Union University: merit scholarships by ACT score
Union University awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 18 and reach $17,000 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
Living off campus costs $3,000 to $4,000 a year at every band — Union publishes two separate grids for it, and that is the largest residency penalty in this dataset. Both numbers are required: Union says 'both minimums determine your scholarship eligibility', so a 27 with a 3.2 GPA lands on the Provost's band rather than the President's. The top two bands also pay the same $17,000; the 29 exists to make a student eligible for the Scholars of Excellence competition. And the dollar figures carry no stated period — the row labels read only 'On-Campus Award Amount'.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Trustees' Scholarship
$17,000 / year
About $68,000 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 Union merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Union 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
Union says merit awards are higher for students who choose to live on campus, and publishes both figures rather than burying the difference.
$17,000
Trustees' Scholarship
ACT 29–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required
$17,000
President's Scholarship
ACT 27–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required
$15,000
Provost's Scholarship
ACT 24–36 · a 3.0 GPA — both required
$12,000
Dean's Scholarship
ACT 21–36 · a 2.5 GPA — both required
$11,000
University Scholarship
ACT 18–36 · a 2.0 GPA — both required
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Trustees' Scholarship | ACT 29–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required | $17,000 |
| President's Scholarship | ACT 27–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required | $17,000 |
| Provost's Scholarship | ACT 24–36 · a 3.0 GPA — both required | $15,000 |
| Dean's Scholarship | ACT 21–36 · a 2.5 GPA — both required | $12,000 |
| University Scholarship | ACT 18–36 · a 2.0 GPA — both required | $11,000 |
Source: 2026-27 Union UG Merit Scholarships · verified 2026-10-21
Living off campus
The same five bands, $3,000 to $4,000 lower at every step.
$13,000
Trustees' Scholarship
ACT 29–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required
$13,000
President's Scholarship
ACT 27–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required
$11,000
Provost's Scholarship
ACT 24–36 · a 3.0 GPA — both required
$9,000
Dean's Scholarship
ACT 21–36 · a 2.5 GPA — both required
$8,000
University Scholarship
ACT 18–36 · a 2.0 GPA — both required
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Trustees' Scholarship | ACT 29–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required | $13,000 |
| President's Scholarship | ACT 27–36 · a 3.5 GPA — both required | $13,000 |
| Provost's Scholarship | ACT 24–36 · a 3.0 GPA — both required | $11,000 |
| Dean's Scholarship | ACT 21–36 · a 2.5 GPA — both required | $9,000 |
| University Scholarship | ACT 18–36 · a 2.0 GPA — both required | $8,000 |
Source: 2026-27 Union UG Merit Scholarships · verified 2026-10-21
Does Union superscore for scholarships?
Yes. Yes, for scholarships explicitly — and with a step most schools do not require. Union builds the super composite as the average of the best section scores across dates, but the student has to request an official superscore report from ACT; it does not happen automatically.
“Union University will accept superscores for all student standardized entrance exams for undergraduate admissions and institutional scholarship purposes.”
So the number that matters here is your superscore, not your best single test. Work out your superscore and look that score up in the grid above — it may sit a band higher than the one you have been planning around.
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 Union 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.
- Union says 'most institutional scholarships at Union are renewable' and then links to a policy that is plain text rather than a working link, so no renewal GPA is recorded.
- The Founder's Scholarship, won through a Scholars of Excellence weekend, REPLACES institutional aid rather than adding to it.
- Stackable awards are capped at $2,000 a year in total and require a 2.0 GPA.
- Several awards carry denominational conditions — the TBC/SBC award requires a year's membership of a Southern Baptist church, and the School of Theology award is both denominational and major-restricted.
- The West Tennessee Heritage Grant adds $1,500 a year for students from 21 named counties, but only while they live on campus.
- International students who cannot receive federal aid may get 'up to $4,000' a year, which is a ceiling rather than a band.
- Union's transfer grid reuses the same four award names at different GPA floors and different amounts, so the two sets must not be conflated.
- Union is silent on the Enhanced ACT.
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 Union University.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Union?
Automatic merit aid at Union University starts at an ACT composite of 18, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $17,000 a year at the top of the 2 grids it publishes. The bands are steps rather than a slope, so the only score that matters is the next threshold above where you are now.
Is Union test-optional?
Not recorded. Union's application pages render their content with JavaScript, so no admission test policy could be read from the page text of a verifiable source. For merit aid the answer is different: required, and Union is unusually direct about the grid being conjunctive. There is no test-optional band — a student below the minimums can only be 'considered for a Director's Incentive Grant', which publishes no amount. 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 Union?
On Union's published grid for 2026-27 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Living on campus — Trustees' Scholarship at $17,000 a year, about $68,000 over four years if it renews; Living off campus — Trustees' Scholarship at $13,000 a year, about $52,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at Union?
The most valuable single point on Union's published grid is 23 to 24, at a 3.0 GPA: it moves the award by $3,000 a year, or $12,000 across a four-year degree on the Living on campus grid. The same point is worth less at other GPAs, and most points move nothing at all — the grid steps rather than slopes, which is why the only score worth aiming at is the next threshold.
Does Union superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Yes. Yes, for scholarships explicitly — and with a step most schools do not require. Union builds the super composite as the average of the best section scores across dates, but the student has to request an official superscore report from ACT; it does not happen automatically. Union University will accept superscores for all student standardized entrance exams for undergraduate admissions and institutional scholarship purposes.
Is this Union scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Union University's own published pages and last verified on 2026-10-21. 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.
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What to do next
You know what a score is worth at Union. 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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