Colorado State University Pueblo: merit scholarships by ACT score
Colorado State University Pueblo awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 24 and reach $8,000 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
Each award has a THIRD route CSU Pueblo publishes that this grid cannot model: class rank, at the top 2%, 5% or 15%. A student who clears neither the GPA nor the score may still qualify on rank. The GPA is WEIGHTED. These awards cannot be combined with other institutional scholarships except the First Generation Scholarship, and a student must enrol the fall immediately after graduating.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Distinguished Scholar (score route)
$5,000 per year / year
About $20,000 over four years, if it renews.
What the next points are worth
1 more point (a 30) moves you to Presidential Scholar (score route) — $8,000 per year a year. That is $3,000 more a year, or $12,000 over four years.
The question isn't whether a point is worth having. It's whether they can move it — which starts with knowing exactly which questions they're missing, and why.
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Want to know what one more point would change? The Merit Plan prices the next point at every school.
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Can you get merit aid at CSU Pueblo without an ACT score?
Yes. A score is one of three alternative routes to every award, so it can only help. A 24 reaches $3,000 at any GPA, a 27 reaches $5,000 and a 30 reaches $8,000 — the same amounts a weighted 3.50, 3.75 and 4.00 reach without a score.
Read the two columns in the grid below as a trade. The same award is reachable either way — with a score at a lower GPA, or with no score at a higher one. A score is worth real money to a student whose GPA sits under the test-optional line, and worth little to one comfortably above it.
“Students qualify based on ANY ONE of the listed metrics”
The published CSU Pueblo merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Colorado State University Pueblo’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.
Automatic merit scholarships
Any one of the three published metrics qualifies, and a student receives the award matching their highest qualifying achievement.
$8,000 per year
Presidential Scholar
No score needed · GPA 4.00
$8,000 per year
Presidential Scholar (score route)
ACT 30–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$5,000 per year
Distinguished Scholar
No score needed · GPA 3.75
$5,000 per year
Distinguished Scholar (score route)
ACT 27–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$3,000 per year
Promising Scholar
No score needed · GPA 3.50
$3,000 per year
Promising Scholar (score route)
ACT 24–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential Scholar | — | GPA 4.00 | $8,000 per year |
| Presidential Scholar (score route) | ACT 30–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $8,000 per year |
| Distinguished Scholar | — | GPA 3.75 | $5,000 per year |
| Distinguished Scholar (score route) | ACT 27–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $5,000 per year |
| Promising Scholar | — | GPA 3.50 | $3,000 per year |
| Promising Scholar (score route) | ACT 24–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $3,000 per year |
Source: Scholarships — automatic merit for first-year students · verified 2026-10-24
Does CSU Pueblo superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. CSU Pueblo names single ACT thresholds but never addresses superscoring, so a student planning a retake should confirm in writing.
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 CSU Pueblo’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.
CSU Pueblo scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Admission deadline for the automatic scholarships | May 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 Colorado State University Pueblo’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 — automatic merit for first-year studentsverified 2026-10-24
- 2026-27 catalog — first-year admissionverified 2026-10-24
- Any one of three metrics qualifies — weighted GPA, class rank, or an ACT — and the best one decides the award.
- A score alone is enough: a 24 is worth $3,000, a 27 $5,000 and a 30 $8,000, at any GPA.
- The GPA is weighted, which is higher than the unweighted number.
- The class-rank route is top 2% for Presidential, top 5% for Distinguished and top 15% for Promising. Rank is not an axis this grid can check.
- SAT equivalents are 1370, 1280 and 1180.
- These awards cannot be combined with other institutional scholarships, except the First Generation Scholarship.
- A student must enrol in the fall semester immediately after graduating from high school.
- The renewal GPA is stricter for the largest award — 3.5 against 3.0 for the two below it.
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 Colorado State University Pueblo.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at CSU Pueblo?
Automatic merit aid at Colorado State University Pueblo starts at an ACT composite of 24, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $8,000 a year at the top. The bands are steps rather than a slope, so the only score that matters is the next threshold above where you are now.
Is CSU Pueblo test-optional?
CSU Pueblo does not require a test score for admission. For merit aid the answer is different: a score is one of three alternative routes to every award, so it can only help. A 24 reaches $3,000 at any GPA, a 27 reaches $5,000 and a 30 reaches $8,000 — the same amounts a weighted 3.50, 3.75 and 4.00 reach without a score. 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 CSU Pueblo?
On CSU Pueblo's published grid for the current cycle, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Presidential Scholar (score route) at $8,000 a year, about $32,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at CSU Pueblo?
The most valuable single point on CSU Pueblo's published grid is 29 to 30, on the row where it is largest: it moves the award by $3,000 a year, or $12,000 across a four-year degree. 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 CSU Pueblo superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. CSU Pueblo names single ACT thresholds but never addresses superscoring, so a student planning a retake should confirm in writing.
When are CSU Pueblo scholarship deadlines?
Admission deadline for the automatic scholarships: May 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 CSU Pueblo scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Colorado State University Pueblo's own published pages and last verified on 2026-10-24. 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 CSU Pueblo. 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.
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