Central College: merit scholarships by GPA
Central College awards automatic merit aid from a published grid keyed to GPA — the ACT is not used. Awards start at a 2.9 GPA and reach $9,000 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
Central's automatic scholarship is keyed to GPA alone — $4,000 to $9,000 a year, with no ACT column anywhere on the page — and every admitted student gets a $1,000 Journey Scholarship on top of whichever band they land in. A score still matters here, just not on this grid: an ACT 23 is one of two alternative routes into Central's Academic Scholar Days (a 3.4 GPA is the other), and that is where the competitive money sits — multiple full-tuition scholarships plus $500–$2,000 Scholar Day Awards. Those are competitive and published as a range, so none of them are in the table below.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
Academic Scholarship
$7,000 / year
About $28,000 over four years, if it renews.
Central 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 Central merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Central 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.
Cumulative GPA Based Scholarships
Awarded on admission with no application and no test score. Add $1,000 to every row: Central gives a Journey Scholarship to every admitted student and stacks it on top of the GPA band, rather than instead of it. Scholar Day awards, the Heritage Award and music money are additive too, and are described in the notes rather than shown here because none of them publishes a figure tied to a threshold.
$9,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$8,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$7,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$5,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
$4,000
Academic Scholarship
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Scholarship | — | $9,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $8,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $7,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $5,000 |
| Academic Scholarship | — | $4,000 |
Source: Scholarships — 2027-28 Academic Scholarships, Cumulative GPA Based Scholarships · verified 2026-10-23
Does Central superscore for scholarships?
Not stated, and at Central the question largely does not arise. The word superscore appears nowhere on its admission, scholarship or financial-aid pages, and the automatic award reads no score at all — so there is no composite for a superscore to improve. The one place a score is used is the ACT 23 (or ACT 20 floor) route into Academic Scholar Days, and Central does not say whether that is read from a single sitting or a best-of composite.
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 Central’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.
Central scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Academic Scholar Days — must be admitted before attending | Oct. 31, Nov. 7, Jan. 23 or Jan. 30 |
| File the FAFSA (Central's code is 001850) | Oct. 1 |
| FAFSA priority date | Dec. 15 |
| Deadline for admitted students to submit academic transcripts | March 1 |
| Enrollment deposit due ($200, nonrefundable) | May 1 |
| FAFSA due to the processor for the state Iowa Tuition Grant | July 1 |
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 Central 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.
- Scholarships — 2027-28 Academic Scholarships, Cumulative GPA Based Scholarshipsverified 2026-10-23
- Admission Requirementsverified 2026-10-23
- Scholarship Weekends — Academic Scholar Days eligibilityverified 2026-10-23
- Dates and Deadlines — for students applying for Fall 2027verified 2026-10-23
- Financial Aid Frequent Questionsverified 2026-10-23
- Add $1,000 to every band. The Journey Scholarship goes to every admitted student and stacks: Central's own instruction is to subtract both it and the GPA scholarship from the $34,934 cost figure printed on the same page.
- The ACT is not on the grid but it is on the door to Scholar Days: 'If you have a cumulative GPA of 3.4 OR composite ACT of 23/1050-1080 SAT (with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and ACT of 20/940-970 SAT) you are invited to participate in Central's Academic Scholar Days.' Note the floor underneath the alternative — a 23 still needs a 3.0, and a 3.4 GPA still needs a 20 if you submit a score.
- Scholar Day money is competitive and partly unpriced. Central awards 'multiple full tuition scholarships' whose 'recipients are chosen after all Scholar Days are completed', plus '$500–$2,000 Scholar Day Awards' — a range rather than a figure. Four Scholar Days are published (Oct. 31, Nov. 7, Jan. 23, Jan. 30) and you must be admitted before attending. None of it is in the table.
- The Iowa Tuition Grant is STATE money, not Central's, and it is large relative to these bands: Central prints '$7,500* Iowa Tuition Grant' for a student who must 'reside in the state of Iowa, attend a private college or university and demonstrate financial need', FAFSA to the processor by July 1. It is deliberately kept out of the grid. Central also prints the asterisk: 'In the event that available state funds are insufficient to pay the full amount of each approved grant, the Iowa Department of Education has the authority to administratively reduce the award.'
- The $500 Heritage Award is additive and has a denominational route alongside the legacy ones — a child, grandchild or sibling of a Central alum qualifies, and so does a student who 'is a member of the Reformed Church in America'.
- Music money is separate, additive and small: $500 endowed music scholarships for students performing in a Central ensemble, and $2,000 Music Major Scholarships hand-selected by faculty for seven incoming students, who must participate in at least one ensemble.
- Interest-based 'Central Awards' exist in thirteen named areas, from computer science to sustainability, but publish no amount and require an audition or interview scheduled on a Scholar Day visit — so they are not a band.
- A student below a 2.89 GPA is not shut out: Central's bottom row is '2.89 and below' at $4,000, which is why that band carries no GPA floor here.
- Central is silent on the Enhanced ACT, which is unsurprising for a school whose merit award reads no score at all.
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 Central College.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Central?
Central College publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is Central test-optional?
Not required. Central reviews the transcript, class rank and curriculum instead, and asks for an unofficial high school transcript to speed the decision. It looks for students who 'rank in the upper half of their high school graduating class'. For merit aid the answer is different: a score cannot move the automatic award at all — that table is GPA against dollars and the words ACT and SAT do not appear on Central's scholarship page. A score can still open a door: an ACT 23 composite is an alternative to a 3.4 GPA for an invitation to Academic Scholar Days, where full-tuition scholarships and $500–$2,000 Scholar Day Awards are decided competitively. So the honest answer is that the ACT is worth nothing on the grid and something for access to the competition. 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 Central?
On Central's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Academic Scholarship at $7,000 a year, about $28,000 over four years if it renews.
Does Central superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated, and at Central the question largely does not arise. The word superscore appears nowhere on its admission, scholarship or financial-aid pages, and the automatic award reads no score at all — so there is no composite for a superscore to improve. The one place a score is used is the ACT 23 (or ACT 20 floor) route into Academic Scholar Days, and Central does not say whether that is read from a single sitting or a best-of composite.
When are Central scholarship deadlines?
Academic Scholar Days — must be admitted before attending: Oct. 31, Nov. 7, Jan. 23 or Jan. 30. File the FAFSA (Central's code is 001850): Oct. 1. FAFSA priority date: Dec. 15. Deadline for admitted students to submit academic transcripts: March 1. Enrollment deposit due ($200, nonrefundable): May 1. FAFSA due to the processor for the state Iowa Tuition Grant: July 1. 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 Central scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Central 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
Central awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though Central is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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