Alma College: merit scholarships by GPA
Alma College awards automatic merit aid from a published grid keyed to GPA — the ACT is not used. Awards start at a 3.0 GPA and reach $38,000 a year. Because the bands are steps rather than a slope, a hundredth of a GPA point is worth nothing inside a band and the whole step at the edge of one.
Enter a GPA below to see which band it actually lands in, what that band pays, and what the next band needs.
Read this first
Alma's merit table is keyed to high school GPA alone — the column is headed 'Average GPA', meaning your own grade average and not the profile of past winners, and no ACT or SAT number appears anywhere on the scholarship page. Submitting a score cannot move the award. Two details change what the table means: Alma uses 'your weighted or unweighted GPA, whichever is higher', and the bottom 'Alma Scholarship' row prints $28,000 a year with the GPA cell left empty, so $28,000 is the published floor for an admitted first-year student rather than a band with a ceiling. These are the Fall 2027 figures; Alma publishes a separate, lower table for Winter 2027 entry.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
Dean Scholarship
$34,000 / year
About $136,000 over four years, if it renews.
Alma awards this on GPA alone, so an ACT score does not change it. A higher score can still matter for admission, for honours programmes, and at other schools on the list — but not for this award.
The ACT doesn't move the money here — but it still decides admission, honours eligibility, and what they is worth at the other schools on the list, where most awards are score-keyed.
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The published Alma merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Alma College’s own pages for 2027-28 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
First-year merit scholarships (Fall 2027 entry)
Read off the transcript with no separate application, and Alma uses the weighted or unweighted GPA, whichever is higher. The Scottish Hospitality visit scholarship ($3,000), Legacy ($1,500), Highland out-of-state award ($1,000) and FAFSA Filing Scholarship ($1,000) are additive money on top of these figures, not a second grid, so none of them is a band here.
$38,000
Presidential Scholarship
No score needed
$36,000
Trustee Scholarship
No score needed
$34,000
Dean Scholarship
No score needed
$32,000
Tartan Scholarship
No score needed
$30,000
Achievement Scholarship
No score needed
$28,000
Alma Scholarship
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Scholarship | — | $38,000 |
| Trustee Scholarship | — | $36,000 |
| Dean Scholarship | — | $34,000 |
| Tartan Scholarship | — | $32,000 |
| Achievement Scholarship | — | $30,000 |
| Alma Scholarship | — | $28,000 |
Source: Alma College Scholarships — Merit First-Year Scholarships (Fall 2027) · verified 2026-10-23
Does Alma superscore for scholarships?
Not stated, and at Alma the question cannot arise. The word 'superscore' appears on neither the scholarship page nor the first-year application page, and since every merit band is a GPA band, no combination of test sittings changes the award.
With nothing published, plan for the stricter reading: look up your best single sitting in the grid above, work out your superscore as well, and ask Alma’s financial aid office which one they read before you count on the higher band.
Comparing schools? See which colleges superscore for scholarships — 66 of 501 commit to it, 52 say they do not, and the rest never say.
Alma scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Rolling admission — Alma says 'our rolling admissions process let's us evaluate your application as soon as we receive all of your materials', with no first-year application deadline published | Rolling |
| Distinguished Scholars process opens for the 2027-28 academic year | September 21, 2026 |
| Deadline for Distinguished Scholars (full-tuition) consideration | December 15, 2026 |
| On-campus interview for selected Distinguished Scholars candidates | January 30, 2027 |
| Deadline for all Distinguished fine arts performance awards | May 1 |
| National deposit deadline ($300 deposit; housing and orientation are tied to deposit date) | May 1 |
| FAFSA deadline to apply for the Michigan Competitive Scholarship | July 1, 2026 |
| Campus visit must be completed to earn the $3,000 Scottish Hospitality Scholarship | Prior to freshman move in |
Scores take roughly two to four weeks to arrive, and official reports sent to schools can take longer, so the last useful test date is several weeks before the printed deadline. Check which test dates still make it.
Where these numbers came from
Every figure on this page was read from Alma College’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Alma College Scholarships — Merit First-Year Scholarships (Fall 2027)verified 2026-10-23
- Applying to Alma — first-year requirements and test policyverified 2026-10-23
- The bottom row of Alma's table has a price and no criterion: 'Alma | $28,000.00/year | $112,000', with the GPA cell blank. No ceiling has been invented for it here, so it qualifies at any GPA and a higher GPA simply earns a better row. Practically it means Alma publishes a $28,000 floor for admitted first-year students, which is higher than the TOP automatic award at most schools in this dataset.
- Alma prints both figures in every row, annual and four-year total: $38,000/$152,000, $36,000/$144,000, $34,000/$136,000, $32,000/$128,000, $30,000/$120,000 and $28,000/$112,000. Because the annual number is in print, the totals are context rather than the source of the annual figure.
- Which GPA counts is spelled out and is in the student's favour: 'We will use your weighted or unweighted GPA, whichever is higher, for scholarship eligibility.' A weighted 4.1 therefore reaches the Presidential band even where the unweighted average would not.
