Notre Dame· Renewal Rules

Keeping Notre Dame’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 May 20265 days ago· PT

At a glance

Renewable tiers: 3 of 3
One-time tiers: 0
Tiers with published renewal terms: 3
Renewal risk profile: moderate

Renewal risk profile

Notre Dame'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.

Stamps Scholars Program: Full-time enrollment
Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program: Full-time enrollment
Notre Dame University Merit Scholarships (other named awards): See notes

Renewal terms by tier

Stamps Scholars Program
Full tuition and fees + estimated cost of books, personal expenses, and transportation for up to four years (five years for Architecture or approved dual-degree) + $12,000 enrichment fund
To keep it: Renewable for up to eight semesters of full-time enrollment (ten semesters for Architecture or five-year engineering programs). Standard ND merit renewal terms apply.
Source: https://stampsscholars.nd.edu/
Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program
$25,000/year for four years ($100,000 total) + fully funded summer enrichment experiences, seminars, service-learning projects, career advising, and alumni mentoring
To keep it: Renewable for four years of full-time undergraduate study; renewal terms align with the broader Hesburgh-Yusko program participation requirements.
Source: https://hesburgh-yusko.nd.edu/
Notre Dame University Merit Scholarships (other named awards)
Varies — partial- to full-tuition awards for a small number of admits each year
To keep it: Renewable for up to eight semesters (10 for Architecture and approved five-year engineering programs); recipients pursuing a second major or degree beyond those windows are not eligible for further University scholarship consideration.
Source: https://financialaid.nd.edu/aid-types/merit-based-scholarships/

How families lose this aid

Skipping the CSS Profile
The CSS Profile is required for need-based University scholarship consideration at ND — not just the FAFSA. ND's CSS code is 1841. Without the CSS Profile, you forfeit consideration for institutional grant aid and the Pathways commitment. This is the single most-skipped step that costs families real money.
Treating Restrictive Early Action as binding
ND uses Restrictive Early Action (REA), not Early Decision. REA prohibits applying Early Decision elsewhere but does not commit you to attend if admitted. Applicants can compare aid offers from multiple meets-need privates without being locked in. Confusing REA for ED is a common mistake that leads families to forfeit financial leverage.

Rules that bite at Notre Dame

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

renewalStamps Scholars Program: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable for up to eight semesters of full-time enrollment (ten semesters for Architecture or five-year engineering programs). Standard ND merit renewal terms apply. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Notre Dame compares across our verified dataset

70 of 78 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Notre Dame is one of them. The cohort minority (8 schools) only awards one-year scholarships — meaning 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 Notre Dame’s own published materials.