Is the FAFSA required for merit scholarships?

ACU encourages all students to complete the 2026-2027 FAFSA, and 'FAFSA submission is required for some scholarships' (e.g., National Merit awards, LYNAY, Bible/Missions, College Board recognition). ACU recommends filing by December 1 for priority consideration of scholarships and grants.

Does the National Merit full-tuition award cover room and board?

No. Finalists and Semi-Finalists are guaranteed full tuition 'when coordinated with federal, state and institutional grants,' plus a $1,500 stipend per year to help cover room and board costs — room and board themselves are not covered.

What happens if I win an outside scholarship?

ACU's Financial Aid Counseling FAQ: 'any additional funding you receive from any source may require an adjustment to your federal or state aid. If an adjustment is needed, you will receive a revised financial aid offer.' Outside checks are mailed to ACU (Box 29007) and take 4-6 weeks to process.

ACU· Outside Scholarship Displacement

Will ACU Reduce Your Outside Scholarship?

When you win a private scholarship, who actually keeps the money: your family, or the school?

Verified Jul 202625 days ago· COWORK

The rule at ACU

Displacement policy unclear

ACU has no published displacement order. In plain dollar terms, that means the published policy doesn't specify, so the family is guessing without a written aid-office answer.

acu.edu lists Merit-Based Scholarships (ACU Academic Scholarships grid) as the baseline automatic award that any outside scholarship will sit on top of.

Source: https://acu.edu/student-life/student-services/financial-aid-counseling/

The math: a $5,000 outside scholarship at ACU

Setup
ACU's public stacking policy doesn't specify how outside scholarships are treated when added to institutional aid.
What ACU does
The financial-aid office can apply any of the displacement rules: loan-first, grant-first, COA-cap, or mixed. Without a written confirmation, families are guessing.
Family takeaway
Email the aid office with a specific dollar example before chasing private awards. Get the answer in writing so it's binding.

Schools with the same policy

These schools also use displacement policy unclear for outside scholarships. The same dollar math above applies at each.

Schools that handle this differently

If ACU’s policy concerns you, these schools treat outside scholarships under a different rule.

When this rule bites hardest

Assuming the National Merit 'full tuition' guarantee stacks on top of other grants — or that it is a full ride.
The first-year page says Finalists and Semi-Finalists are 'guaranteed full tuition, when coordinated with federal, state and institutional grants' — meaning other grant aid is folded into reaching full tuition, not added on top. The guarantee covers tuition only; room and board get just a $1,500/yr stipend.
Assuming a Heacock or Dukes business scholar award stacks with the Business Professionals scholarship.
The page states Heacock/Dukes scholarship funds ($7,000-12,000+) 'takes place of any previously awarded business scholarships' — it replaces, not adds to, prior business awards.
Assuming outside/private scholarship checks simply add to the aid package.
ACU's Financial Aid Counseling FAQ states 'any additional funding you receive from any source may require an adjustment to your federal or state aid,' and outside checks take 4-6 weeks to be received and applied to the account.
Missing the December 1 priority scholarship deadline.
You must be admitted to ACU for scholarship consideration; the Priority Scholarship Deadline is December 1 and the regular scholarship deadline is March 1, and ACU recommends completing the FAFSA by December 1 for priority consideration of scholarships and grants. Some scholarships (e.g., National Merit, LYNAY, Bible/Missions) require the FAFSA.
Confusing ACU's Abilene residential awards with ACU Online scholarships.
ACU runs a separate online program with its own scholarship structure ('Online Scholarships' pages); the merit grid, National Merit guarantee and departmental awards on the first-year page apply to the residential Abilene campus.

Displacement questions families ask

Is the FAFSA required for merit scholarships?: ACU encourages all students to complete the 2026-2027 FAFSA, and 'FAFSA submission is required for some scholarships' (e.g., National Merit awards, LYNAY, Bible/Missions, College Board recognition). ACU recommends filing by December 1 for priority consideration of scholarships and grants.
Does the National Merit full-tuition award cover room and board?: No. Finalists and Semi-Finalists are guaranteed full tuition 'when coordinated with federal, state and institutional grants,' plus a $1,500 stipend per year to help cover room and board costs — room and board themselves are not covered.
What happens if I win an outside scholarship?: ACU's Financial Aid Counseling FAQ: 'any additional funding you receive from any source may require an adjustment to your federal or state aid. If an adjustment is needed, you will receive a revised financial aid offer.' Outside checks are mailed to ACU (Box 29007) and take 4-6 weeks to process.

Rules that bite at ACU

Trip wires derived from ACU's own published policy. These are the things a custom playbook would flag in the first pass.

renewalTransfer Merit-Based Awards (2026-2027 grid): renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewal GPA 2.5 for awards earned with a 2.3-3.59 transfer GPA; renewal GPA 3.0 for awards earned with a 3.6-4.0 transfer GPA. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
displacementNo published displacement order
ACU's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

The displacement rule is only binding when it's in writing. This script asks ACU's aid office the specific question that matters for displacement policy unclear.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear ACU Financial Aid Office,

I'm a fall applicant reviewing how outside scholarships interact with my institutional aid package. I've read the public policy at https://acu.edu/student-life/student-services/financial-aid-counseling/.

The public policy doesn't specify how outside scholarships are treated against institutional merit and need-based aid. Can you confirm in writing whether outside awards reduce: (a) loans first, (b) institutional grant first, or (c) only trigger a reduction when total aid exceeds COA?

If the answer varies by aid type or award size, what's the dollar threshold or category split?

A written answer (email is fine) is important because the outside-scholarship awarding bodies want confirmation before disbursing. Thank you for the time.

— [Student name], [Application ID if available]

How ACU compares across our verified dataset

135 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
ACU is in a recognizable cluster (135 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
135 of 750 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
ACU is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
668 of 750 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
ACU is one of them. The cohort minority (82 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against ACU’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.