Merit Scholarships in Texas: What the Published Grids Promise
Texas here means colleges located in Texas, not a separate set of awards reserved for Texas residents. Families often start with the state's big public universities and assume a published grid will price a GPA or test score. The verified dataset tells a narrower story: the largest guaranteed awards without an extra condition sit at private colleges, the public guaranteed awards in the headline list are much smaller, and five Texas colleges price every published award through class rank or a named diploma.
Of 141 Texas colleges checked for MeritChart's verified dataset, 17 publish an automatic merit grid. Six guarantee an award on published criteria — the largest is $28,000 per year — six offer automatic consideration only, and five price every published award through class rank or a named diploma instead.
Every figure below comes from the MeritChart dataset — 1,517 published award rows from 315 colleges, each taken from the college's own official page and verified on 2026-11-02. The Texas subset is 82 rows at 17 colleges. Awards carrying an extra condition that GPA and scores cannot establish — class rank or a named diploma — are counted nowhere in the headline numbers; they sit in their own labelled section at the end. One scale warning belongs up front: the largest guaranteed figure, Texas Lutheran's $28,000 per year, is priced on a recalculated core GPA on the college's 5.0 scale, not on a standard 4.0 transcript GPA. The full Texas list is on the Texas state page, and the classification rules are on the methodology page.
The count in Texas
Counting only the published Texas rows described above:
- 32 guaranteed automatic rows at 6 colleges — meet the full published row and the college awards the published amount
- 27 automatic consideration rows at 6 colleges — meeting the row puts the student in consideration, and the published amount is not guaranteed
- 23 extra-condition rows at 5 colleges — every row also requires a class rank or a named diploma, so the rows are separated at the end of this post
Take each college's largest headline award. The middle value among the six guaranteed colleges — the median — is $15,000 per year. Among the six consideration colleges the median best published figure is $10,500 per year, and the single largest Texas figure in this post, the University of Dallas's $36,000 per year, is a consideration figure. Read the class before the dollars.
Two structural facts shape the whole Texas picture. First, all 82 Texas rows in the dataset are published for both residency categories — no Texas college in the dataset runs a separate in-state and out-of-state award grid, the way the University of Alabama's out-of-state grid works in how much merit aid a 1400 SAT can get. The award is the same on paper for a nonresident; the tuition it offsets is a separate question. Second, scores are often optional on paper: 34 of the 59 headline rows — 21 guaranteed and 13 consideration — publish no ACT or SAT minimum at all. The companion post on merit scholarships without test scores works through that pattern nationally.
The absences matter as much as the list. The census checked 141 Texas colleges and found no usable published automatic grid at 124 of them — including the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A & M University-College Station, the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Dallas, Baylor University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, and Texas Christian University. Those colleges award merit money in other ways, but they do not publish an automatic grid a family can price in advance, so they appear nowhere in the tables below. This post also covers institutional grids only: state-run aid programs are separate, application-based aid and are not counted anywhere here.
The guaranteed awards in Texas
One row per college — its largest published guaranteed award with no extra condition. The trigger column is part of the price, and the logic varies: some rows need GPA and a score together, others qualify on any one of several published criteria.
| College | Award | Per year | Four-year total | Published trigger | Residency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Lutheran University | Regent's Scholarship | $28,000 | $112,000 | GPA only — 4.6 recalculated core GPA on a 5.0 scale | Both |
| Hardin-Simmons University | Trustee Scholarship | $22,000 | $88,000 | 1200 SAT or 25 ACT; no GPA minimum on the row | Both |
| Our Lady of the Lake University | Presidential Excellence Scholarship | $21,000 | — | GPA only — 4.0 unweighted | Both |
| Texas Tech University | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $9,000 | $36,000 | 3.96 GPA + 1500 SAT or 34 ACT | Both |
| Texas A & M International University | Presidential Scholarship | $7,500 | $30,000 | One qualifier: 1360 SAT, 29 ACT, or top 1–2% class rank | Both |
| The University of Texas Permian Basin | Falcon Elite Scholarship | $4,000 | $16,000 | GPA only — 3.9 unweighted | Both |
The split is the story. The three awards of $20,000 per year or more are all at private colleges. The three public universities on the guaranteed list top out at $9,000, $7,500, and $4,000 per year — and each public figure carries a condition a family should read before counting it. Texas Tech's $9,000 row requires a 3.96 GPA alongside a 1500 SAT or 34 ACT, with admitted freshmen covered by April 1 for fall entry and superscores used. Texas A & M International's guarantee holds only for students who meet the criteria and are admitted by the February 1 priority deadline; later applicants qualify only if funding remains. Our Lady of the Lake's dataset record carries no published four-year total, so the total column is blank rather than calculated.
