University of Dallas: merit scholarships by ACT score
University of Dallas awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 20 and reach $37,000 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
UDallas reads whichever is better — the highest test score or superscore, or the weighted or unweighted GPA — so these routes are alternatives and a student cannot be worse off for submitting a score. The GPA bands here are the UNWEIGHTED ones; UDallas also publishes a weighted ladder with different thresholds for the same amounts. The headline $37,000 is published with an asterisk.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route)
$35,000 per year / year
About $140,000 over four years, if it renews.
What the next points are worth
2 more points (a 31) moves you to Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) — $37,000 per year a year. That is $2,000 more a year, or $8,000 over four years.
The question isn't whether 2 points is worth having. It's whether they can move them — 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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Can you get merit aid at UDallas without an ACT score?
Yes. Entirely optional and exactly priced: a 31 reaches the same $37,000 as a 3.90 unweighted GPA, a 20 reaches the same $28,000 as a 3.00. Because UDallas reads whichever route is better, a score can only help — and with five windows two to three points wide, one point at a boundary is worth $2,000 a year.
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.
“based on either the highest test score (or superscore) or the weighted or non-weighted GPA”
The published UDallas merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from University of Dallas’s own pages for Fall 2027 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Academic Achievement Scholarship
Automatic with no additional application. Each amount has a score window and an unweighted GPA band attached, and UDallas reads whichever is better.
$37,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route)
ACT 31–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$37,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route)
No score needed · GPA 3.90
$35,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route)
ACT 28–30 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$35,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route)
No score needed · GPA 3.75
$33,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route)
ACT 25–27 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$33,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route)
No score needed · GPA 3.60
$31,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route)
ACT 22–24 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$31,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route)
No score needed · GPA 3.40
$28,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route)
ACT 20–21 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies
Without a score: not available
$28,000 per year
Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route)
No score needed · GPA 3.00
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) | ACT 31–36 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $37,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route) | — | GPA 3.90 | $37,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) | ACT 28–30 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $35,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route) | — | GPA 3.75 | $35,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) | ACT 25–27 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $33,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route) | — | GPA 3.60 | $33,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) | ACT 22–24 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $31,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route) | — | GPA 3.40 | $31,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) | ACT 20–21 · any GPA — a score alone qualifies | not available | $28,000 per year |
| Academic Achievement Scholarship (GPA route) | — | GPA 3.00 | $28,000 per year |
Source: Types of aid and scholarships — Academic Achievement grid · verified 2026-10-24
Does UDallas superscore for scholarships?
Yes. Yes, and it is written into the award rule itself — UDallas reads "the highest test score (or superscore)". With score windows only two or three points wide, combining best sections across sittings can move a student a whole tier.
“the highest test score (or superscore)”
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 University of Dallas’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Types of aid and scholarships — Academic Achievement gridverified 2026-10-24
- Admission requirementsverified 2026-10-24
- Each amount has both a score window and a GPA band, so the exchange rate is printed rather than inferred: a 31 equals a 3.90, a 25 equals a 3.60, a 20 equals a 3.00.
- UDallas reads whichever route is better, so submitting a score cannot reduce the award.
- UDallas superscores, and says so in the same sentence that sets the rule.
- The score windows are two to three points wide, so a single point at a boundary is worth $2,000 a year.
- The score route pays $28,000 from a 20, which is a low bar for an award that size.
- The whole ladder spans $9,000 a year — these are discounts against a private sticker price, not cash.
- UDallas also publishes a WEIGHTED GPA ladder with different thresholds for the same five amounts. The unweighted bands are the ones modelled here.
- The headline $37,000 carries an asterisk on UDallas's own page.
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 Dallas.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at UDallas?
Automatic merit aid at University of Dallas starts at an ACT composite of 20, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches $37,000 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 UDallas test-optional?
UDallas awards its automatic merit on a score or a GPA, whichever is better, so a score is not needed to be considered. For merit aid the answer is different: entirely optional and exactly priced: a 31 reaches the same $37,000 as a 3.90 unweighted GPA, a 20 reaches the same $28,000 as a 3.00. Because UDallas reads whichever route is better, a score can only help — and with five windows two to three points wide, one point at a boundary is worth $2,000 a year. 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 UDallas?
On UDallas's published grid for Fall 2027 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Academic Achievement Scholarship (score route) at $35,000 a year, about $140,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at UDallas?
The most valuable single point on UDallas's published grid is 21 to 22, on the row where it is largest: it moves the award by $3,000 a year, or $12,000 across a four-year degree. 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 UDallas superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Yes. Yes, and it is written into the award rule itself — UDallas reads "the highest test score (or superscore)". With score windows only two or three points wide, combining best sections across sittings can move a student a whole tier. the highest test score (or superscore)
Is this UDallas scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from University of Dallas's own published pages and last verified on 2026-10-24. 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 UDallas. 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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