Palm Beach Atlantic University: merit scholarships by ACT score
Palm Beach Atlantic University awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 26 and reach $2,500 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
PBA's base academic merit award is stated only as a $10,000 to $18,000 range and its per-tier amounts live in a net price calculator rather than in print — tier names and GPA cutoffs circulate from catalogue pages that render blank, so they are not carried here. The band below is the Honors Scholarship, the one award with a published threshold, and its page does not say it is automatic. Its GPA is weighted while the base award uses an ordinary high school GPA.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Honors Scholarship
$2,500 a year / year
About $10,000 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.
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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The published PBA merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Palm Beach Atlantic University’s own pages for Fall 2026 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Honors Scholarship — the one published threshold
An add-on rather than the base award. Requires a weighted GPA and a score, where the base merit award requires neither.
$2,500 a year
Honors Scholarship
ACT 26–36 · 3.50+ weighted with a 26 or better
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Honors Scholarship | ACT 26–36 · 3.50+ weighted with a 26 or better | $2,500 a year |
Source: Scholarships and grants · verified 2026-10-25
Does PBA superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. With a single 26 threshold on the Honors award, 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 PBA’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 Palm Beach Atlantic 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.
- PBA's base merit award runs $10,000 to $18,000 a year and is awarded immediately on acceptance.
- Its per-tier amounts are produced by a net price calculator and are not published.
- The one published threshold is the Honors Scholarship: a weighted 3.5 with a 26 ACT for $2,500 a year.
- So the ACT does not move the base award — it reaches a separate, smaller add-on.
- The Honors GPA is weighted while the base award uses an ordinary high school GPA.
- Merit is limited to full-time day undergraduates.
- Renewal needs a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
- The Farish Scholars programme covering full tuition takes two students a year by interview, 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 Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at PBA?
Automatic merit aid at Palm Beach Atlantic University starts at an ACT composite of 26, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $2,500 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 PBA test-optional?
Optional for admission, and irrelevant to PBA's base merit award. For merit aid the answer is different: the base merit award is stated to depend on the high school GPA and names no test. A 26 reaches the separate $2,500 Honors Scholarship, which is the only place a score touches money at PBA. 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 PBA?
On PBA's published grid for Fall 2026 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Honors Scholarship at $2,500 a year, about $10,000 over four years if it renews.
Does PBA superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. With a single 26 threshold on the Honors award, a student near it should ask directly.
Is this PBA scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Palm Beach Atlantic University's own published pages and last verified on 2026-10-25. 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 PBA. 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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