- Entering in January costs $2,000 a year at every tier. Alma publishes a separate Winter 2027 table whose Presidential award is $36,000 at 3.80+, Trustee $34,000, Dean $32,000, Tartan $30,000 and Alma $28,000 — the same ladder shifted down one step, with a lower GPA floor at the top. The grid above is the Fall 2027 table.
- Four awards are additive and automatic or near-automatic, and none is in the grid: the Scottish Hospitality Scholarship ($3,000 a year, renewable to $12,000, just for visiting campus before freshman move-in, excluding Game Day Saturday visits and capped at one award), the Legacy Scholarship ($1,500 renewable, for a parent, grandparent or sibling who attended Alma), the Highland Award ($1,000 renewable, for any student residing outside Michigan — the page words this as 'any student entering Fall 2026', so confirm it still applies to a 2027 entry) and the FAFSA Filing Scholarship ($1,000 renewable, up to $4,000, just for filing).
- The Distinguished Scholars competition is NOT a lookup and is not in the grid. Alma awards 'up to 15 full tuition scholarships', the process opens September 21, 2026, consideration closes December 15, 2026, and selected students must come to campus for an in-person interview on January 30, 2027. A limited number plus an interview is the shape this dataset excludes from automatic bands.
- The Michigan Achievement Scholarship, Michigan Competitive Scholarship and Michigan Tuition Grant are STATE money, not Alma's, and none of them is in this grid — but they arrive in the same award letter, so the combined number is easy to mistake for Alma's offer. Alma's own page prices the Achievement Scholarship at 'Up to $5,500 if they attend a Michigan private college or university, per year, up to five years' for Michigan high school graduates from 2023 onward, which is more than one full step of this merit ladder and is specifically available at private colleges like Alma. The Competitive Scholarship is closed to anyone who graduated high school in 2023 or later and needs a FAFSA by July 1, 2026.
- Transfer students read a different and lower table that reuses no award names: $34,000 at a 3.50+, $32,000 at 3.25-3.49, $30,000 at 3.00-3.24 and $28,000 for the unlabelled base row, falling to $32,000/$30,000/$28,000/$26,000 for winter entry. Do not read the first-year figures as a transfer offer.
- Fine arts performance scholarships pay $1,500 a year as a base and '$2,000+' for a Distinguished award, but both require a portfolio or audition submitted to faculty, and the Distinguished award requires an art and design minor. The Kim Kaye Leadership Scholarship ('up to $4,000 per year', minimum 3.0 GPA) and the Detroit Future Scholarship (up to 15 awards, 3.0 GPA with sub-3.0 students 'looked at on an individual basis') both require applications and limited slots, so none of these is a band.
Check before you rely on it. Grids change by entry year and schools update them without notice. This page is a reproduction with a date on it, not a guarantee, and it is not financial aid advice. ClutchACT is not affiliated with Alma College.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Alma?
Alma College publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is Alma test-optional?
Conditional rather than flatly optional, and the condition is a GPA. Alma automatically considers a student with a 2.75 high school GPA or higher without a score; below that, Alma says 'Alternative admissions pathways ... continue to be available and will be addressed individually with students'. Note the sentence carries its own expiry — it reads 'through the fall of 2025' and has not been updated on the page, so confirm the current cycle with Alma. For merit aid the answer is different: not used, and Alma says so in one sentence at the top of its own scholarship page. Every merit row is a GPA band; the words ACT and SAT appear nowhere in the merit tables, and the only score language on the admissions side is the 2.75-GPA test-optional pathway for admission. Being admitted without a score and qualifying for money without a score are two separate questions.
How much is a 30 on the ACT worth at Alma?
On Alma's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Dean Scholarship at $34,000 a year, about $136,000 over four years if it renews.
Does Alma superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated, and at Alma the question cannot arise. The word 'superscore' appears on neither the scholarship page nor the first-year application page, and since every merit band is a GPA band, no combination of test sittings changes the award.
When are Alma scholarship deadlines?
Rolling admission — Alma says 'our rolling admissions process let's us evaluate your application as soon as we receive all of your materials', with no first-year application deadline published: Rolling. Distinguished Scholars process opens for the 2027-28 academic year: September 21, 2026. Deadline for Distinguished Scholars (full-tuition) consideration: December 15, 2026. On-campus interview for selected Distinguished Scholars candidates: January 30, 2027. Deadline for all Distinguished fine arts performance awards: May 1. National deposit deadline ($300 deposit; housing and orientation are tied to deposit date): May 1. FAFSA deadline to apply for the Michigan Competitive Scholarship: July 1, 2026. Campus visit must be completed to earn the $3,000 Scottish Hospitality Scholarship: Prior to freshman move in. The application and the official score report are both due by that date, and ACT scores take roughly two to four weeks to arrive — so the last useful test date is several weeks earlier than the deadline suggests.
Is this Alma scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Alma College's own published pages and last verified on 2026-10-23. The sources are linked at the bottom of the page with that date. Grids change by entry year, so check the source before relying on a figure for a decision.
Other schools to check
What to do next
Alma awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though Alma is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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