UMPI's one published automatic merit award is a $5,000 New Student Scholarship (1100+ SAT/25 ACT plus a 3.3 GPA, or a 3.7 GPA on its own), renewable across eight semesters with a 3.0 GPA — but it is explicitly NOT available to students in UMPI's flat-rate online YourPace program.
Verified Jun 20263 months ago
The short answer
Is UMaine Presque Isle worth a closer look?
UMaine Presque Isle is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 3 published awards, and 2 are based on those numbers.
Merit tiers32 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJun 2026By our research team
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Published scholarships
These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.
$5000
New Student (Traditional) Scholarship
Based on grades or scoresCan continue
GPA
3.3 HS GPA (with test score) OR 3.7 HS GPA (no test). Catalog program also allows a 3.5 HS GPA with no test scores needed.
Awarded at the time of acceptance. Canadian students must have an academic average of 90 or above. NOT available to YourPace (flat-rate online) students.
How to keep it
The underlying Student Academic Scholarship Program (John F. Hill Scholarship) is 'renewable for six additional continuous semesters for a total of eight semesters,' contingent on 'successfully completing a minimum of 12 credit hours each semester, which are delivered by the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and maintaining a 3.0 or greater GPA each semester.'
Notes
This is the only institutional merit award with a published dollar figure. The scholarships page states the award amount ($5,000) and the qualifying stats; the academic catalog describes the same award as the 'Student Academic Scholarship Program' / 'John F. Hill Scholarship' and supplies the renewal terms (8 semesters, 12 credits/semester delivered by UMPI, 3.0 GPA) but does not restate the dollar amount. The two paths to qualify are an SAT 1100+/ACT 25 combined with a 3.3 GPA, OR a 3.7 GPA on its own (catalog phrases the no-test path as 3.5+).
3.0 transfer GPA (scholarships page); 2.75 cumulative GPA in the catalog's Transfer Achievement Scholarship description
See who qualifies and how to keep it+
Who qualifies
Must transfer directly from another institution with 15 transferable credit hours to UMPI. NOT available to YourPace (flat-rate online) students.
How to keep it
The catalog's Transfer Achievement Scholarship is 'renewable for four additional continuous semesters and is dependent on certain criteria; maintaining a 3.0 cumulative grade point average per semester at UMPI, and successfully completing 12 semester hours of credit delivered by UMPI each semester.' Catalog renewal eligibility cites a 2.75 entering GPA / 15 credits; the scholarships page states a 3.0 GPA / 15 transferable credits to earn it.
Notes
Awarded at the time of acceptance to direct transfers. The public scholarships page and the academic catalog give slightly different entering-GPA figures (3.0 vs. 2.75) — flagged for the aid office in Section C. Only the $2,000 figure on the scholarships page is treated as the published amount.
Applicant must be the son, daughter, grandchild, or spouse of a UMPI alumnus; full-time, second-semester freshman, sophomore, or junior in any major. Separate application required.
How to keep it
Renewal terms not stated; described as awarded annually.
Notes
A small, application-based legacy award — not an automatic admissions scholarship. Included because it is one of the only named foundation/institutional awards with a published dollar amount.
Both awards state in bold 'Your Pace students are not eligible for this scholarship.' UMPI's flagship flat-rate online competency-based program (YourPace, $1,800 per 8-week session) is explicitly excluded from these merit scholarships, and the catalog adds that students who matriculate in YourPace are not eligible for certain tuition waivers either.
It is renewable for up to eight total semesters, but only if you complete at least 12 credit hours each semester that are delivered by UMPI and keep a 3.0 or greater GPA each semester. Dropping below 12 UMPI credits or under a 3.0 in any semester can end the award.
For 2026-2027 that in-state figure is tuition ($8,370) + mandatory fees ($1,728) + housing and food ($11,400). Indirect costs are added on top: books/course materials ($1,000), miscellaneous ($1,100), and travel ($1,350). Out-of-state/international direct costs are higher at $27,348.
UMPI publishes one automatic merit amount ($5,000 new student / $2,000 transfer). It is not UMaine Orono — there is no large GPA-banded scholarship grid. Most other named awards are local foundation or donor scholarships without published amounts.
Per UMPI's Financial Aid Policy, an outside scholarship first fills unmet need, then replaces your loan and/or Work-Study before it ever touches your UMPI grant or scholarship. That order is favorable, but total aid still cannot exceed your Cost of Attendance, so a large outside award can trigger a package adjustment. Report all outside aid to Student Financial Services.
