University of Southern Mississippi: merit scholarships by ACT score
University of Southern Mississippi awards automatic merit aid from a published grid crossing ACT score with GPA. Awards start at an ACT of 20 and reach Full Tuition. 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
One of the few grids where a single ACT point reliably changes the award — a 31 is $10,000 and a 32 is full tuition. Southern Miss is not test-optional: a score is required for both admission and merit.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
← Drag either slider to your own numbers
Example — an ACT 29 with a 3.60 GPA
Academic Excellence Scholarship
$7,000 / year
About $28,000 over four years, if it renews.
What the next points are worth
1 more point (a 30) moves you to Academic Excellence Scholarship — $9,000 a year. That is $2,000 more a year, or $8,000 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.
Free preview of the top schools · the full ranked list, with deadlines, is $19.
Want to know what one more point would change? The Merit Plan prices the next point at every school.
Email me every school that pays at a 29 and 3.60
This page is one school. We have read the published grids at 501, and the email sends the ten that pay you most — five public, five private — with what each one awards. No account.
One email with your breakdown, plus occasional ACT tips. Unsubscribe in one tap.
Free · no account, no card · the first school is on this screen
The published Southern Miss merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from University of Southern Mississippi’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.
All students (no residency split)
Southern Miss publishes one grid for everyone — there is no separate out-of-state scale. Find the GPA band, then match the ACT.
$1,500
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 23–25 · 3.0-3.24 GPA
$2,500
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 26–29 · 3.0-3.24 GPA
$3,000
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 30–31 · 3.0-3.24 GPA
$4,500
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 32–36 · 3.0-3.24 GPA
$1,500
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 20 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$2,500
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 21 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$3,000
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 22 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$4,500
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 23–24 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$5,250
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 25–26 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$6,000
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 27–28 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$7,000
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 29 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
$9,000
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 30 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
Show the other 2 published rows
$10,000
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 31 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
Full Tuition
Academic Excellence Scholarship
ACT 32–36 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA
| Award | With a score | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 23–25 · 3.0-3.24 GPA | $1,500 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 26–29 · 3.0-3.24 GPA | $2,500 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 30–31 · 3.0-3.24 GPA | $3,000 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 32–36 · 3.0-3.24 GPA | $4,500 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 20 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $1,500 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 21 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $2,500 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 22 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $3,000 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 23–24 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $4,500 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 25–26 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $5,250 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 27–28 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $6,000 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 29 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $7,000 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 30 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $9,000 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 31 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | $10,000 |
| Academic Excellence Scholarship | ACT 32–36 · 3.25-4.0+ GPA | Full Tuition |
Source: Academic Excellence Scholarships · verified 2026-10-21
Does Southern Miss superscore for scholarships?
Yes. Yes, with a cutoff — superscoring applies to incoming freshmen from academic year 2022 onward. SAT-only submitters are converted to an ACT equivalent, so the ACT is effectively the native currency here.
“The University of Southern Mississippi does accept super score ACT and SAT for scholarship purposes.”
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.
Southern Miss scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| Fully admitted with final scores PROCESSED, for automatic consideration | March 1 |
| Scholarship offers emailed and mailed | March 31 |
| Accept the award in SOAR | May 1 |
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 Southern Mississippi’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Winning a tuition scholarship elsewhere CANCELS this one: Mississippi's governing board does not allow two scholarships for the same designation, so National Merit, Presidential or Discovery recipients lose the Academic Excellence award.
- GPA is NOT recalculated — Southern Miss uses the cumulative GPA on the official transcript at the time of admission, unusual among schools in this dataset.
- Only scores earned through senior year and before the deadline count.
- A FAFSA is required for most undergraduate scholarships here.
- Students classified as readmitted are ineligible, and you must enrol the fall immediately after graduating without attending another college first.
- Southern Miss is silent on the Enhanced ACT. Because this grid moves money on single points, how a three-section composite will be read is an open and consequential question.
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 Southern Mississippi.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Southern Miss?
Automatic merit aid at University of Southern Mississippi starts at an ACT composite of 20, alongside the published GPA minimum, and reaches full tuition 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 Southern Miss test-optional?
Southern Miss is not test-optional. A composite ACT, an ACT superscore calculated by ACT, or a combined SAT must be submitted. The writing component is not used. For merit aid the answer is different: a score is part of a complete admission file, and the grid is keyed to it. Scores must be processed by Admissions by March 1 — not merely sent by then. 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 Southern Miss?
On Southern Miss's published grid for 2027-28 entry, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Academic Excellence Scholarship at $9,000 a year, about $36,000 over four years if it renews.
How much is one more ACT point worth at Southern Miss?
The most valuable single point on Southern Miss's published grid is 29 to 30, at a 3.25 GPA: it moves the award by $2,000 a year, or $8,000 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 Southern Miss superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Yes. Yes, with a cutoff — superscoring applies to incoming freshmen from academic year 2022 onward. SAT-only submitters are converted to an ACT equivalent, so the ACT is effectively the native currency here. The University of Southern Mississippi does accept super score ACT and SAT for scholarship purposes.
When are Southern Miss scholarship deadlines?
Fully admitted with final scores PROCESSED, for automatic consideration: March 1. Scholarship offers emailed and mailed: March 31. Accept the award in SOAR: May 1. 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 Southern Miss scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from University of Southern Mississippi'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 Southern Miss. 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.
Free · About 3 minutes · No account needed · Not affiliated with University of Southern Mississippi