University of North Texas: merit scholarships by GPA and class rank
University of North Texas awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing GPA with class rank. Awards start at a 3.25 GPA and reach $12,000 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
This grid needs a CLASS RANK as well as a GPA. UNT states that students whose high schools do not rank are assessed on unweighted GPA and a review of their record instead — no cell of this grid applies to them. A 30 ACT adds a flat $1,000 on top of an Excellence award, but only for students who already have one, so a score cannot move a student up this grid. All GPAs are unweighted.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1%
$10,000 per year / year
About $40,000 over four years, if it renews.
UNT 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 UNT merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from University of North Texas’s own pages for Fall 2026 entry. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Class rank: top 1%
The three GPA columns UNT publishes for a student in the top 1% of their class.
$12,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1%
No score needed
$10,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1%
No score needed
$8,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1%
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1% | — | $12,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1% | — | $10,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1% | — | $8,000 per year |
Source: UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA grid · verified 2026-10-24
Class rank: top 5%
The three GPA columns UNT publishes for a student in the top 5% of their class.
$10,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5%
No score needed
$8,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5%
No score needed
$6,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5%
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5% | — | $10,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5% | — | $8,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5% | — | $6,000 per year |
Source: UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA grid · verified 2026-10-24
Class rank: top 10%
The three GPA columns UNT publishes for a student in the top 10% of their class.
$8,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10%
No score needed
$6,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10%
No score needed
$5,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10%
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10% | — | $8,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10% | — | $6,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10% | — | $5,000 per year |
Source: UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA grid · verified 2026-10-24
Class rank: top 15%
The three GPA columns UNT publishes for a student in the top 15% of their class.
$6,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15%
No score needed
$5,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15%
No score needed
$4,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15%
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15% | — | $6,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15% | — | $5,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15% | — | $4,000 per year |
Source: UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA grid · verified 2026-10-24
Class rank: top 20%
The three GPA columns UNT publishes for a student in the top 20% of their class.
$5,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20%
No score needed
$4,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20%
No score needed
$3,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20%
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20% | — | $5,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20% | — | $4,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20% | — | $3,000 per year |
Source: UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA grid · verified 2026-10-24
Class rank: top 25%
The three GPA columns UNT publishes for a student in the top 25% of their class.
$4,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25%
No score needed
$3,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25%
No score needed
$2,000 per year
UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25%
No score needed
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25% | — | $4,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25% | — | $3,000 per year |
| UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25% | — | $2,000 per year |
Source: UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA grid · verified 2026-10-24
Does UNT superscore for scholarships?
Not stated. The only score threshold is the flat 30 for the $1,000 bonus, and UNT does not say whether it combines sections across sittings to reach it.
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 UNT’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.
UNT scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Admitted by this date for automatic consideration | March 1, 2026 |
| Official test score for the $1,000 bonus | July 1, 2026 |
| Accept the scholarship by | May 1, 2026 |
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 North Texas’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- UNT Excellence Scholarship — the rank by GPA gridverified 2026-10-24
- Freshman admission requirements — test policyverified 2026-10-24
- The same GPA pays very differently by rank: a 3.9 is $12,000 in the top 1% and $4,000 in the top 25%.
- Students whose high schools do not rank are assessed on GPA and a record review instead, so no cell of this grid applies to them.
- A 30 ACT adds a flat $1,000 a year on top of an Excellence award — additive, capped, and only for students who already have the award.
- Nothing above a 30 adds more. The bonus does not scale.
- The GPA columns are printed as closed ranges and all GPAs are unweighted. The top column is modelled open so a transcript above 4.00 still clears it.
- Below a 3.25 unweighted, or outside the top 25%, the grid publishes nothing.
- Out-of-state recipients "may be eligible" for a waiver of the resident/non-resident tuition difference, which is not guaranteed, and the OSTF fee is not waived.
- Third-party sites use tier names like "President's Elite" that do not appear on UNT'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 North Texas.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at UNT?
University of North Texas publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is UNT test-optional?
UNT is test-score-optional, though it says a score can help with admission decisions, testing exemptions and scholarships. A 22 ACT meets the test route for guaranteed admission. For merit aid the answer is different: a score cannot move a student up this grid — rank and unweighted GPA decide every cell. What a 30 ACT does is add a flat $1,000 a year on top of an Excellence award, and only to students who already hold one. So the ACT is worth exactly $1,000 here, and nothing above a 30 adds more. 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 UNT?
On UNT's published grid for Fall 2026 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Class rank: top 1% — UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 1% at $10,000 a year, about $40,000 over four years if it renews; Class rank: top 5% — UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 5% at $8,000 a year, about $32,000 over four years if it renews; Class rank: top 10% — UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 10% at $6,000 a year, about $24,000 over four years if it renews; Class rank: top 15% — UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 15% at $5,000 a year, about $20,000 over four years if it renews; Class rank: top 20% — UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 20% at $4,000 a year, about $16,000 over four years if it renews; Class rank: top 25% — UNT Excellence Scholarship — top 25% at $3,000 a year, about $12,000 over four years if it renews.
Does UNT superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated. The only score threshold is the flat 30 for the $1,000 bonus, and UNT does not say whether it combines sections across sittings to reach it.
When are UNT scholarship deadlines?
Admitted by this date for automatic consideration: March 1, 2026. Official test score for the $1,000 bonus: July 1, 2026. Accept the scholarship by: May 1, 2026. 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 UNT scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from University of North Texas'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
UNT awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though UNT is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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