Is there any guaranteed merit amount at Saint Joseph's?

Yes, through the Guaranteed Admission Program. Students with a cumulative weighted 3.75+ GPA are guaranteed admission and 'will receive, at minimum, a $30,000 four-year merit scholarship award for a total value of $120,000, plus an additional $5,000 excellence award for an additional total value of $20,000.' That is a floor, not a ceiling.

What GPA do I need to keep my SJU merit scholarship?

SJU says merit awards are 'renewable for up to eight semesters as long as the student remains enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student and meets the minimum cumulative GPA requirement for the award.' The specific minimum GPA varies by award and is not published as a single public number, so confirm your award's renewal GPA in your offer letter.

Are there special scholarships for Jesuit high school graduates?

Yes. The Jesuit Preparatory Scholarship is 'awarded to incoming first-year students who graduate from a Jesuit high school and have achieved a minimum of a 3.00 cumulative GPA on a 4.00 scale.' The dollar amount is not published on the public scholarships page.

Saint Joseph's· Renewal Rules

Keeping Saint Joseph's’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 20268 days ago· C2-1

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

Saint Joseph's'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.

Merit-Based Academic (University) Scholarships: Full-time enrollment
Guaranteed Admission Program merit award: Full-time enrollment
Jesuit Preparatory Scholarship: Full-time enrollment

Renewal terms by tier

Merit-Based Academic (University) Scholarships
Amount not published; awarded holistically. SJU states some awards 'reduce the cost of tuition to be similar to the tuition of a state school.'
To keep it: Renewable for up to eight semesters as long as the student remains a full-time undergraduate and meets the minimum cumulative GPA requirement for the award. The specific minimum GPA varies by award and is not published as a single public number.
Source: https://www.sju.edu/scholarships
Guaranteed Admission Program merit award
Minimum $30,000 over four years ($120,000 value) + $5,000/yr excellence award ($20,000 value)
Entry requirements: 3.75 GPA
To keep it: Four-year award (eight semesters) for full-time undergraduates meeting the program's GPA requirement. The published amount is a guaranteed minimum, not a ceiling.
Source: https://www.sju.edu/admission/undergraduate/guaranteed-admission-program
Jesuit Preparatory Scholarship
Amount not published
Entry requirements: 3.00 GPA
To keep it: Renewable as a merit award for full-time undergraduates meeting the minimum cumulative GPA requirement.
Source: https://www.sju.edu/scholarships

How families lose this aid

Expecting a published GPA/test-score scholarship grid like many peer privates use.
Saint Joseph's reviews every applicant for merit automatically but does not publish a stat-banded dollar table for its general University Scholarships. The amount is set holistically. The one published, predictable figure is the Guaranteed Admission Program floor for students with a 3.75+ weighted GPA.
Treating the Guaranteed Admission Program amount as a maximum.
SJU describes the GAP award as a minimum — 'at minimum, a $30,000 four-year merit scholarship... plus an additional $5,000 excellence award.' Strong applicants may be offered more. Do not assume the published floor is the most you can receive.

Renewal questions families ask

Is there any guaranteed merit amount at Saint Joseph's?: Yes, through the Guaranteed Admission Program. Students with a cumulative weighted 3.75+ GPA are guaranteed admission and 'will receive, at minimum, a $30,000 four-year merit scholarship award for a total value of $120,000, plus an additional $5,000 excellence award for an additional total value of $20,000.' That is a floor, not a ceiling.
What GPA do I need to keep my SJU merit scholarship?: SJU says merit awards are 'renewable for up to eight semesters as long as the student remains enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student and meets the minimum cumulative GPA requirement for the award.' The specific minimum GPA varies by award and is not published as a single public number, so confirm your award's renewal GPA in your offer letter.
Are there special scholarships for Jesuit high school graduates?: Yes. The Jesuit Preparatory Scholarship is 'awarded to incoming first-year students who graduate from a Jesuit high school and have achieved a minimum of a 3.00 cumulative GPA on a 4.00 scale.' The dollar amount is not published on the public scholarships page.

Rules that bite at Saint Joseph's

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

renewalMerit-Based Academic (University) Scholarships: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable for up to eight semesters as long as the student remains a full-time undergraduate and meets the minimum cumulative GPA requirement for the award. The specific minimum GPA varies by award and is not published as a single public number. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Saint Joseph's compares across our verified dataset

178 of 203 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Saint Joseph's 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 Saint Joseph's’s own published materials.