What a 30 ACT Is Worth: 92 Colleges Paying $20,000+ a Year
· 4 min read
A 30 on the ACT puts a student above roughly the 93rd percentile nationally. What that is worth in actual money depends entirely on which schools are on the list — and the spread is far wider than most families expect.
We ran a 30 composite with a 3.8 GPA against every published automatic merit grid we hold. It clears the lowest band at 487 of 501 schools. At 92 of them it is worth $20,000 a year or more.
Not a 30? See what your score is worth
This page works a 30. Enter their actual score and GPA and we will run it against all 501 published grids, ranked by what the next step pays per year. Free, no email needed to see it.
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Public universities, where a 30 goes furthest
These are the published automatic awards a 30 with a 3.8 reaches.
| School | State | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia College | GA | $20,326 |
| Central Washington | WA | $18,600 |
| Ole Miss | MS | $18,000 |
| Alcorn State | MS | $18,000 |
| Evergreen State | WA | $17,555 |
| UAB | AL | $17,500 |
| Oklahoma | OK | $16,500 |
| Arkansas–Pine Bluff | AR | $16,500 |
| Kentucky | KY | $16,000 |
| Montana | MT | $16,000 |
| UAH | AL | $16,000 |
| Montana State | MT | $16,000 |
| Florida Gulf Coast | FL | $15,000 |
| Plymouth State | NH | $15,000 |
Private colleges publish bigger numbers — read them carefully
The largest figures at a 30 come from small private colleges: Simpson in Iowa at $40,000 a year, Luther at $37,000, Moravian and Alma at $36,000.
A $36,000 award against a $58,000 sticker price leaves a family paying $22,000. A $16,000 award against $14,000 in-state tuition leaves them paying nothing. The smaller award is the better deal. Compare net cost, never award size.
This is the single most common mistake we see families make with merit aid. Private colleges set a high list price and discount heavily off it; the discount is real, but so is the price it is coming off.
The retake question at a 30
A 30 is an awkward score, because it sits just below several major thresholds and comfortably inside others.
- University of Alabama, out-of-state: a 30 is already inside the $24,000 band. The next edge is at 32, worth $4,000 more a year.
- Auburn, non-resident: a 30 earns $7,000. The next edge is at 31 — a single point — worth $11,000. That point is worth $16,000 over four years.
Same score, same student, two schools an hour apart, and the retake maths is completely different.
Check where a 30 sits on any school's published grid
→Where a 30 is not enough
Grids have ceilings. At schools whose top band opens at 33 or above, a 30 will not reach the headline award no matter how strong the GPA. That is worth knowing early, because it turns a vague "try to improve" into a specific target — or tells a family to stop spending on test prep and look at a different list.
See every school a 30 reaches, and the next step up
Your score and GPA against all 501 published grids, ranked by what the next step is worth per year. The biggest step in front of you is free to see.
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How these figures were produced
Every number is quoted from the university's own published page and carries the date a human last read it. Where a school states a benefit rather than a figure — "full tuition", "covers the non-resident fee" — it is excluded from these tables, because a benefit cannot be ranked against a dollar amount.
Published thresholds are not offers. The financial aid office makes the award.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 30 ACT good enough for a scholarship?
At most public universities with a published grid, comfortably. A 30 with a 3.8 GPA clears the lowest automatic band at 487 of the 501 schools we have read, and at 92 of them it is worth $20,000 a year or more. A 30 is below the threshold for the very top awards at selective flagships, but those are a small minority of schools that publish grids at all.
Which colleges give the most money for a 30 ACT?
Among public universities, Georgia College pays $20,326 a year at that score, Central Washington $18,600, and Ole Miss and Alcorn State $18,000. Among private colleges the headline figures are larger — Simpson College in Iowa publishes $40,000 a year — but those are discounts off a much higher sticker price and should be compared on net cost, not award size.
Should my student retake a 30 ACT for scholarship money?
Only if the next band edge is close on the schools they care about. At the University of Alabama's out-of-state grid a 30 already sits in the $24,000 band and the next edge is at 32. At Auburn a non-resident 30 earns $7,000 and the next edge is at 31 — one point. The answer is school-specific, not score-specific.
Do private colleges really give more merit aid than public ones?
They publish larger numbers, which is not the same thing. A private college discounting $35,000 off a $60,000 sticker price can still cost a family more than a public university discounting $8,000 off $12,000 in-state tuition. Compare net cost after the award, never the award alone.
What percentile is a 30 on the ACT?
A 30 composite sits at roughly the 93rd percentile of recent test takers, meaning about seven per cent of students score at or above it. Percentile is useful context for admissions but it is not what merit grids read — they read the raw composite against a published threshold, so the only number that matters for money is which band the 30 lands in.
Can a 30 ACT get a full ride?
At a handful of schools, yes, and at most, no. Full-tuition automatic awards usually open between a 30 and a 36 depending on the school and residency: the University of Alabama reaches full tuition in-state at a 30 with a 3.5 GPA, while Auburn does not reach it until a 35. A 30 is the threshold at some schools and five points short at others.