University of Arkansas at Little Rock: merit scholarships by ACT score
University of Arkansas at Little Rock awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 20 and reach $5,000 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
The ACT is a flat gate here, not a scale: every band requires a 20 and nothing more, so the award size comes entirely from GPA and raising a 20 to a 34 adds zero dollars. Half of each award is also a housing component that is cancelled if you live off campus. The grid is open only to Arkansas and contiguous-state residents who are US citizens or permanent residents. And while the grid itself carries no competitive label and needs no application, the same page says 'We cannot guarantee an award to each applicant due to the competitive nature of scholarships' — a sentence that also covers the other programmes listed below it.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Deans' Academic Merit
$4,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $2,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus / year
About $16,000 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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Is UA Little Rock test-optional?
For admission, largely yes. Not recorded as a published policy sentence, but scores are mandatory for scholarship consideration regardless — UA Little Rock says a transcript and scores must both be on file before any award is considered.
For money, no. Required, as a single flat threshold. A 20 ACT is the gate on every band, and no band pays more for a higher score. A family that reads “test-optional” and skips the ACT can be admitted and still walk away from every dollar on the grid below.
The published UA Little Rock merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from University of Arkansas at Little Rock’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.
Academic merit — Arkansas and contiguous-state residents
No separate application. A transcript AND test scores must both be on file with Admissions before any scholarship consideration happens. Only one award from this category may be combined with one from the mentored-programme category.
$5,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $5,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus
Chancellor's Academic Distinction
ACT 20–36 · 4.00 GPA
$4,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $4,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus
Provost's Academic Excellence
ACT 20–36 · 3.75 GPA
$4,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $2,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus
Deans' Academic Merit
ACT 20–36 · 3.50 GPA
$3,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $1,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus
UA Little Rock Academic Achievement
ACT 20–36 · 3.25 GPA
$2,000 per year
Freshman Award
ACT 20–36 · 3.00 GPA
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Chancellor's Academic Distinction | ACT 20–36 · 4.00 GPA | $5,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $5,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus |
| Provost's Academic Excellence | ACT 20–36 · 3.75 GPA | $4,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $4,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus |
| Deans' Academic Merit | ACT 20–36 · 3.50 GPA | $4,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $2,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus |
| UA Little Rock Academic Achievement | ACT 20–36 · 3.25 GPA | $3,000 tuition and fees per year, plus $1,000 on-campus housing if you live on campus |
| Freshman Award | ACT 20–36 · 3.00 GPA | $2,000 per year |
Source: Scholarships for New Incoming Freshmen, Fall 2027 · verified 2026-10-21
Does UA Little Rock superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. With a flat 20 gate there is little for a superscore policy to govern, but UA Little Rock publishes no position either way.
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 UA Little Rock’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.
UA Little Rock scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Standardized test scores received by the Office of Admissions | Aug. 2, 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 University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Scholarships for New Incoming Freshmen, Fall 2027verified 2026-10-21
- Scholarship FAQ — housing condition and automatic considerationverified 2026-10-21
- The ACT does nothing above 20 on this grid — the most clear-cut case of a binary score gate in the dataset.
- The housing half of each award is cancelled outright if the student lives off campus, so the headline '$5,000 + $5,000' is $5,000 for a commuter.
- Residency is a hard gate: Arkansas or a contiguous state, and US citizens or permanent residents only.
- The STEM Academic Scholarship pays up to $6,000 at a 28 with a 3.5, but it is competitively awarded on academics, leadership and STEM activities and requires living on campus for two years, so it is not modelled.
- The Donaghey Scholars honours programme covers full tuition and fees with a $7,000-$10,000 stipend but takes 25 students a year on essays and recommendations, and does not stack with anything.
- The Chancellor's Leadership Corps offers an alternate non-ACT route through Accuplacer scores — unusual, and the only such path found.
- The New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Award pays 90% of non-resident tuition at a 20 ACT with a 3.0 GPA, but it is denominated as a percentage rather than a figure, so no dollar value is recorded.
- UA Little Rock 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 University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at UA Little Rock?
Automatic merit aid at University of Arkansas at Little Rock starts at an ACT composite of 20, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $5,000 a year 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 UA Little Rock test-optional?
Not recorded as a published policy sentence, but scores are mandatory for scholarship consideration regardless — UA Little Rock says a transcript and scores must both be on file before any award is considered. For merit aid the answer is different: required, as a single flat threshold. A 20 ACT is the gate on every band, and no band pays more for a higher score. 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 UA Little Rock?
On UA Little Rock's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Deans' Academic Merit at $4,000 a year, about $16,000 over four years if it renews.
Does UA Little Rock superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. With a flat 20 gate there is little for a superscore policy to govern, but UA Little Rock publishes no position either way.
When are UA Little Rock scholarship deadlines?
Standardized test scores received by the Office of Admissions: Aug. 2, 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 UA Little Rock scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from University of Arkansas at Little Rock'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 UA Little Rock. The question is whether you can move it.
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