Coastal Carolina University: merit scholarships by ACT score
Coastal Carolina University awards automatic merit aid from a published grid keyed to the ACT alone, with no GPA criterion. Awards start at an ACT of 20 and reach $19,662 a year. Because the bands are steps rather than a slope, one point is worth nothing inside a band and the whole step at the edge of one.
Enter a score and a GPA below to see which band it actually lands in, what that band pays, and exactly how many points the next one needs.
Read this first
The ACT is one of four alternative routes to each award, not a requirement. A student can also qualify on CORE GPA with course rigour, on SAT, or on class rank — so a score below a band's threshold does not rule the award out. The score thresholds are shown here because that is the question this tool answers.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
← Drag either slider to your own numbers
Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
President's Scholar Award
$13,000 / year
About $52,000 over four years, if it renews.
What the next points are worth
2 more points (a 31) moves you to Presidential Scholarship — $19,662 a year. That is $6,662 more a year, or $26,648 over four years.
The question isn't whether 2 points is worth having. It's whether they can move them — which starts with knowing exactly which questions they're missing, and why.
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 Coastal Carolina merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Coastal Carolina University’s own pages for the current cycle. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Out-of-state students
Delivered as a minimum $500 named award plus a University tuition waiver for the remainder. If the student is later reclassified as a South Carolina resident, the award converts to the smaller in-state equivalent.
$19,662
Presidential Scholarship
ACT 31–36 · or 3.75 CORE GPA with 8+ rigour, or top 10% rank
$13,000
President's Scholar Award
ACT 28–30 · or 3.5 CORE GPA with 5+ rigour, or top 15% rank
$10,000
Provost's Scholar Award
ACT 25–27 · or 3.4 CORE GPA with 3+ rigour, or top 25% rank
$7,500
Coastal Scholar Award
ACT 22–24 · or 3.2 CORE GPA with 2+ rigour, or top 35% rank
$4,500
Teal Scholar Award
ACT 20–21 · or 3.0 CORE GPA with 1+ rigour, or top 45% rank
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Scholarship | ACT 31–36 · or 3.75 CORE GPA with 8+ rigour, or top 10% rank | $19,662 |
| President's Scholar Award | ACT 28–30 · or 3.5 CORE GPA with 5+ rigour, or top 15% rank | $13,000 |
| Provost's Scholar Award | ACT 25–27 · or 3.4 CORE GPA with 3+ rigour, or top 25% rank | $10,000 |
| Coastal Scholar Award | ACT 22–24 · or 3.2 CORE GPA with 2+ rigour, or top 35% rank | $7,500 |
| Teal Scholar Award | ACT 20–21 · or 3.0 CORE GPA with 1+ rigour, or top 45% rank | $4,500 |
Source: Merit Awards — published award amounts · verified 2026-10-23
South Carolina residents
$6,000
Presidential Scholarship
ACT 31–36 · or 3.75 CORE GPA with 8+ rigour, or top 10% rank
$5,000
President's Scholar Award
ACT 28–30 · or 3.5 CORE GPA with 5+ rigour, or top 15% rank
$4,000
Provost's Scholar Award
ACT 25–27 · or 3.4 CORE GPA with 3+ rigour, or top 25% rank
$3,000
Coastal Scholar Award
ACT 22–24 · or 3.2 CORE GPA with 2+ rigour, or top 35% rank
$2,000
Teal Scholar Award
ACT 20–21 · or 3.0 CORE GPA with 1+ rigour, or top 45% rank
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Scholarship | ACT 31–36 · or 3.75 CORE GPA with 8+ rigour, or top 10% rank | $6,000 |
| President's Scholar Award | ACT 28–30 · or 3.5 CORE GPA with 5+ rigour, or top 15% rank | $5,000 |
| Provost's Scholar Award | ACT 25–27 · or 3.4 CORE GPA with 3+ rigour, or top 25% rank | $4,000 |
| Coastal Scholar Award | ACT 22–24 · or 3.2 CORE GPA with 2+ rigour, or top 35% rank | $3,000 |
| Teal Scholar Award | ACT 20–21 · or 3.0 CORE GPA with 1+ rigour, or top 45% rank | $2,000 |
Source: Merit Awards — published award amounts · verified 2026-10-23
Does Coastal Carolina superscore for scholarships?
