The renewal trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook, derived from Morehouse's own tier rules and not generic advice.

renewalMorehouse College Academic Award (MCAA): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Freshmen: cumulative 2.75 GPA at end of first year; upperclassmen: cumulative 3.0 GPA at end of each year. Must earn 28-36 institutional credit hours/year, file FAFSA, maintain continuous full-time Fall+Spring enrollment. Renewable a maximum of 8 semesters; cannot be used for summer courses. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Morehouse compares across our verified dataset

247 of 272 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Morehouse is one of them. The cohort minority (25 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 Morehouse’s own published materials.