University of Alabama at Birmingham: merit scholarships by ACT score
University of Alabama at Birmingham awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 22 and reach $28,500 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
UAB is ending test-optional admission after Fall 2027 — from Fall 2028 a score is required for admission and merit. UAB also refuses superscores, so from that point one sitting decides the entire award.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Provost Scholarship
$8,000 / year
About $32,000 over four years, if it renews.
What the next points are worth
1 more point (a 30) moves you to Presidential Scholarship — $12,000 a year. That is $4,000 more a year, or $16,000 over four years.
The question isn't whether a point is worth having. It's whether they can move it — which starts with knowing exactly which questions they're missing, and why.
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Want to know what one more point would change? The Merit Plan prices the next point at every school.
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The published UAB merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from University of Alabama at Birmingham’s own pages for 2027-28 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Alabama residents
Automatically considered on admission with test scores. There is no Presidential Elite tier in-state, and the Presidential threshold is a 30 rather than the 32 required out-of-state.
$12,000
Presidential Scholarship
ACT 30–36 · 3.5 or higher
$8,000
Provost Scholarship
ACT 27–29 · 3.5 or higher
$8,000
Provost Scholarship
ACT 30–36 · 3.0-3.49
$5,000
Green & Gold Scholarship
ACT 24–26 · 3.5 or higher
$5,000
Green & Gold Scholarship
ACT 27–29 · 3.0-3.49
$4,000
Blazer Scholarship
ACT 22–23 · 3.5 or higher
$4,000
Blazer Scholarship
ACT 24–26 · 3.0-3.49
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Scholarship | ACT 30–36 · 3.5 or higher | $12,000 |
| Provost Scholarship | ACT 27–29 · 3.5 or higher | $8,000 |
| Provost Scholarship | ACT 30–36 · 3.0-3.49 | $8,000 |
| Green & Gold Scholarship | ACT 24–26 · 3.5 or higher | $5,000 |
| Green & Gold Scholarship | ACT 27–29 · 3.0-3.49 | $5,000 |
| Blazer Scholarship | ACT 22–23 · 3.5 or higher | $4,000 |
| Blazer Scholarship | ACT 24–26 · 3.0-3.49 | $4,000 |
Source: 2027-2028 In-State Freshman Scholarships · verified 2026-10-21
Non-residents
Substantially larger awards, with an additional Presidential Elite tier at the top. An out-of-state 30 or 31 with a 4.0 lands on Provost, not Presidential.
$28,500
Presidential Elite Scholarship
ACT 32–36 · 4.0 or higher
$22,500
Presidential Scholarship
ACT 32–36 · 3.5-3.99
$17,500
Provost Scholarship
ACT 27–31 · 3.5 or higher
$17,500
Provost Scholarship
ACT 30–36 · 3.0-3.49
$9,500
Green & Gold Scholarship
ACT 24–26 · 3.5 or higher
$9,500
Green & Gold Scholarship
ACT 27–29 · 3.0-3.49
$7,500
Blazer Scholarship
ACT 22–23 · 3.5 or higher
$7,500
Blazer Scholarship
ACT 24–26 · 3.0-3.49
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Presidential Elite Scholarship | ACT 32–36 · 4.0 or higher | $28,500 |
| Presidential Scholarship | ACT 32–36 · 3.5-3.99 | $22,500 |
| Provost Scholarship | ACT 27–31 · 3.5 or higher | $17,500 |
| Provost Scholarship | ACT 30–36 · 3.0-3.49 | $17,500 |
| Green & Gold Scholarship | ACT 24–26 · 3.5 or higher | $9,500 |
| Green & Gold Scholarship | ACT 27–29 · 3.0-3.49 | $9,500 |
| Blazer Scholarship | ACT 22–23 · 3.5 or higher | $7,500 |
| Blazer Scholarship | ACT 24–26 · 3.0-3.49 | $7,500 |
Source: 2027-2028 Out-of-State Freshman Scholarships · verified 2026-10-21
Does UAB superscore for scholarships?
No. An unusually blunt no, stated identically on both grid pages. Combined with the end of test-optional, a single sitting will decide the award from Fall 2028.
“UAB does not consider superscores for admission or scholarship purposes.”
This matters more than it sounds. A student whose superscore crosses a band but whose best single sitting does not will be paid on the lower band. Look up your best single sitting in the grid above, then find what is costing you points on one test.
Comparing schools? See which colleges superscore for scholarships — 66 of 501 commit to it, 52 say they do not, and the rest never say.
UAB scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| In-state: apply for admission | January 15 (extended to February 23) |
| Out-of-state: apply for admission | May 1 |
| In-state: last scores considered are the December sitting of senior year | December |
| Out-of-state: last scores considered are the February ACT of senior year | February |
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 University of Alabama at Birmingham’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- 2027-2028 In-State Freshman Scholarshipsverified 2026-10-21
- 2027-2028 Out-of-State Freshman Scholarshipsverified 2026-10-21
- The GPA in these grids is WEIGHTED — the columns just say 'GPA', and only the test-optional page says so.
- Self-reporting a 3.5 that the transcript does not support defers your decision until official scores or an updated transcript arrive.
- Submitting a score and then applying test-optional does not help: the score stays in the system but is not reviewed.
- Test-optional applicants see only a range — $4,000–$12,000 in-state and $7,500-$28,500 out-of-state. UAB prints those with different dash characters on the two pages.
- National Merit Finalist ($4,000/yr) and several other national awards stack on top of the grid, but only one of them at a time.
- Honors College and the early-admission medical, dental and optometry programmes require test scores even during the test-optional cycle.
- Students scoring 33-36 with a 3.5+ are invited to compete for endowed Presidential scholarships; UAB publishes no dollar figures for those.
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 University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at UAB?
Automatic merit aid at University of Alabama at Birmingham starts at an ACT composite of 22, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $28,500 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 UAB test-optional?
Test-optional for Summer and Fall 2027 only, and only for students with a weighted GPA of 3.5 or above. Anyone at 3.49 or below must submit a score. The policy ends entirely after this cycle. For merit aid the answer is different: for 2027 a 3.5+ student can be considered without a score, but UAB states outright that the test-optional award process is not public — so the published ranges are all a non-submitter can know. From Fall 2028 a score is required. 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 UAB?
On UAB's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Alabama residents — Presidential Scholarship at $12,000 a year, about $48,000 over four years if it renews; Non-residents — Provost Scholarship at $17,500 a year, about $70,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at UAB?
The most valuable single point on UAB's published grid is 31 to 32, at a 4.0 GPA: it moves the award by $11,000 a year, or $44,000 across a four-year degree on the Non-residents 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 in-state or out-of-state change merit aid at UAB?
Yes. UAB publishes separate grids: Alabama residents run $4,000 to $12,000 a year, and Non-residents run $7,500 to $28,500 — a difference of $16,500 a year at the top. Check which grid applies to you before planning around a figure.
Does UAB superscore the ACT for scholarships?
No. An unusually blunt no, stated identically on both grid pages. Combined with the end of test-optional, a single sitting will decide the award from Fall 2028. UAB does not consider superscores for admission or scholarship purposes.
When are UAB scholarship deadlines?
In-state: apply for admission: January 15 (extended to February 23). Out-of-state: apply for admission: May 1. In-state: last scores considered are the December sitting of senior year: December. Out-of-state: last scores considered are the February ACT of senior year: February. 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 UAB scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from University of Alabama at Birmingham'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.
Other schools to check
What to do next
You know what a score is worth at UAB. 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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