See costs and school data+
Who this school may work for
Traditional first-year and transfer students attending UMPI's on-campus (not YourPace online) program who hit a 3.3+/test or 3.7 GPA bar and want a modest, predictable, automatic award stacked on a low public-college sticker price. A poor fit for anyone counting on a big merit grid or for YourPace online learners, who are excluded from these merit awards.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $21,498 for 2026-2027. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at UMaine Presque Isle, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at UMaine Presque Isle, academic year 2021-22 — in-state, Title-IV aid recipients only
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$5,934
$30,001–$48,000
$4,492
$48,001–$75,000
$6,564
$75,001–$110,000
$10,229
$110,001+
$9,758
All income levels (average)
$7,035
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
$9,402
Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
$14,862
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$7,035
That works out to roughly a 63% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $19,113 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
UMaine Presque Isle is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
52%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
58%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$16,000 (~$170/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$40,956
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
52%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
41%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
UMPI's official Financial Aid Policy uses self-help-first displacement for outside scholarships: an outside award is first applied to unmet need, then replaces loan and/or Work-Study BEFORE it reduces a University grant or scholarship. Total aid (including outside resources) may not exceed the Cost of Attendance; if it does, the aid office reduces self-help (loans and work) before reducing scholarship or grant aid. Separately, the Level Up / certain tuition-waiver awards cannot be combined with any other UMS or UMPI waiver/merit award.
Outside scholarships do not automatically reduce UMPI's own merit award — loans and Work-Study absorb the displacement first, and the institutional grant/scholarship is reduced only if the package would otherwise exceed COA. This is favorable to students. Note one carve-out: a specific tuition-waiver award (the Level Up at UMPI transfer waiver) 'cannot be combined with any other waiver/merit award offered by the University of Maine System or the University of Maine at Presque Isle.' That non-stacking rule applies to that waiver, not to the $5,000/$2,000 merit scholarships.
Other UMaine Presque Isle scholarships worth checking
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityVarious local/criteria-based awards, e.g. Allen Scholarship (a Caribou-area high-school graduate, full-time); Baker Scholarship (Aroostook County, preference for Presque Isle); Christie Scholarship (Aroostook County students with leadership and a good academic record); Corey Scholarship (a fairly recent Caribou High School graduate with high academic achievement).
Foundation/donor scholarships awarded annually; the official pages do not publish dollar amounts for these named awards. Most are tied to local residency or specific donor criteria rather than open automatic merit.
AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityFull-time student demonstrating leadership in campus and/or community activities; cumulative GPA of 3.30 or better.
Established by the Student Senate; merit/leadership-based, separate application via the Foundation Scholarship Application. No dollar amount published.
AmountAmount not publishedEligibilityBFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) major with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher and involvement in campus and/or community organizations.
Departmental/major-restricted award; no dollar amount published.
Is the UMPI merit scholarship automatic, and how much is it?
Yes for traditional (non-YourPace) students: a $5,000 New Student Scholarship is awarded at the time of acceptance to students who score 1100+ on the SAT (25 ACT) with a 3.3 high-school GPA, OR have a 3.7 GPA (the catalog also allows a 3.5 GPA with no test scores). Direct transfers with a 3.0 GPA and 15 transferable credits receive $2,000.
Can YourPace students get these scholarships?
No. Both the $5,000 New Student and $2,000 Transfer scholarships state in bold that 'Your Pace students are not eligible.' YourPace is UMPI's flat-rate, fully online competency-based program billed at $1,800 per 8-week session, and it is excluded from these merit awards.
How do I renew the scholarship?
The award is renewable for up to eight total semesters. You must complete at least 12 credit hours each semester delivered by UMPI and maintain a 3.0 or greater GPA each semester (the transfer version renews for four additional semesters under the same 3.0 GPA / 12-credit rule).
Will winning an outside scholarship reduce my UMPI award?
Not first. UMPI applies an outside scholarship to unmet need, then replaces your loan and/or Work-Study before reducing any University grant or scholarship. But your total aid (including outside resources) cannot exceed your Cost of Attendance, so a large outside award can still force an adjustment. You must report all outside aid to Student Financial Services.
Is there a scholarship deadline?
New-student merit awards are determined at the time of acceptance, so the practical deadline is your admission. UMPI's separate Foundation/returning-student scholarship application deadline is 4:30 pm on January 30th, 2026.
See sources and other schools+
How UMaine Presque Isle compares
145 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.
UMaine Presque Isle is in a recognizable cluster (145 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
UMaine Presque Isle is one of them. The cohort minority (84 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 UMaine Presque Isle’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
