Indiana State University: merit scholarships by ACT score
Indiana State University awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 27 and reach $3,000 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.
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Out-of-state and international students also receive a $5,000-a-year Incentive Scholarship on top of whatever the grid below returns, provided they do not already have a reduced tuition rate and hold a 3.0 GPA. Indiana State lists it among the awards that stack, so it is additive rather than an alternative, and the lookup cannot add it for you — add $5,000 yourself if that is you. The top award uses a TWO-OF-THREE rule — any two of a 3.8 GPA, a 27 ACT, or a top-10% class rank — so a 27 on its own earns nothing, and a 3.8 with a top-10% rank earns it with no score at all. All three academic awards also require completing Core 40 or a college-prep curriculum, so a high GPA without it does not qualify. Indiana State rejects self-reported scores for scholarship decisions outright, and publishes no renewal GPA — it defers that to rules behind a SharePoint login.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Academic Excellence Scholarship (score and rank route)
$3,000 per year / year
About $12,000 over four years, if it renews.
There is no higher band to reach at this GPA — more points would not change the award here. They may still matter for admission, for honours programmes, or at other schools on the list.
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The published Indiana State merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Indiana State University’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
No separate application — Indiana State says all admitted freshmen are automatically considered and that qualifying students are notified with their admission letter. Every award additionally requires Core 40 or a college-prep curriculum.
$3,000 per year
Academic Excellence Scholarship (GPA and score route)
ACT 27–36 · A 3.8 GPA and a 27 ACT — any two of GPA, score or top-10% rank
Without a score: not available
$3,000 per year
Academic Excellence Scholarship (score and rank route)
ACT 27–36 · a top-10% class rank — the GPA is the third option, not required
Without a score: not available
$3,000 per year
Academic Excellence Scholarship (GPA and rank route)
No score needed · GPA 3.80
$2,500 per year
Academic Distinction Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.50
$1,000 per year
Academic Merit Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.25
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Excellence Scholarship (GPA and score route) | ACT 27–36 · A 3.8 GPA and a 27 ACT — any two of GPA, score or top-10% rank | not available | $3,000 per year |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship (score and rank route) | ACT 27–36 · a top-10% class rank — the GPA is the third option, not required | not available | $3,000 per year |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship (GPA and rank route) | — | GPA 3.80 | $3,000 per year |
| Academic Distinction Scholarship | — | GPA 3.50 | $2,500 per year |
| Academic Merit Scholarship | — | GPA 3.25 | $1,000 per year |
Source: Freshman Scholarships, rules for 2027-28 · verified 2026-10-21
Does Indiana State superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. The criterion is written as a single composite — '27 ACT (composite)' — and nothing says whether sittings may be combined.
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 Indiana State’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.
Indiana State scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Admitted for the Academic Excellence Scholarship | December 1 |
| Admitted for Academic Distinction and Academic Merit | 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 Indiana State 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.
- Freshman Scholarships, rules for 2027-28verified 2026-10-21
- Freshman and Transfer Scholarships Quick Lookverified 2026-10-21
- Freshman Admissions — test policyverified 2026-10-21
- The $5,000-a-year Incentive Scholarship is additive, not an alternative: Indiana State names it among the awards that can be 'combined/stacked', and it is restricted to out-of-state and international students who do not already qualify for a reduced tuition rate. It is deliberately not a row in the grid above -- modelled as a band it outranked every academic award and told an Indiana resident they had $5,000 of out-of-state money.
- The two-of-three rule is the thing to understand: a 27 ACT by itself earns nothing, and a 3.8 with a top-10% rank earns the top award with no score.
- Core 40 or a college-prep curriculum is required for all three academic awards.
- Renewal is described as 'up to three additional years' but the conditions sit behind a SharePoint login, so no renewal GPA is recorded.
- The headline full-tuition awards — President's, University Honors, Rural Health — are all application-based with hard caps of 18, 25 and 8 recipients, and the President's Academic Excellence award goes only to Interview Day attendees who miss the other two.
- Indiana State enumerates stacking per award, which is unusually transparent, with a global cap at the cost of attendance.
- The Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio student scholarships and the Midwest Consortium award are tuition-rate reductions rather than merit, and nursing majors are excluded from the Consortium one.
- Academic Excellence is closed to international students while Academic Distinction and Academic Merit are open to them.
- Online-only, transfer and returning students are ineligible for all of these.
- A footnote marked with a double dagger reads 'Open to students entering spring semester' — a benefit, not a restriction, and easy to misread as a competitive caveat.
- Indiana State 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 Indiana State University.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Indiana State?
Automatic merit aid at Indiana State University starts at an ACT composite of 27, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $3,000 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 Indiana State test-optional?
Not required for admission, and Indiana State separates the two questions in a single sentence — scores are optional to get in but may be needed for certain scholarships. For merit aid the answer is different: considered as one leg of a two-of-three rule on the top award, and not used at all on the two below it. Where a score is used it must be official — Indiana State says student-submitted scores will not be used in scholarship decisions. 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 Indiana State?
On Indiana State's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Academic Excellence Scholarship (score and rank route) at $3,000 a year, about $12,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at Indiana State?
The most valuable single point on Indiana State's published grid is 26 to 27, at a 3.25 GPA: it moves the award by $2,000 a year, or $8,000 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 Indiana State superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. The criterion is written as a single composite — '27 ACT (composite)' — and nothing says whether sittings may be combined.
When are Indiana State scholarship deadlines?
Admitted for the Academic Excellence Scholarship: December 1. Admitted for Academic Distinction and Academic Merit: 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 Indiana State scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Indiana State University's own published pages and last verified on 2026-10-21. 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.
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What to do next
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