Is there a separate scholarship application or deadline for merit scholarships?

No. 'All full-time admitted students are automatically considered for academic scholarships to the University of Lynchburg — no separate scholarship application is required.' Admission itself is rolling ('Lynchburg's rolling admissions offers flexibility to apply without deadlines'); application deadlines are July 31 for the fall semester and Dec. 19 for the spring semester, with later applications reviewed on a space-available basis.

Do I need SAT/ACT scores to get a merit scholarship?

No. 'SAT and ACT scores are not required for admission or merit scholarships.' You may optionally submit scores to be combined with your GPA, but the award 'is only likely to change if your SAT is above 1200-1300 or ACT is 25-28.'

How do I keep my scholarship after freshman year?

Merit scholarships 'are renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress.' Your scholarship letter will state the specific academic standards required for renewal, and 'After your first year, scholarships are renewable for three additional years if renewal eligibility is maintained.'

Lynchburg· Renewal Rules

Keeping Lynchburg’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 20264 days ago· COWORK

At a glance

Renewable tiers: 6 of 6
One-time tiers: 0
Tiers with published renewal terms: 6
Renewal risk profile: moderate

Renewal risk profile

Lynchburg'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.

Hopwood Scholarship: Full-time enrollment
Founder's Scholarship: Full-time enrollment
Trustee Scholarship: Full-time enrollment
Presidential Scholarship: Full-time enrollment
Westover Honors Scholarship: See notes
Transfer Scholarships (Trustee Transfer, Dean's Transfer, Alumni Transfer Award): See notes

Renewal terms by tier

Hopwood Scholarship
$25,000
Entry requirements: 4.0+ weighted GPA
To keep it: Renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress. "After your first year, scholarships are renewable for three additional years if renewal eligibility is maintained."
Source: https://www.lynchburg.edu/admissions/cost-and-affordability/undergraduate-financial-aid/
Founder's Scholarship
$23,000
Entry requirements: 3.5+ weighted GPA
To keep it: Renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress; renewable for three additional years after the first year if renewal eligibility is maintained.
Source: https://www.lynchburg.edu/admissions/cost-and-affordability/undergraduate-financial-aid/
Trustee Scholarship
$21,000
Entry requirements: 3.0+ weighted GPA
To keep it: Renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress; renewable for three additional years after the first year if renewal eligibility is maintained.
Source: https://www.lynchburg.edu/admissions/cost-and-affordability/undergraduate-financial-aid/
Presidential Scholarship
$20,000
Entry requirements: 2.5+ weighted GPA
To keep it: Renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress; renewable for three additional years after the first year if renewal eligibility is maintained.
Source: https://www.lynchburg.edu/admissions/cost-and-affordability/undergraduate-financial-aid/
Westover Honors Scholarship
Up to $2,000
Entry requirements: 3.75+ (for automatic consideration for the Westover Honors program) GPA · 1250+ (for automatic consideration for the Westover Honors program) SAT
To keep it: Renewal terms not stated on the pages opened; ask the aid office.
Source: https://www.lynchburg.edu/admissions/cost-and-affordability/undergraduate-financial-aid/
Transfer Scholarships (Trustee Transfer, Dean's Transfer, Alumni Transfer Award)
$16,000-$20,000
Entry requirements: 2.50+ for Alumni Transfer Award ($16,000); 3.00+ for Dean's Transfer Scholarship ($18,000); 3.50+ for Trustee Transfer Scholarship ($20,000) GPA
To keep it: The page states transfer students are also eligible for scholarships; the general renewal language on the page says scholarships are renewable for three additional years after the first year if renewal eligibility is maintained. Confirm transfer-specific renewal terms with the aid office.
Source: https://www.lynchburg.edu/admissions/cost-and-affordability/undergraduate-financial-aid/

How families lose this aid

Assuming the merit scholarship renews automatically for as long as you're enrolled.
Renewal requires continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress, and 'your scholarship letter will indicate the academic standards required for renewal.' Scholarships are renewable for only 'three additional years' after the first year — a fifth year is not covered by the published policy.
Submitting mid-range SAT/ACT scores expecting a bigger scholarship.
The university is test-optional for merit. Per the aid page: 'You may submit your SAT or ACT score to be combined with your GPA to increase your scholarship; however, it is only likely to change if your SAT is above 1200-1300 or ACT is 25-28.'
Trusting the headline merit range instead of the actual grid.
Lynchburg's own pages disagree: the financial-aid page says 2026-27 merit scholarships 'range from $18,000-$25,000,' the first-year apply page says '$16,000 to $25,000,' while the freshman grid actually bottoms out at $20,000 (Presidential, 2.5+ GPA) and the transfer grid at $16,000. Confirm your exact award tier with admissions.

Renewal questions families ask

Is there a separate scholarship application or deadline for merit scholarships?: No. 'All full-time admitted students are automatically considered for academic scholarships to the University of Lynchburg — no separate scholarship application is required.' Admission itself is rolling ('Lynchburg's rolling admissions offers flexibility to apply without deadlines'); application deadlines are July 31 for the fall semester and Dec. 19 for the spring semester, with later applications reviewed on a space-available basis.
Do I need SAT/ACT scores to get a merit scholarship?: No. 'SAT and ACT scores are not required for admission or merit scholarships.' You may optionally submit scores to be combined with your GPA, but the award 'is only likely to change if your SAT is above 1200-1300 or ACT is 25-28.'
How do I keep my scholarship after freshman year?: Merit scholarships 'are renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress.' Your scholarship letter will state the specific academic standards required for renewal, and 'After your first year, scholarships are renewable for three additional years if renewal eligibility is maintained.'

Rules that bite at Lynchburg

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

renewalHopwood Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable with continued full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress. "After your first year, scholarships are renewable for three additional years if renewal eligibility is maintained." A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

How Lynchburg compares across our verified dataset

669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Lynchburg 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 Lynchburg’s own published materials.

policyLynchburg stacking policy
scholarshipJordan Taylor Westover Fellow Scholarship