Yes. CCU names superscoring directly in the list of factors it uses for merit review, so sending every sitting is worth doing.
“Standardized test scores (super-scored, if applicable) - SAT (combined math and evidenced based reading and writing) or ACT.”
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.
Coastal Carolina scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | October 15 |
| Early Action | November 15 |
| Regular Decision | February 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 Coastal Carolina University’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Merit Awards — published award amountsverified 2026-10-23
- Merit Award Profiles — the ACT, GPA and class-rank routes to each awardverified 2026-10-23
- A score is one of four routes. CORE GPA with course rigour, SAT, or class rank reach the same award, so a lower score does not rule it out.
- The out-of-state award is more than three times the in-state one at the top tier — $19,662 against $6,000 — because it is delivered as a tuition waiver.
- Being reclassified as a South Carolina resident converts the award down to the in-state equivalent.
- Only one merit award is paid. They do not stack, and there is no review or appeal once a student has enrolled.
- CCU warns that funding historically runs out for applicants who apply after the priority dates, so the deadlines are real.
- Rigor Score is CCU's own measure: each AP, IB or dual-enrolment course, and every five honours or accelerated courses, counts as one point.
- A South Carolina Scholar Award of $1,000 exists for in-state students in the top 10% of their class who do not qualify for any other merit award.
- Renewal needs 30 credits a year, stricter than the 24 most schools in this dataset require.
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 Coastal Carolina University.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Coastal Carolina?
Automatic merit aid at Coastal Carolina University starts at an ACT composite of 20, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $19,662 a year at the top of the 2 grids it publishes. The bands are steps rather than a slope, so the only score that matters is the next threshold above where you are now.
Is Coastal Carolina test-optional?
CCU is test-optional above a 3.5 weighted GPA. Applicants choosing not to submit are asked to show a demanding curriculum instead, and CCU says test-optional status does not guarantee admission. For merit aid the answer is different: a score is one of several qualifying routes rather than a requirement — GPA with course rigour, or class rank, reaches the same awards. CCU reviews all credentials holistically and supersccores where applicable. 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 Coastal Carolina?
On Coastal Carolina's published grid for the current cycle, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Out-of-state students — President's Scholar Award at $13,000 a year, about $52,000 over four years if it renews; South Carolina residents — President's Scholar Award at $5,000 a year, about $20,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at Coastal Carolina?
The most valuable single point on Coastal Carolina's published grid is 30 to 31, at a 2.0 GPA: it moves the award by $6,662 a year, or $26,648 across a four-year degree on the Out-of-state students grid. The same point is worth less at other GPAs, and most points move nothing at all — the grid steps rather than slopes, which is why the only score worth aiming at is the next threshold.
Does in-state or out-of-state change merit aid at Coastal Carolina?
Yes. Coastal Carolina publishes separate grids: South Carolina residents run $2,000 to $6,000 a year, and Out-of-state students run $4,500 to $19,662 — a difference of $13,662 a year at the top. Check which grid applies to you before planning around a figure.
Does Coastal Carolina superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Yes. CCU names superscoring directly in the list of factors it uses for merit review, so sending every sitting is worth doing. Standardized test scores (super-scored, if applicable) - SAT (combined math and evidenced based reading and writing) or ACT.
When are Coastal Carolina scholarship deadlines?
Early Decision: October 15. Early Action: November 15. Regular Decision: February 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 Coastal Carolina scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Coastal Carolina University'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
You know what a score is worth at Coastal Carolina. The question is whether you can move it.
A grid tells you the target. It does not tell you which questions are costing the points between here and there. That takes about three minutes to find out.
Free · About 3 minutes · No account needed · Not affiliated with Coastal Carolina University