Southern Illinois University Edwardsville: merit scholarships by GPA
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville awards automatic merit aid from a published grid keyed to GPA — the ACT is not used. Awards start at a 3.0 GPA and reach $4,000 a year. Because the bands are steps rather than a slope, a hundredth of a GPA point is worth nothing inside a band and the whole step at the edge of one.
Enter a GPA below to see which band it actually lands in, what that band pays, and what the next band needs.
Read this first
No ACT score moves this money — both of SIUE's published first-year awards are keyed to the high school GPA alone. Two things to read carefully: SIUE words the grid as students being "considered" and the award as "Awarded as funding is available", so it is application-free but not a written guarantee; and Cougar Pride pays as a LAST-DOLLAR TUITION WAIVER applied after state aid, so an Illinois MAP recipient can receive less cash than the table suggests. The figures are SIUE's 2026-2027 terms and conditions, the newest published.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
Cougar Pride Scholarship
$3,000 / year
About $12,000 over four years, if it renews.
SIU Edwardsville awards this on GPA alone, so an ACT score does not change it. A higher score can still matter for admission, for honours programmes, and at other schools on the list — but not for this award.
The ACT doesn't move the money here — but it still decides admission, honours eligibility, and what they is worth at the other schools on the list, where most awards are score-keyed.
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The published SIU Edwardsville merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s own pages for 2026-2027 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
First-year scholarships — Cougar Pride, and Meridian below it
Cougar Pride needs no separate application: SIUE says the admission application IS the scholarship application, and the amount follows from the GPA. Meridian, the only full ride, is a separate competitive application and is shown as reference rather than as money to count on.
$4,000
Cougar Pride Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 4.00
$3,500
Cougar Pride Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.75
$3,000
Cougar Pride Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.50
$2,500
Cougar Pride Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.25
$2,000
Cougar Pride Scholarship
No score needed · GPA 3.00
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cougar Pride Scholarship | — | GPA 4.00 | $4,000 |
| Cougar Pride Scholarship | — | GPA 3.75 | $3,500 |
| Cougar Pride Scholarship | — | GPA 3.50 | $3,000 |
| Cougar Pride Scholarship | — | GPA 3.25 | $2,500 |
| Cougar Pride Scholarship | — | GPA 3.00 | $2,000 |
Competitive awards — not automatic
Meeting these makes you eligible to be reviewed, not to receive the award, so they are kept out of the calculator above.
- Meridian Scholarship — , or GPA 3.50 with no score: Full tuition for 8 undergraduate semesters, plus required student fees, on-campus housing and a traditional meal plan
Source: Cougar Pride Scholarship — first-year student award amounts by GPA · verified 2026-10-23
Does SIU Edwardsville superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. The word "superscore" does not appear on SIUE's first-year admission page, its scholarship index, the Cougar Pride page or the Meridian page. It is also moot for the money, because neither award uses a test score at all — if you send scores for course placement, ask Admissions which sitting they read.
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 SIU Edwardsville’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.
SIU Edwardsville scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Cougar Pride — the admission application is the scholarship application | Awarded as funding is available |
| Secure the Cougar Pride award: submit the enrollment fee and register for New Student Orientation | June 1 |
| Meridian Scholarship application — priority | Priority deadline: November 15 |
| Meridian Scholarship application — final, with the admission application complete | Final deadline: December 1 |
| Apply for admission, fall 2027 entry | August 9, 2027 |
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 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Cougar Pride Scholarship — first-year student award amounts by GPAverified 2026-10-23
- Cougar Pride Scholarship Terms and Conditions, 2026-2027 (PDF)verified 2026-10-23
- Meridian Scholarship — criteria, selection process and renewalverified 2026-10-23
- First-Time Freshman Admission Requirementsverified 2026-10-23
- Scholarships, Awards, and Grants — the full award list with amounts and deadlinesverified 2026-10-23
- SIUE's only published ACT number is an ADMISSION route — a 2.0-2.59 GPA applicant can be admitted with a 19 — and no scholarship money is attached to it. For the award itself the score is irrelevant.
- Cougar Pride is a last-dollar tuition waiver, applied after state aid required to be applied to tuition and after tuition-restricted private scholarships. SIUE states it will not generate a refund, so it cannot be spent on housing or books, and an Illinois MAP recipient may see little or none of it as cash.
- New students must submit the enrollment fee by June 1 and register for New Student Orientation to secure the award. Clearing the GPA band alone does not hold it.
- Renewal is 12 credit hours a semester and a 2.90 cumulative GPA — looser than the 3.0-and-24-hours a year most schools in this dataset require.
- AIM HIGH ($2,500 per academic year) and the Illinois Monetary Award Program (maximum $8,400) are ILLINOIS STATE programmes administered by SIUE, not SIUE's own merit money, and are deliberately kept out of the grid.
- The Johnetta Haley Scholarship is a second GPA-3.0 award worth up to $8,000 over four years, but it is aimed at students underrepresented in their anticipated field of study and publishes no GPA-to-dollars table, so it cannot be modelled as a band.
- Transfers have their own smaller table — $1,000 at a 3.00-3.49, $2,000 at 3.50-3.74 and $3,000 at 3.75-4.00 a year. This grid is first-year students only.
- Meridian is a competition, not a threshold: a separate application by December 1, notification in early January, virtual interviews in late January, and finalists invited to Honors Scholarship Day before selections are made. It is marked competitive and never promised.
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 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at SIU Edwardsville?
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is SIU Edwardsville test-optional?
Not required. SIUE admits on a 2.6 cumulative high school GPA alone, and a 2.0-2.59 GPA can still be admitted with an ACT composite of 19 or higher, an SAT of 990 or higher, OR a rank in the top 10% of the class — a score is one of three alternative routes for a lower GPA, never a requirement. Scores that are submitted may be read for course placement. For merit aid the answer is different: not used. Neither published award references a test score anywhere: SIUE's Cougar Pride page states the criterion as "Admitted first-year students will be considered with a cumulative 3.0 high school GPA (4.0 scale)" and then prices the award by GPA band, and Meridian asks for a 3.5 GPA with no test column. That reading comes from the absence of any test criterion on SIUE's own award pages rather than from a sentence saying so — but it means the ACT cannot move this money, which is why actMin is 1 on every band here. 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 SIU Edwardsville?
On SIU Edwardsville's published grid for 2026-2027 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Cougar Pride Scholarship at $3,000 a year, about $12,000 over four years if it renews.
Does SIU Edwardsville superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. The word "superscore" does not appear on SIUE's first-year admission page, its scholarship index, the Cougar Pride page or the Meridian page. It is also moot for the money, because neither award uses a test score at all — if you send scores for course placement, ask Admissions which sitting they read.
When are SIU Edwardsville scholarship deadlines?
Cougar Pride — the admission application is the scholarship application: Awarded as funding is available. Secure the Cougar Pride award: submit the enrollment fee and register for New Student Orientation: June 1. Meridian Scholarship application — priority: Priority deadline: November 15. Meridian Scholarship application — final, with the admission application complete: Final deadline: December 1. Apply for admission, fall 2027 entry: August 9, 2027. 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 SIU Edwardsville scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville'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
SIU Edwardsville awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though SIU Edwardsville is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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