Merit scholarships are a type of gift aid that help pay for college by rewarding talent. Most merit based scholarships go to students who stand out with strong academics.
Recipients of a merit scholarship may be high academic achievers or have strong athletic, artistic or other skills and values. Eligible students must also show a desire to serve the community or leadership skills.
Some merit scholarships also may look at financial need. But most of the time accomplishments and academic excellence are the primary factors to win a merit scholarship.
How Do You Get a Merit Scholarship?
Merit awards are different from needs based scholarships. A need-based scholarship uses family income to make decisions. Instead, the merit scholarship sponsors usually start out with a goal or reason why they offer it. This might be to develop their industry with smart minds or invest in the future of their community and college.
There are various criteria to qualify for a merit scholarship. Sometimes you need to be a member of a specific association or enrolled in the university. Other scholarship providers may specifically offer it to minority students, female students or for certain majors like STEM.
Either way, you’ll need to see if you qualify. One example is the Women Techmakers Scholarship. It is an academic merit scholarship. In order to be eligible, eligible students must show strong academic performance, leadership, and impact on the community of women in tech. You may fit the bill as an upstanding male student, but this one is for girls.
What is Merit?
That stated, what ‘merit’ means generally depends on the organization granting the scholarship. Some merit scholarships look at academic performance, test scores, and your recommendations. Others may only look at your SAT/ACT test scores.
Still others focus on your dedication to and performance in a specific field of study. This can be anything from music to math and others.
Many private companies, groups and nonprofits fund merit scholarships. There are no federal funds for merit-based scholarships.
Some merit scholarship providers are from local communities such as churches and cultural groups. Companies such as Google, Gates Foundation or Coca Cola also offer merit scholarships.
Most colleges also award merit scholarships. Often alumni endow funds to use for these awards. Merit based awards may thus carry the name of a person so that their legacy continues. You’ll also find charitable foundations offering merit aid which sometimes look at financial need.
What GPA do You Need to Get a Merit Scholarship?
An academic merit scholarship often requires a strong GPA. But the actual grade point average you need to get a merit scholarship varies.
For instance, you need a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale to qualify for the SHRM Foundation’s Graduate Scholarships. This awards $5,000 to a graduate student pursuing an HR degree related program.
The Voice of Democracy Scholarship awards $30,000 to one national first place winner. Most high school students as well as military students may apply.
How Much is a Merit Scholarship?
The U.S. Department of Education tracks the aid schools award to undergraduates. According to the NCES study, they looked at the amount of money high-merit students received. It found that those in selective schools got about 58% of their tuition. Those in less selective schools received about 46% of their tuition amounts.
What Qualifies You to be a National Merit Scholar?
National Merit Scholars have the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores. About 1.6 million enter to compete. But about 50,000 qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.
Each September, the sponsor colleges notify the recipients. They let them know if they have qualified as either a Commended Student or Semifinalist. Then about 15,000 semifinalists move to finalist standing.
About 7,600 winners of Merit Scholarship® awards (Merit Scholar® designees) may be notified. Part of the decision making process looks at students’ abilities, skills, and accomplishments.
How Do You Get the Most Money for Merit Scholarships?
Many scholarship providers factor in both need and merit. There are at least six things that may help you get the most merit aid for college.
Don’t forget to fill out the FAFSA. Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible for federal aid too. This might be useful if the amount of your merit scholarship is not enough to pay tuition, fees, housing etc.
Apply to schools where your grades put you ahead. Many college admissions look at the entire pool of applicants. You may be ahead of the student body in some colleges and not in others.
Check whether the merit scholarship is renewable. If so, abiding by the terms may help pay your entire four years at college.
Make sure you understand the net cost of attending each school you apply to. Then assess the amount of merit aid you can get and see what makes the most sense to you.
Figure out where your talents lie and use them when you search for scholarships. It doesn’t have to be high marks. The Doodle for Google Scholarship rewards creativity.
When applying to a college or university, look at their financial aid section and scan for merit scholarships to see if you qualify.
In 2022, buildgirls.org was founded in Bethesda, Maryland to empower, educate and engage females in high school about FACE (Females in Architecture, Construction & Engineering) . Recognizing the lack of female representation in the industry drove us to become passionate to cause change in this large and growing industry.
Since early 2022, we have been developing new approaches to tackle both the attitudes surrounding women in ACE and also the limited exposure available for women, especially in high school. We support several initiatives, including facilitating discovery experiences, informative discussions, guest speakers, hosting events, creating inspiring competitions, partnering with universities and partnering with companies to join FACE by creating experiences specifically for talented young women.
The gender disparity in infrastructure has been widely recognized, but few initiatives have been established at a younger age when girls decide what they want to pursue. We aim to empower and engage girls through offering a variety of opportunities at the high school level. We hope that through this program, not only will there be an increased awareness of women’s potential, but also that girls will be able to recognize their own.