One grid, read closely: Texas Lutheran University
Texas Lutheran publishes the cleanest guaranteed ladder in Texas — six tiers, every one priced on GPA alone, with no test-score minimum on any row:
| Published GPA minimum | Award | Per year | Four-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| No GPA minimum on the row | Commendation Scholarship | $18,000 | $72,000 |
| 2.8 | Heritage Scholarship | $20,000 | $80,000 |
| 3.3 | Academic Excellence Scholarship | $22,000 | $88,000 |
| 3.7 | Distinction Scholarship | $24,000 | $96,000 |
| 4.1 | Presidential Scholarship | $26,000 | $104,000 |
| 4.6 | Regent's Scholarship | $28,000 | $112,000 |
Read the GPA column on the college's own terms before using this ladder. The published basis is a recalculated GPA in core classes only — electives are not included — calculated on a 5.0 scale, and the awards renew on a 2.0 college GPA. A 4.6 on that recalculated scale is not a 4.6 on a standard 4.0 transcript, and the rungs should never be compared directly with 4.0-scale grids at other colleges. What the ladder does show plainly is the shape of the money: $2,000 per year per rung, from an $18,000 floor that carries no GPA minimum at all. The full grid, with its source, is on Texas Lutheran's college page.
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Put a number on your student's merit money
The calculator matches your student's GPA and scores to every published automatic award in our verified dataset — guaranteed money and consideration money kept separate, every figure sourced. The MeritChart System ($397) then turns the results into a working plan: a list builder, a test-score ROI tool, and a deadline & renewal tracker.
One public grid, read closely: Texas Tech University
Texas Tech is the largest public university on the Texas guaranteed list, and its published grid shows why the public numbers stay small. The rows in our dataset are the grid's 3.96–4.0 GPA column — every tier below also requires that GPA:
| Published score trigger (with a 3.96 GPA) | Award | Per year | Four-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test-optional row — no score minimum | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $4,000 | $16,000 |
| 1100 SAT or 22 ACT | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $5,000 | $20,000 |
| 1200 SAT or 25 ACT | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $6,000 | $24,000 |
| 1300 SAT or 28 ACT | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $6,500 | $26,000 |
| 1400 SAT or 31 ACT | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $8,000 | $32,000 |
| 1500 SAT or 34 ACT | Presidential Merit Scholarship | $9,000 | $36,000 |
The college guarantees the awards to freshmen admitted by April 1 for fall entry and uses superscores. Even read at its best, the grid pays $9,000 per year for a near-perfect GPA paired with a 1500 SAT or 34 ACT — less than half of what the top private rows on the guaranteed list pay, and less than Texas State's rank-gated $12,000 figure in the extra-condition section below. On a published Texas grid, selectivity and award size do not move together. The full record is on Texas Tech's college page.
Automatic consideration in Texas: larger numbers, no promise
The consideration charts in Texas print the biggest figure in this post. None of the amounts below is guaranteed; meeting the row earns consideration, and the college decides the award.
