If you take a leave of absence (LOA) mid-year during the spring semester, you will be responsible for completing half of the required credits. To be eligible for renewal, you must have earned those credits before starting your leave. 

If you return form an LOA and wish to re-enroll for the spring semester, you will need to complete half of the required credits by the following fall semester. 

Summer credits can be used to make up deficiencies from the previous fall and spring terms. You must complete the required number of credits for your post-secondary institution during the academic year, which runs from fall to summer. 

You commit to staying on track to ensure timely degree completion: within two years for an associate's degree and within four years for a bachelor's degree. This progress will be reviewed annually by Board staff. For students without prior college credits upon receiving the Opportunity Scholarship, this means you must complete 30 credits per academic year. 

You can receive a disbursement in the summer if you have not met your $3,5000 maximum yearly amount. 

It is not. The GPA requirement is set in Administrative Code and exceptions cannot be made. 

The Opportunity Scholarship is a "last dollars" award, meaning it is to assist in filling in the gap in your cost of attendance after other scholarships and grants. If you have other scholarships and grants that come close to meeting your cost of attendance, your Opportunity Scholarship will be reduced so you do not exceed your cost of attendance. Keep in mind that Northwest Nazarene University and College of Idaho are required to the state average cost of attendance when making awards, which is $28,061 for the 2025-26 year. 

The Opportunity Scholarhsip is need-based, which means 70% of the score given to students' applications are based on the SAI (Student Aid Index) from the FAFSA and 30% is based on students' GPA's. A final score is calculated based on the combined need score and the merit score. Applications are then ranked from highest to lowest, based on the final score. The number of scholarships offered is based on how much funding is available that year. 

In order to be eligible for renewal you must meet the following requirements: 

• You agree to stay on schedule in order to maintain progress towards on-time degree completion two years for an associate's degree and four years for a bachelor's degree; to be reviewed each year by board staff. For students without prior college credits upon receiving the Opportunity Scholarship, this means you must complete 30 credits per academic year. 
• Maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.7 while receiving your scholarhsip. 
• Be meeting satisfactory academic progress with your institution. 

You must fill out the renewal confirmation/questionnnaire no later than March 1 each year you wish to renew. 

Login to your Scholarship Idaho account and submit a transfer request. The instructions are on the status page. 

These institutions are required to use the average cost of attendance of the four-year public institutions in Idaho when calculating award amounts, which can be significantly lower than their actual cost of attendance. Many students at these institutions have institutional aid and scholarships up to or even in excess of the cost of attendance they are required to use, which means they are requried to reduce the Opportunity Scholarship to $0. You should still renew your award, since your situation could be very different next year. 

Please log in at https://scholarships.idaho.gov/ with your login information. The graduation plan will be a pop-up window. 

Awardees will receive up to $3,500 each year for up to four years. The institution where the student attends will determine the actual award amount. The Financial Aid Offices at these institutions will look at your cost of attendance (or the state-set cost of attendance, whichever is lower) and whatever is left after grants and other scholarships is what awardees can be awarded, up to $3,500. If a student's tuition and fees are less than $3,500 for the year, the funds awarded to them will be reduced to that amount. 

It depends on the institution. Some institutions award earlier in the summer than others. If you are not awarded by the end of September, please email scholarshiphelp@edu.idaho.gov. 

Graduation plans are required for all Opportunity students who have attempted or completed more than 100 college credits, as per rule 101.04.b