Even a renewal GPA of 3.5 means that the student has to protect his/her GPA like a pre-med does. Among other things, it may limit intellectual exploration or otherwise taking risks with one’s GPA (e.g. taking a harder or honors course, taking an extra course, etc.). While not as bad as a 3.8 renewal GPA, it is still a relatively high risk of losing the scholarship.
A renewal GPA of 3.0 usually is not much of an issue for a student getting the top end scholarship at the school, but there is still some risk (e.g. rough first year, before there is any previous GPA to buffer a bad semester).