Washington State University: merit scholarships by GPA
Washington State University awards automatic merit aid from a published grid keyed to GPA — the ACT is not used. Awards reach $4,000 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
No score is used — WSU's recruitment awards are tiered purely by UNWEIGHTED high school GPA. The detail that changes the arithmetic is printed as a column heading and almost always missed: each band is a TWO-YEAR award at the Pullman campus and a FOUR-YEAR award at the branch campuses, so multiplying the annual figure by four overstates a Pullman offer by half. These are tuition WAIVERS, so they reduce a tuition bill rather than paying toward housing and cannot be refunded. The grid here is for Washington residents; non-residents go through WUE and other recruitment awards, which WSU lists separately. The page carries no cycle year.
Unweighted, as the school asks for it.
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Example — a 3.60 GPA
Crimson Scholars
$3,000 / year
About $12,000 over four years, if it renews.
Washington State 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 Washington State merit aid grid
Reproduced in full from Washington State University’s own pages for the current cycle. Nothing here is estimated: where the school states a benefit rather than a figure, that is what the table says.
Washington residents — recruitment awards
Offered automatically through WSU admissions with no scholarship application. Every band is a two-year award at Pullman and a four-year award at the branch campuses.
$4,000
Crimson Distinguished
No score needed · GPA 3.75
$3,000
Crimson Scholars
No score needed · GPA 3.30
$2,000
Crimson Advantage
No score needed · GPA 3.00
$500
Crimson Promise
No score needed · GPA 1.00
| Award | With a score | No score | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crimson Distinguished | — | GPA 3.75 | $4,000 |
| Crimson Scholars | — | GPA 3.30 | $3,000 |
| Crimson Advantage | — | GPA 3.00 | $2,000 |
| Crimson Promise | — | GPA 1.00 | $500 |
Source: Scholarships — Recruitment Awards, resident tiers · verified 2026-10-21
Does Washington State superscore for scholarships?
Not stated, and moot for these awards — none of them uses a score, so there is no threshold a superscore could reach.
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 Washington State’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.
Washington State scholarship deadlines
| Entry term | Due |
|---|---|
| WSU General Scholarship Application priority deadline (for the separate, committee-reviewed awards) | file by the priority deadline each year |
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 Washington State University’s own published pages, linked below with the date we last confirmed them. We do not estimate a missing band or interpolate a value.
- Two years at Pullman, four years at the branch campuses, at every GPA band. This is the fact that most changes what an offer is worth.
- These are tuition waivers: they reduce tuition, not housing, and are never refunded as cash.
- Crimson Promise is published for a 0.0-2.99 GPA, so WSU pays $500 a year to essentially anyone admitted — one of the lowest published floors in this dataset.
- The grid above is for Washington residents. Non-residents are routed to WUE and other recruitment awards which WSU lists on a separate page.
- WSU's additional awards — including the Glenn Terrell Presidential Award at $4,000 a year — require the General Scholarship Application, committee review, or nomination, and are not automatic.
- WSU warns that awarding happens in rounds as funding becomes available, so not hearing early does not mean a refusal.
- International students on F-1 visas have a separate automatic International Academic Award of $4,000 or $2,000 as a tuition waiver.
- The page carries no cycle year, so confirm the figures for the applicable year.
- Washington State 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 Washington State University.
Frequently asked questions
What ACT score do you need for a scholarship at Washington State?
Washington State University publishes a merit aid grid keyed to ACT score and GPA. See the tables on this page for the current bands.
Is Washington State test-optional?
WSU does not state an admission test stance on its scholarship page. What the page does make clear is that no recruitment award on it is keyed to a score. For merit aid the answer is different: not used. The resident recruitment awards are tiered by unweighted high school GPA and no ACT figure appears in WSU's criteria for them. 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 Washington State?
On Washington State's published grid for the current cycle, an ACT of 30 with a 3.6 GPA qualifies for Crimson Scholars at $3,000 a year, about $12,000 over four years if it renews.
Does Washington State superscore the ACT for scholarships?
Not stated, and moot for these awards — none of them uses a score, so there is no threshold a superscore could reach.
When are Washington State scholarship deadlines?
WSU General Scholarship Application priority deadline (for the separate, committee-reviewed awards): file by the priority deadline each year. 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 Washington State scholarship data current?
Every figure on this page was read from Washington State University'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
Washington State awards on GPA — but the ACT still decides what you're worth elsewhere.
Most schools in this comparison are score-keyed even though Washington State is not, so the same test still moves the money everywhere else on the list.
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