Ottawa University Arizona: merit scholarships by ACT score
Ottawa University Arizona awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 27 and reach $15,000 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
Only the Presidential award reads a score, and it needs the 3.5 GPA and the 27 together rather than either one. Ottawa does not say whether a student who qualifies for the Presidential also receives the smaller awards or whether only the highest applies. The $15,000 and $13,000 figures are not labelled per year on the page, and Ottawa's own page redirects automated requests, so these figures were confirmed from an archived capture.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Presidential Scholarship
100% of the cost of tuition and fees each academic year, for up to four years
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.
Knowing where a score sits is the easy part. Moving it starts with knowing exactly which questions they're being missed, and why.
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Can you get merit aid at OUAZ without an ACT score?
Yes. A score reaches exactly one award, and it is the biggest step a score can buy in this dataset — from the $15,000 Dean's award to full tuition and fees. Below a 3.5 the test does nothing here.
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.
“The Presidential Scholarship is reserved for immediate high school graduates who have an unweighted GPA of 3.5 or greater (4.0 scale), AND a minimum 27 composite ACT or a minimum 1260 SAT.”
The published OUAZ merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Ottawa University Arizona’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.
Immediate high school graduates
Automatic on admission. Every threshold is an unweighted floor on a 4.0 scale.
100% of the cost of tuition and fees each academic year, for up to four years
Presidential Scholarship
ACT 27–36 · 3.50+ unweighted, with a 27 or better
Without a score: not available
$15,000
Academic Dean Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.25
$13,000
Academic Merit Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.00
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential Scholarship | ACT 27–36 · 3.50+ unweighted, with a 27 or better | not available | 100% of the cost of tuition and fees each academic year, for up to four years |
| Academic Dean Scholarship | — | GPA 3.25 | $15,000 |
| Academic Merit Scholarship | — | GPA 3.00 | $13,000 |
Source: How to earn scholarships and awards · verified 2026-10-24
Does OUAZ superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. With a single 27 threshold standing between $15,000 and full tuition, a student near it should ask directly.
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 OUAZ’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.
Where these numbers came from
Every figure on this page was read from Ottawa University Arizona’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- A 27 with a 3.5 reaches full tuition and fees for up to four years.
- That step — from the $15,000 Dean's award to full tuition — is the largest thing an ACT score buys anywhere in this dataset.
- Below a 3.5 the ACT does nothing at OUAZ.
- The Presidential award needs the GPA and the score together, not either one.
- Every threshold is an unweighted floor, so honours coursework buys nothing and there are no windows to fall between.
- The two cash awards are $2,000 apart across a quarter of a grade point.
- Ottawa does not say whether these awards stack or whether only the highest applies.
- The Surprise High Achiever award carries the same criteria and benefit but is limited to Surprise residents and graduates, so it is not a band here.
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 Ottawa University Arizona.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at OUAZ?
Automatic merit aid at Ottawa University Arizona starts at an ACT composite of 27, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $15,000 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 OUAZ test-optional?
Ottawa's admission testing requirement is not stated on the scholarships page, so nothing is claimed about it here. For merit aid the answer is different: a score reaches exactly one award, and it is the biggest step a score can buy in this dataset — from the $15,000 Dean's award to full tuition and fees. Below a 3.5 the test does nothing here. Being admitted without a score and qualifying for money without a score are two separate questions.
Does OUAZ superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. With a single 27 threshold standing between $15,000 and full tuition, a student near it should ask directly.
Is this OUAZ scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Ottawa University Arizona'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 OUAZ. 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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