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WGU award rules

Will the scholarship last four years at WGU?

We pulled the school’s grade, credit, and time limits into one place so you can see what it takes to keep the award.

Verified Jul 20262 months ago

The short answer

2 of 6 published awards are listed as renewable.

The exact rule can change by award. Check the award your student may receive before you count on the same amount every year.

What to do

Find the award name in the full research below. Save its grade, credit, and deadline rules with your college plan.

See every award rule, common mistake, and source

At a glance

Renewable tiers
2 of 6
One-time tiers
4
Tiers with published renewal terms
2
Renewal risk profile
low

Renewal risk profile

WGU's published renewal rules cluster around a 3.0 floor with no major-GPA gating, which is survivable for the typical freshman with steady study habits. The risk is non-renewal due to enrollment status (dropping below full-time), not GPA.

  • WGU Competitive Scholarship Portfolio (general): See notes
  • Education Support Professionals Scholarship: See notes

Renewal terms by tier

  • WGU Competitive Scholarship Portfolio (general)

    $500-$10,000

    To keep it: Per the Scholarship FAQs: 'Recipients of multi-term scholarships must meet on-time progress (OTP) for their scholarship to renew.' Awards are 'divided into a set amount per term' and credited against tuition each term.

    Source: https://www.wgu.edu/financial-aid-tuition/scholarships/faqs.html

  • Education Support Professionals Scholarship

    $5,000

    To keep it: Recipients receive $1,250 per six-month term, renewable for up to four terms, with an additional $2,500 stipend for the student teaching term.

    Source: https://www.wgu.edu/financial-aid-tuition/scholarships.html

How families lose this aid

  • Treating any award as guaranteed merit money.

    'All scholarships are competitive and are not guaranteed' — there is no automatic GPA/test-score grid, and financial need is 'a strong consideration for most' funds.

  • Expecting the scholarship as a lump sum.

    'New and returning student scholarship awards are divided into a set amount per term' and credited against each term's tuition — slow progress can forfeit later installments, since multi-term scholarships 'must meet on-time progress (OTP)' to renew.

Renewal questions families ask

Is there an automatic merit scholarship based on GPA or test scores?
No. WGU does not publish any GPA/test-based automatic award grid; all scholarships are competitive applications via the ScholarshipUniverse platform, and WGU practices test-free admissions.

How WGU compares across our verified dataset

  • 665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    WGU 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 renewal claim is checked against WGU’s own published materials.

More on WGU merit aid