One full-tuition scholarship is available to students who have been named National Merit/National Achievement finalists by the National Merit Corporation. Qualified students should submit a copy of their award letter from the National Merit Corporation as their application for one of these scholarships by March 1st. A committee will review each student’s application for admission, writing sample and transcript. Any National Merit/National Achievement finalist who does not receive one of the full-tuition scholarships may receive a Loyola-sponsored $2,000 scholarship.
For both scholarships students must name Loyola Chicago as their first-choice school with the National Merit Corporation. The full-tuition scholarship recipients must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher for renewal. Recipients of the $2,000 scholarships must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Interested candidates should e-mail Curtis Dixon at cdixon1@luc.edu.
Students attending Cristo Rey Network schools around the country are invited to apply to join the next class of Cristo Rey Scholars at Loyola University Chicago. Starting the summer before entering Loyola, Cristo Rey Scholars engage in a dynamic program to enrich their academic, social, spiritual, community, and professional experiences in college.
In order to be eligible for the scholarship program, applicants must be admitted to Loyola by February 1st. Completed applications for the Cristo Rey Scholars Program must be submitted by March 1st. Selected finalists will be required to attend a virtual interview in late March. Scholarships recipients will be notified by mid-April.
Established in 1979 by the Duke Alumni Association, the Alumni Endowed Scholarship is offered to students with outstanding academic achievement, who have strong family connections to Duke University, and demonstrated financial need. Alumni Scholars exhibit strong leadership potential and excel in the classroom and beyond. Together with peers in the Trinity Scholars Program, Alumni Scholars have access to mentoring from faculty, staff, and fellow scholars.
A.B. Duke Scholars are self-motivated students with outstanding academic and world-changing potential. Scholars are driven by sense of discovery and a commitment to engage and meet the challenges faced by society at large. The summer before their sophomore year, A.B. Duke Scholars are offered the opportunity to study at Oxford University at no cost. The oldest merit scholarship program at Duke University, the scholarship was established in 1925 by Benjamin N. and Sarah P. Duke to honor their son, Angier Buchanan Duke. A.B. Duke Scholars have won prestigious Marshall and Rhodes Scholarships and have gone on to win such notable awards as the Pulitzer Prize. Today, the program continues to attract the intellectually talented, creative, and curious students to Duke.
B.N. Duke Scholars excel academically and demonstrate commitment to civic engagement. Scholars work collaboratively to build communities and solve problems on and off campus. To put this commitment into action, rising sophomores complete the Carolina Summer of Service (CSOS) project. Established in 1986, the B.N. Duke Scholarship is named in honor of Benjamin N. Duke, who funded scholarships to equip North and South Carolina students to “think for themselves and become leaders in the highest and best things in life.”
The David M. Rubenstein Scholars Program is designed to attract and support first-generation, low-income students financially, academically, personally, and professionally. It was named after David M. Rubenstein, the philanthropist and Duke alumnus who was the first member of his family to attend college.
I am delighted to introduce the Nakayama Public Service Scholarship.
The Nakayama family created an endowment specifically to support highly motivated students who want to work on our world’s challenging problems by engaging in public service careers (defined as careers in organizations that end in .edu, .gov, .mil or .org). This is the only Duke-funded merit scholarship that currently enrolled students may apply directly for in their junior year. The scholarship will cover one half of the scholars’ tuition in their senior year (2 semesters).
President Vincent Price has said, “Our students, faculty, and staff are directly engaged in improving lives and communities in our region and around the world, demonstrating real leadership in the policy field.” The Nakayama Public Service Scholarship is an important investment in further promotion of this endeavor for some of our most driven students headed into lives of such engagement.
The Charles R. Westgate Scholarship in Engineering is a merit scholarship that provides full tuition for four years of undergraduate study in engineering. Students in any engineering major may be considered for the scholarship. Up to two scholarships are available for entering students each year.
The Hodson Trust and Hodson Gilliam Success scholarships are awarded on the basis of leadership and academic and personal achievement. The scholarship provides approximately two-thirds of the annual tuition costs for around 20 exceptional first-year students.
Hodson Scholars are part of a competitive cohort of students who have achieved excellence not only in their academics, but also in their extracurricular pursuits, and are actively engaged and eager to take the initiative to make meaningful change in the world.
As Hodson Scholars, our students have the chance to engage in meaningful conversations, learn from different perspectives, and collaborate with their peers as they develop their academic and co-curricular passions. While each student at Hopkins has the opportunity to build their own path, Hodson Scholars provide a community to learn with and from each other as they grow in their capacity to contribute to the community both at and beyond Hopkins.
Scholarship recipients enjoy the advantages of being part of this distinctive community, such as joining the Hodson Scholar Student Advisory Board and participating in a mentoring program between incoming students and upperclassmen.
