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.
The KMF Ninja Professional Development Scholarship Program is in its third full year of operation and provides up to $15,000 per recipient, over two years, to support them in achieving their full potential.
We are on the lookout for exceptional college juniors and seniors who come from low income, less-privileged families but are mature, ambitious, high-achieving, and have an entrepreneurial mindset.
The Program is performance-based and limited to students with intended careers in business, finance, computer science and/or data science.
Our ultimate goal is to help these young people, whom we affectionately refer to as “KMF Ninjas,” achieve top 1% performance in their professional careers, thereby contributing to happy, fulfilling lives and the ability to significantly help their families, communities, and fellow Ninjas.
To achieve this goal, KMF offers a practical, powerful, experience-based curriculum designed to provide Ninjas with a rock solid foundation for early, middle and later career success.
Reading Hospital announced it will provide up to 10 full tuition scholarships for the incoming class of Surgical Technology students at Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences (RHSHS). If selected for the scholarship, students will be asked to commit to providing three years of Surgical Technology employment to Reading Hospital. Accepted students will receive a scholarship of approximately $17,800 to cover the tuition of the program. The student will be responsible to cover the program fees estimated at $2,500. In addition, the current class of four students were also provided a prorated two-year scholarship.
The RUTH SCHOLARSHIP is designed to be awarded for women ages 16-25, who have overcome adversity whether it be by breaking with their past, or have found themselves in a situation not unlike the young woman of the Old Testament story. The book of Ruth provides a wonderful picture of a young woman giving up all that is familiar to honor her mother-in-law—and ultimately God. Her sacrifice eventually placed her in the lineage of Christ and gave her a permanent place in history.
The purpose of this application is to award $500 scholarships to deserving area youth who demonstrate academic excellence. Candidates should be active in supporting the community in which they live and show an eagerness to pursue educational goals. Candidates who are pursing post-high school course study at either a college or university or other post-secondary educational institutions will be considered. Please refer to the criteria below for eligibility requirements and for the list of supporting documents that are needed. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications are free and will not be returned. All materials are the property of TVF.
Since its founding in 1891, the Woman’s Century Club has provided annual scholarship support to deserving women through local colleges and universities.
The club continues that tradition by awarding a scholarship each year to an outstanding junior woman student, at a King County college or university, who exemplifies the traditions of female leadership and service that our club’s founders sought to encourage. The scholarship is for $2,000 and the recipient also receives a one-year membership in the club.
The purpose of the Walter A. Hunt, Jr. Scholarship is to promote and encourage the study of architecture by New York City public high school students through a two-year scholarship to supplement tuition and related costs during their freshman and sophomore years at a NAAB-accredited school of architecture in the U.S.
As Women of AT&T Colorado we believe you can make a difference in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Scholarships will be awarded to two females who are graduating from a Colorado High School in the spring of the year the scholarship is awarded.
Women of the Vine & Spirits Foundation, Ltd. (the “Foundation”) provides scholarships and awards for the purpose of helping women advance their careers in the food, wine, spirits, brewing, hospitality, or viticulture industries through education, leadership, and professional development, as well as fostering gender diversity and talent development across the industry at large.
The WSHA Foundation currently sponsors several annual scholarship competitions, with awards announced at the Association’s Convention in the spring of each year. In awarding scholarships, WSHA does not discriminate based on race, color, creed, age, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation and we need young people of all backgrounds to become leaders in the equitable transition to clean energy. The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Young Professionals in Energy (YPE) created its Scholarship Program to motivate the next generation of energy leaders and to create pathways for students to envision and realize successful careers in the clean economy. In addition to funding, YPE will provide opportunities for mentorship from our membership, admission to a high-profile YPE event, and invitations to other networking events to meet professionals in the group.
