Southern University and A&M College: merit scholarships by ACT score
Southern University and A&M College awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 24. 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
This waiver is for non-residents only — a Louisiana resident has no out-of-state fee to waive and gets nothing from it. The waiver page is dated "Effective Fall 2024" and Southern publishes no newer version, so the criteria may have moved. Third-party sites put the waiver's value at about $7,400 a year; Southern publishes no figure, so none is carried. The published SAT wording, "SAT 1160-1190", reads oddly and is most likely a floor. Renewal is judged on the institutional GPA each semester rather than a cumulative average, so one weak term ends it.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Jaguar Out-of-State Fee Waiver — ACT route
full out-of-state fee waiver
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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This page is one school. We have read the published grids at 501, and the email sends the ten that pay you most — five public, five private — with what each one awards. No account.
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Can you get merit aid at Southern without an ACT score?
Yes. The waiver can be reached on the GPA alone, so no score is required. But for a non-resident below a 2.75 the ACT is the only published route to it.
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.
“having a 2.75 cumulative final high school grade point average or ACT score of 24”
The published Southern merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Southern University and A&M College’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.
Jaguar out-of-state fee waiver (non-residents only)
Either route qualifies on its own: a 2.75 cumulative high school GPA, or an ACT composite of 24. Louisiana residents are not eligible, having no out-of-state fee to waive.
full out-of-state fee waiver
Jaguar Out-of-State Fee Waiver — ACT route
ACT 24–36 · No GPA required on this route
Without a score: not available
full out-of-state fee waiver
Jaguar Out-of-State Fee Waiver — GPA route
No score needed · GPA 2.75
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaguar Out-of-State Fee Waiver — ACT route | ACT 24–36 · No GPA required on this route | not available | full out-of-state fee waiver |
| Jaguar Out-of-State Fee Waiver — GPA route | — | GPA 2.75 | full out-of-state fee waiver |
Source: Out of state fee waiver · verified 2026-10-25
Does Southern superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. With a single hard 24 threshold, a student just below it should ask.
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 Southern’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 Southern University and A&M College’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- The waiver is for non-residents only; Louisiana residents have no out-of-state fee to waive.
- Either a 2.75 GPA or an ACT composite of 24 qualifies on its own.
- Below a 2.75, the ACT is the only published route to the waiver.
- Southern publishes no dollar value for the waiver.
- Renewal is judged on the institutional GPA each semester, not a cumulative average, so one weak term ends it.
- A FAFSA is required, and the waiver covers at most 8 semesters with no summer.
- Southern's scholarship flyer, which lists its named academic awards, is served in a form that cannot be read, so none of its criteria is carried here.
- The waiver page is dated Fall 2024, so the criteria may have moved.
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 University and A&M College.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Southern?
Automatic merit aid at Southern University and A&M College starts at an ACT composite of 24, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches full out-of-state fee waiver 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 Southern test-optional?
Southern's admission pages refuse automated requests, so the admission test policy is not quoted here. For merit aid the answer is different: the waiver can be reached on the GPA alone, so no score is required. But for a non-resident below a 2.75 the ACT is the only published route to it. Being admitted without a score and qualifying for money without a score are two separate questions.
Does Southern superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. With a single hard 24 threshold, a student just below it should ask.
Is this Southern scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Southern University and A&M College'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 Southern. 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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