“You would think kids would be taking the ACT six or eight times, but they don’t.”
I think it’s absurd to take it that many times. If someone needs to study and take it 6 or 8 times to get a scholarship then I would seriously think about whether they will be able to keep it for 4 years.
(I am talking about kids who don’t have some sort of learning disability that have test taking problems.)
@MCardella It is fine to delay the scholarship application. However, getting accepted into the University is very important. The next step after acceptance is to pay your deposit, which leads you to the ability to fill out the housing deposit form on the first day–October 1. While you may not know if your child is attending or not, pay your housing deposit. It is very helpful, should your child decide to attend, as it allows them first pick in dorms. If you decide not to attend, they’ll refund the housing deposit to you.
@MCardella I believe that you can view the scholarship app and start to prepare it separately (i.e., write answers in Word file and cut/paste later)? That way, you can see what the app looks like now. As someone posted in another thread, having the admission application done first/already allows you to now pay the deposits (enrollment and housing), which gives you first-come, first-served housing pick date. The scholarship app is not due until December. 
Thank you for your replies @swim4school and @aeromom. Love the idea of using Word to complete and upload later!
@MichiganGeorgia I don’t see why it’s improbable for a student with a 26 or 27 on the ACT to maintain a 3.0 grade point. I don’t see that it would be more likely that such a student would be unable to maintain their scholarship if they took the ACT eight times and got their ACT up to 32, thus saving their parents tens of thousands of dollars. The test is quite inexpensive, so there is no loss in taking the test and everything to gain. Sort of like Pascal’s Wager.
@MichiganGeorgia A student willing to study hard and retake the test enough to bring their score up that far, in my opinion, has the drive and study skills that will serve them well in college. They are more likely to appreciate the scholarship they earned and continue to work on their studies to maintain the GPA.
@EarlVanDorn - I guess I am looking from it from a different perspective. I live in Georgia. We have the Hope scholarship here. Every student that graduates with a 3.0 in core classes can go to a Georgia college and the Hope scholarship pays for about 80% of tuition. However in order to keep it they need to maintain a 3.0 GPA in college. Lots of kids that start with Hope lose it. Maintaining a 3.0 is harder than it sounds and this is for Instate tuition. If a student loses the UA scholarship you are talking about paying out of state tuition. Again the kids in Georgia that lose Hope aren’t stupid it it’s just not as easy as everyone makes it sounds.
My kid took the ACT multiple times in order to improve her scholarship. She got a 33 (and thus the Presidential) on the last test date that was accepted. She had no problem graduating with honors with a triple major and never came remotely close to losing her scholarship. I don’t think ACT scores have all that much to do with getting good grades in college - a good work ethic, good time management skills and a willingness to seek out help when needed will go further, IMO.
If UA is your #1, I say take it until you drop! Just have a good backup school that doesn’t want all scores, because it cuts both ways.
Some students do not test well on standardized tests due to various reasons, but one reason is the " fear of the unknown". Yes, the student can do multiple practice tests, but when the real date comes up, their anxiety takes over. However, having tested once or more times, they can relax knowing what is ahead of them.
I tend to be of the persuasion that if you need to take a test multiple times to improve your score, maybe test-taking isn’t your thing and you should move on, but when we’re talking about a potential full scholarship, I think it certainly warrants the extra effort (and expense). Some students will never improve their scores no matter how hard they try (and might even do worse the next time), but most students can and do.
Nonetheless, if you had to work extremely hard for a 30 or a 32, I’d take that into consideration when choosing my first classes and possibly even my plans for a potential major. True, some kids just choke on standardized tests, and once you’re done with them, you need never look back, but some kids with perfect high school GPAs aren’t as strong academically as they may believe compared to their college peers, and that initial 26 or 27, while a perfectly fine score, might suggest that a very technical or quantitative major could prove extremely challenging.
Just be mindful of your individual situation is all I’m saying. Better to err on the side of being too conservative in your course selections when your ability to be able to afford to attend a school is tied to maintaining a GPA-dependent scholarship.
If you are trending upward and you are close to your magic number (32 in the case of UA), then by all means, try again. This year the difference between a 31 and a 32 is a $35,896 point!!!