University of Illinois Springfield: merit scholarships by GPA
University of Illinois Springfield 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 $7,000 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
The posted grid covers Summer 2025 through Spring 2026 and UIS has not published a later version, so a student applying for a later cycle should expect these figures to be restated. The award requires an on-campus program — fully online and UIS Global students are excluded — and combined UIS awards cannot exceed tuition plus mandatory fees, so other aid can reduce it. An older Lincoln grid at $8,000, $7,000 and $6,000 still appears in search caches and is superseded.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
Star Scholar Award
$5,000 a year / year
About $20,000 over four years, if it renews.
UIS 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 UIS merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from University of Illinois Springfield’s own pages for 2025-26 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Star Scholar first-year awards
Automatic with no additional application, on a rolling basis. Read on the unweighted high school GPA, and renewable for up to four years.
$7,000 a year
Star Scholar Award
No score needed
$6,000 a year
Star Scholar Award
No score needed
$5,000 a year
Star Scholar Award
No score needed
$4,000 a year
Star Scholar Award
No score needed
$3,000 a year
Star Scholar Award
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Star Scholar Award | — | $7,000 a year |
| Star Scholar Award | — | $6,000 a year |
| Star Scholar Award | — | $5,000 a year |
| Star Scholar Award | — | $4,000 a year |
| Star Scholar Award | — | $3,000 a year |
Source: UIS Star Scholar Award — 2025-26 · verified 2026-10-24
Does UIS superscore for scholarships?
Not stated, and it would not matter — the grid reads no score.
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 UIS’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.
UIS scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Star Scholar | Rolling |
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 Illinois Springfield’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- UIS Star Scholar Award — 2025-26verified 2026-10-24
- Scholarshipsverified 2026-10-24
- Requirements for admissionverified 2026-10-24
- The steps are perfectly even: $1,000 for every quarter of a grade point.
- A quarter point is worth $1,000 a year and $4,000 across four, anywhere on the ladder.
- The ladder runs $3,000 at a 3.0 to $7,000 at a 4.0, with no cliff anywhere.
- UIS states that merit decisions are based on unweighted GPA only.
- The GPA is unweighted, so honours coursework buys nothing.
- Below a 3.0 nothing is published.
- Fully online and UIS Global students are excluded.
- Combined UIS awards cannot exceed tuition plus mandatory fees.
- Capital Scholars Honors awards need admission to the Honors program and cannot be combined with Star Scholar, so they are not bands here.
- The President's Award Program, up to $10,000 a year, is for Illinois residents, needs a FAFSA by May 1, publishes no criteria and takes precedence over other merit awards.
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 Illinois Springfield.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at UIS?
University of Illinois Springfield publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is UIS test-optional?
Neither admission nor this award requires a score. For merit aid the answer is different: uIS states this directly. A student with no ACT reaches the $7,000 top rung at a 4.0 exactly as a 36 would. 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 UIS?
On UIS's published grid for 2025-26 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Star Scholar Award at $5,000 a year, about $20,000 over four years if it renews.
Does UIS superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated, and it would not matter — the grid reads no score.
When are UIS scholarship deadlines?
Star Scholar: Rolling. 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 UIS scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from University of Illinois Springfield'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
UIS awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though UIS is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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