Research · Scholarships · October 2026
Scholarships in Texas: the 3 state programs and what each asks for
As of October 2026: Texas has 3 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table starts with Top 10% Automatic Admission: Guaranteed admission to a Texas public university (not a $ award).
The table holds every state-funded award we could confirm for a Texas high school graduate going to college. It does not hold federal aid, or a scholarship that comes from one college rather than from the state.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
The findings, in plain English
Texas runs 1 award that turn on grades or scores. Texas First Early Completion Scholarship is one of them. 3 of the 3 programs we could read name a GPA, and 1 name a test score. A need-based award asks about family income instead, through the FAFSA.
Top 10% Automatic Admission is the award to read first. What Top 10% Automatic Admission pays: Guaranteed admission to a Texas public university (not a $ award). The next program on the table is TEXAS Grant: Up to $16,182/yr (tuition & required fees). The table carries the deadline and the renewal rule for each one.
What this table does not tell you. 1 program publishes figures for an earlier award year (2024-25), and the state has posted nothing newer we could find. The table says which year each one describes.
Every state scholarship in Texas
Read the row, then open the state's own page before you count on a figure.
| Program | Merit or need | What it pays | GPA it asks for | Test score it asks for | Who qualifies | Deadline | Renewable | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10% Automatic Admission | State award | Guaranteed admission to a Texas public university (not a $ award) | Top 10% class rank (UT Austin caps at top 5% under SB 175) | — | Must finish the required college-prep curriculum (Distinguished plan) | — | — | Source |
| TEXAS Grant | Need-based | Up to $16,182/yr (tuition & required fees) (the page describes the 2024-25 award year) | No GPA gate to qualify (3.0 / top-third = priority) | — | Enroll within 16 months of HS, >=3/4 time, in a bachelor's program | January 15 state priority deadline (institutions may set their own) | Minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA required starting in the second academic year | Source |
| Texas First Early Completion Scholarship | Merit | Scholarship equal to the TEXAS Grant amount | 3.0 | SAT/ACT at the 80th percentile OR top-10% class rank | Graduate at least a semester early with the Distinguished plan | — | — | Source |
Every row is a state-funded or state-administered award for a Texas high school graduate going to an undergraduate program, as of October 2026. A scholarship from a single college, a private foundation award, a federal program and a graduate-only award are all left out. A blank cell means the state's own page does not state it. Dollar figures and GPA floors change every year.
How to read a state scholarship
State awards come in two shapes. A merit award asks about grades, a course list, or a test score, and it does not care what a family earns. A need-based award asks about income and assets through the FAFSA, and it does not care about grades. Some awards ask about both, and the table calls those merit and need.
The deadline column is the one families miss. For most need-based state aid the deadline is really the FAFSA deadline, and it falls months before a college asks for a decision. A merit award more often has no application at all: the state or the high school nominates the student from records it already holds.
What a family should do with this
Open the official page in the last column for the one or two programs your student plausibly qualifies for, and write down two dates: the state aid deadline and the FAFSA deadline. Those are the two that close. In Texas the earliest date on this table is the one to put on the calendar first.
Then look past the state. A state award is usually the smaller half of an offer. The college's own merit grid and its net price for your family income move more money than any state program on this page, and both are published.
Questions parents ask
What scholarships does Texas offer?
Texas has 3 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table starts with Top 10% Automatic Admission: Guaranteed admission to a Texas public university (not a $ award).
Does Texas have a merit scholarship?
Texas runs 1 award that turn on grades or scores, and Texas First Early Completion Scholarship is one of them.
How do I find the rules for a Texas scholarship?
Every row links to the page the state publishes for that program. The rules and the dollar figures move from year to year, so the page is the thing to read, not a summary of it.
Method & sources: Programs come from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) / Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and the agency's own program pages, read in October 2026. The population is a student who graduates from a Texas high school and enrolls as an undergraduate. A scholarship offered by one college, a private foundation award, a federal program and a graduate-only award are all out of scope. A value the agency's own page does not state is left blank rather than filled from elsewhere, and a page that could not be read drops every figure.
- Texas Education Agency (TEA) / Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)
- Top 10% Automatic Admission
- TEXAS Grant
- Texas First Early Completion Scholarship
This brief as data: /research/scholarships-in-texas.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).
Related: Merit scholarships by college · State scholarships in every state · High schools in Texas · Scholarship deadlines