Carthage College: merit scholarships by GPA
Carthage College awards automatic merit aid from a published grid keyed to GPA — the ACT is not used. Awards start at a 2.5 GPA and reach $24,000 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
Carthage's automatic merit award is decided by unweighted high school GPA alone — there is no ACT or SAT threshold anywhere in the table, and no test-optional bonus band. Carthage does superscore and will read a submitted score, but the score cannot move this figure; only the GPA can. The large Carthage awards that do run into the $30,000s are competitive, need an essay or audition by a November or December deadline, and mostly replace this award rather than add to it.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
← Drag either slider to your own numbers
Example — a 3.60 GPA
Academic Scholarship
$23,000 / year
About $92,000 over four years, if it renews.
Carthage 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.
Free preview of the top schools · the full ranked list, with deadlines, is $19.
Want to know what one more point would change? The Merit Plan prices the next point at every school.
Email me every school that pays at a 29 and 3.60
This page is one school. We have read the published grids at 501, and the email sends the ten that pay you most — five public, five private — with what each one awards. No account.
One email with your breakdown, plus occasional ACT tips. Unsubscribe in one tap.
Free · no account, no card · the first school is on this screen
The published Carthage merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Carthage 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.
Automatic academic scholarships
Awarded at the time of admission off the application and transcript, with no separate application and no limit on how many Carthage gives. Carthage caps the stack rather than the count: "A student may compete or be eligible for a combination of non-need-based scholarships and grants but, when combined, cannot exceed tuition unless otherwise noted." The GPA used is unweighted.
$24,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$23,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$22,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$21,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Scholarship | — | $24,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $23,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $22,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $21,000 |
Source: Undergraduate Scholarships — Automatic Merit Scholarships, fall 2027 and later · verified 2026-10-23
Does Carthage superscore for scholarships?
Yes. Carthage superscores, but it cannot change the automatic award, because that award is keyed to GPA alone. A superscore is only in play for the competitive scholarships and for admission. This is the case where "yes, we superscore" and "your score is worth nothing" are both true, and a family needs to hear the second one.
“If you choose to submit your test scores, Carthage does superscore ACT/SAT results. This means we consider the highest section scores from multiple test dates.”
So the number that matters here is your superscore, not your best single test. Work out your superscore and look that score up in the grid above — it may sit a band higher than the one you have been planning around.
Comparing schools? See which colleges superscore for scholarships — 66 of 501 commit to it, 52 say they do not, and the rest never say.
Carthage scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Apply for admission (rolling — no deadline) | Rolling |
| Competitive scholarship applications: Presidential, Business, Teacher Education, Engineering/CS/Game Development, Kenosha/Racine, Math/Science, Police/Fire, Alumni, Tarble California | December 3 |
| Competitive scholarship applications: Communications/Public Relations, Modern Languages, History/English/Creative Writing, Nursing | November 1 |
| Early FAFSA Filers Award — FAFSA received by the federal processor | February 1 |
| Visual and performing arts audition or portfolio review | Late February (exact date varies by program) |
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 Carthage 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.
- Undergraduate Scholarships — Automatic Merit Scholarships, fall 2027 and laterverified 2026-10-23
- How to Apply — test-optional policy and superscoringverified 2026-10-23
- The GPA is UNWEIGHTED. A weighted 4.1 from a school that inflates does not buy the $24,000 band; the 3.75 floor is measured without the bump.
- Carthage's non-need-based aid is capped in total: combined non-need scholarships and grants "cannot exceed tuition unless otherwise noted". That ceiling, not the award count, is what limits stacking.
- The competitive scholarships are the big money — 25 Presidential awards of $33,000 to full tuition, plus full-tuition awards in business, teacher education, engineering/CS/game development, math/science, nursing, modern languages and the 12-award Kenosha/Racine programme. All need a separate application and essay, and most "incorporate all Carthage assistance", which means they replace the automatic award instead of adding to it.
- Deadlines conflict across the page in a way that matters: admission itself is rolling with no deadline, but the competitive scholarship applications close November 1 or December 3 of senior year. A student who applies in February is admitted and has already missed the scholarships worth three times the automatic award.
- Additive awards that stack on the grid, each $500 or $1,000 a year and each renewable at a 2.0 GPA: the Visit Grant (one per student, for visiting campus), the Lutheran congregation grant, the alumni legacy grant, the ELCA minister's-child grant, and a $500 Early FAFSA Filers Award for a FAFSA received by February 1 — paid regardless of financial need, and renewable only if the FAFSA is in by January 1 each year after.
- The Wisconsin Grant — Carthage calls it the Wisconsin Tuition Grant, $1,000 to $4,400 a year, need-based, set annually by the state's Higher Educational Aids Board off the FAFSA — is state money, not Carthage's, and is deliberately not in this grid.
- Wisconsin's Academic Excellence Scholarship ($2,250 a year, for the single highest-GPA senior at each Wisconsin high school) is half state-funded and half matched by the college, so it is also outside the grid. It is the one award here that a GPA can win outright, and only one student per high school can.
- Carthage's transfer scholarships are a separate table with different figures, so the four bands above must not be read as applying to a transfer applicant.
- Carthage is silent on the Enhanced ACT.
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 Carthage College.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Carthage?
Carthage College publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is Carthage test-optional?
Optional with no extra paperwork — Carthage requires no test-optional form or waiver, and accepts an unofficial transcript for both admission and scholarship consideration. Admission is rolling with no application deadline. For merit aid the answer is different: not used for the automatic award. The one sentence that sets the amount names the GPA and nothing else, and the published table has no score column. A score is still read for the competitive scholarships, which are decided by essay, audition or interview rather than by a threshold — and international applicants are told a submitted SAT brings "additional scholarship consideration", which is a route domestic applicants are not offered. 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 Carthage?
On Carthage's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Academic Scholarship at $23,000 a year, about $92,000 over four years if it renews.
Does Carthage superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Yes. Carthage superscores, but it cannot change the automatic award, because that award is keyed to GPA alone. A superscore is only in play for the competitive scholarships and for admission. This is the case where "yes, we superscore" and "your score is worth nothing" are both true, and a family needs to hear the second one. If you choose to submit your test scores, Carthage does superscore ACT/SAT results. This means we consider the highest section scores from multiple test dates.
When are Carthage scholarship deadlines?
Apply for admission (rolling — no deadline): Rolling. Competitive scholarship applications: Presidential, Business, Teacher Education, Engineering/CS/Game Development, Kenosha/Racine, Math/Science, Police/Fire, Alumni, Tarble California: December 3. Competitive scholarship applications: Communications/Public Relations, Modern Languages, History/English/Creative Writing, Nursing: November 1. Early FAFSA Filers Award — FAFSA received by the federal processor: February 1. Visual and performing arts audition or portfolio review: Late February (exact date varies by program). 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 Carthage scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Carthage 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
Carthage awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though Carthage is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
Free · About 3 minutes · No account needed · Not affiliated with Carthage College