| College | Published figure | Per year | Four-year total | Published trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Dallas | Academic Achievement Award | $36,000 | $144,000 | 3.9 unweighted GPA column, or 1400 SAT or 31 ACT column |
| McMurry University | Presidential Scholarship | $20,000 | $80,000 | GPA only — 4.25 recalculated GPA, as published |
| Lubbock Christian University | West Texas Promise | $11,000 | $44,000 | GPA only — 4.0 recalculated GPA |
| Lamar University | Cardinal Elite Scholars | $10,000 | $40,000 | 1330 SAT or 29 ACT on the score pathway |
| North American University | Academic Merit Scholarship (NAU) | $8,000 | $32,000 | Any one: 3.86 GPA, 1350 SAT, or 29 ACT |
| University of North Texas at Dallas | Excellence Scholarship | $5,000 | $20,000 | GPA only — 3.75 unweighted |
Two of these rows need their fine print attached. Lamar's $10,000 is split on the college's own page — $8,000 per year toward tuition and $2,000 per year toward an on-campus residence hall, with the room portion forfeited if the student leaves the hall — and its GPA pathway is a 4.25 GPA on a 5.0 weighted scale paired with a top-10% class rank; the score pathway in the table is the route that avoids the rank. And the University of North Texas at Dallas states the consideration rule in its own words: its scholarships page says the awards are not guaranteed and that all eligible students may not receive one. Treat every figure in this table as upside, never as budget: plan on the published cost of attendance, and let an actual offer improve the plan. The distinction is the subject of guaranteed vs. automatic consideration.
Extra condition applies: not counted above
Twenty-three published rows at five Texas colleges carry an extra condition a GPA or test score cannot establish — a class rank, or at Texas State a named diploma as an alternative pathway. They are excluded from every count and table above and listed here only, one row per college at its top published figure, with the condition stated:
| College | Award | Class | Top published figure | Four-year total | Extra condition and other published trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas State University | Assured Scholarship | Guaranteed automatic | $12,000 per year | $48,000 | Top 25% class rank with a 1420 SAT or 32 ACT; an IB diploma or AP Capstone diploma is an alternative pathway |
| University of North Texas | UNT Excellence Scholarship | Automatic consideration | $12,000 per year | $48,000 | Top 1% class rank with a 3.85 unweighted GPA |
| The University of Texas at San Antonio | Distinguished Presidential Scholarship | Automatic consideration | $6,000 per year | $24,000 | Top 5% class rank with a 1270 SAT or 27 ACT |
| Stephen F. Austin State University | Academic Excellence Scholarship | Guaranteed automatic | $6,000 per year | $24,000 | Top 1% class rank with a 3.75 GPA |
| Tarleton State University | President's Guaranteed Scholarship | Guaranteed automatic | $4,000 per year | $16,000 | Top 10% class rank with a 1300 SAT or 28 ACT |
The two $12,000 figures show why this section exists. Texas State's is guaranteed automatic and larger than any headline public award in this post — but a student outside the top quarter of their class, without one of the named diplomas, cannot establish it from GPA and scores alone. The University of North Texas figure pairs the same dollars with the strictest rank in the state dataset — top 1% — and is consideration money on top of that. Rank is a real currency in Texas admissions; on these five grids it is the whole price of admission to the chart.
How to use the Texas list
- Start from the full list on the Texas state page, then check the Texas-by-GPA pages linked from it to see how the list changes at your student's GPA
- For every college that survives the screen, read the full row — GPA basis and scale, score basis, residency, deadline, and renewal GPA — on its college page
- Budget only around guaranteed automatic amounts; carry consideration figures as possibilities, and rank- or diploma-gated awards only once the rank or diploma itself is known
- Run the student's actual GPA, scores, and home state through the free calculator — it matches every published row at once, in Texas and in the other 46 states with listed colleges
The census behind every figure here — 2,432 colleges checked, 315 with a published automatic grid — is collected on the research page.
Sources
Every figure in this post is recorded in the MeritChart dataset from the college's own published page, verified 2026-11-02:
- Texas Lutheran University — official scholarships page
- Hardin-Simmons University — official scholarships page
- Our Lady of the Lake University — official scholarships page
- Texas Tech University — official freshman scholarships page
- Texas A & M International University — official scholarships page
- The University of Texas Permian Basin — official freshmen scholarships page
- University of Dallas — official net-price calculator page
- McMurry University — official scholarships page
- Lubbock Christian University — official West Texas Promise page
- Lamar University — official incoming-freshmen scholarships page
- North American University — official undergraduate scholarships page
- University of North Texas at Dallas — official freshman scholarships page
- Texas State University — official freshman scholarships page
- University of North Texas — official UNT Excellence Scholarships page
- The University of Texas at San Antonio — official Distinguished Presidential Scholarship page
- Stephen F. Austin State University — official excellence scholarships page
- Tarleton State University — official guaranteed awards page