Southwest Baptist University: merit scholarships by GPA
Southwest Baptist University 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 $16,500 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
SBU says a score 'could potentially improve your academic scholarship eligibility' — and then publishes award levels keyed to weighted high school GPA alone, with no dollar amount attached to any ACT number. So a score may help here, but SBU never says by how much, and nothing below is a score threshold. Note also that these are the Fall 2026 / Spring 2027 figures; SBU has not yet published a 2027-28 table. The $3,500 residency grant is real money but conditional on living on campus, which SBU requires of most students anyway.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
Dean's Scholar Award
$14,500 / year
About $58,000 over four years, if it renews.
Southwest Baptist 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 Southwest Baptist merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Southwest Baptist University’s own pages for 2026-27 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Living on campus
SBU's printed Annual Total: the academic award plus the $3,500 residency grant. This is the figure most students will see, because SBU requires students to live on campus unless they live with a parent within 30 miles of Bolivar or have turned 21.
$16,500
Presidential Distinguished Scholar
No score needed
$15,500
Provost's Scholar Award
No score needed
$14,500
Dean's Scholar Award
No score needed
$13,500
Bearcat Scholar Award I
No score needed
$11,500
Bearcat Scholar Award II
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Distinguished Scholar | — | $16,500 |
| Provost's Scholar Award | — | $15,500 |
| Dean's Scholar Award | — | $14,500 |
| Bearcat Scholar Award I | — | $13,500 |
| Bearcat Scholar Award II | — | $11,500 |
Source: Bolivar Undergraduate Scholarships — Freshman Academic Scholarships · verified 2026-10-23
Commuting from home
The academic award on its own, without the residency grant — $3,500 a year lower at every rung. Only reachable by students SBU exempts from the live-on requirement.
$13,000
Presidential Distinguished Scholar
No score needed
$12,000
Provost's Scholar Award
No score needed
$11,000
Dean's Scholar Award
No score needed
$10,000
Bearcat Scholar Award I
No score needed
$8,000
Bearcat Scholar Award II
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Distinguished Scholar | — | $13,000 |
| Provost's Scholar Award | — | $12,000 |
| Dean's Scholar Award | — | $11,000 |
| Bearcat Scholar Award I | — | $10,000 |
| Bearcat Scholar Award II | — | $8,000 |
Source: Bolivar Undergraduate Scholarships — Freshman Academic Scholarships · verified 2026-10-23
Does Southwest Baptist superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. The word appears nowhere on SBU's scholarship or admissions-process pages. Since SBU's award levels run on GPA, the question only bites on the Scholars Day 'qualifying test score' gate, and SBU does not say whether a best-of-sittings composite counts there.
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 Southwest Baptist’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.
Southwest Baptist scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Scholars Day, where the competitive awards are decided | Saturday, January 24, 2026 |
| Recommended FAFSA filing deadline | February 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 Southwest Baptist 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.
- Bolivar Undergraduate Scholarships — Freshman Academic Scholarshipsverified 2026-10-23
- SBU Admissions Process — admission standards and test policyverified 2026-10-23
- Missouri's Access Missouri Grant and Bright Flight are STATE money and are not in the grid, even though SBU lists them on the same page as its own awards. Bright Flight is the one families misread as institutional: SBU's own line is 'Based on test score results. Must be enrolled as a full-time student at a participating Missouri institution and typically score at least a 31 on the ACT' for up to $3,000. That is the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development paying on a score, not SBU — it needs Missouri residency and a FAFSA, and it is paid on top of the GPA band above. At a school whose own merit money ignores the ACT, this is the only place in Missouri a 31 is directly worth dollars.
- SBU's church-match award is additive, not an alternative: 'SBU will match a scholarship from your church up to $500 per semester, not to exceed $1,000 per year,' renewable for four years, and — unusually for a Baptist university — 'Your church does not have to be a Southern Baptist Church.' It needs a church contract signed by a church official, from a specified line item in the church budget.
- The ministry-related awards stack with performance awards but need an application verifying a public commitment to preaching, youth, religious education, music or missions, a matching major or minor, and enrolment in the CEWL courses each fall and spring.
- The Scholars Day competitive awards are excluded from the grid: the J. R. Maupin Founders Award is full tuition with only two offered annually, and every other participant receives a Dutile Scholars Award of $500–$1,000, which is a range rather than a figure.
- The Scholars Day footnote is garbled on SBU's page and should be read with a counsellor rather than planned around: '*High school seniors with a 3.3 GPA that have submitted a 16ACT/910SAT/56CLT to the admissions office are not eligible for Scholars Day.'
- The published Scholars Day date — Saturday, January 24, 2026 — has already passed relative to the Fall 2026 cycle the table is headed with, so SBU's page is carrying a stale date alongside live figures.
- Athletic awards stack on top of the academic award but not on other SBU scholarships or grants. Music and speech/debate awards do the same. The Dutile Scholars Award is the exception that does NOT combine with athletics awards.
- Most of the smaller 'Other Institutional Scholarships' — the $1,000 A+ award, the $250 Dual Credit award — are 'not eligible to combine with (i.e., stack) with performance awards in athletics, music, speech/debate.' The $500 Sibling Scholarship is called out as the one that does stack.
- The Dual Credit Scholarship has a timing cutoff worth knowing early: at least 6 hours of dual credit through SBU with a 3.0 GPA, and the credits 'must be earned before end of spring semester of senior year of high school.'
- The Four-Year Total column ($66,000 down to $46,000) is SBU's own multiplication of the Annual Total, so the annual figures above are printed and not derived.
- SBU's transfer ladder is a separate four-band table on cumulative college GPA ($9,000 / $8,000 / $7,000 / $5,000 before residency), and 12 completed credit hours after high school is what makes a student a transfer rather than a freshman.
- SBU is silent on the Enhanced ACT, though it does accept the CLT alongside the ACT and SAT.
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 Southwest Baptist University.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Southwest Baptist?
Southwest Baptist University publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is Southwest Baptist test-optional?
Test-optional for admission. SBU lists three admission standards — a 2.50+ weighted GPA, a 21+ ACT, or top-half class rank — and a score is only one way in, not a requirement. For merit aid the answer is different: optional, and SBU leaves the effect unquantified. It says sending a score 'could potentially improve your academic scholarship eligibility' and points students at a counsellor, but every published award level is a GPA band. The one place a score is concretely named is the Scholars Day gate, where either a 3.3 GPA or 'a qualifying test score' earns the invitation to compete for the competitive awards. 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 Southwest Baptist?
On Southwest Baptist's published grid for 2026-27 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Living on campus — Dean's Scholar Award at $14,500 a year, about $58,000 over four years if it renews; Commuting from home — Dean's Scholar Award at $11,000 a year, about $44,000 over four years if it renews.
Does Southwest Baptist superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. The word appears nowhere on SBU's scholarship or admissions-process pages. Since SBU's award levels run on GPA, the question only bites on the Scholars Day 'qualifying test score' gate, and SBU does not say whether a best-of-sittings composite counts there.
When are Southwest Baptist scholarship deadlines?
Scholars Day, where the competitive awards are decided: Saturday, January 24, 2026. Recommended FAFSA filing deadline: February 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 Southwest Baptist scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Southwest Baptist University'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
Southwest Baptist awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though Southwest Baptist is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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