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 Satrix Saves The Seas Scholarship is a prestigious award aimed at supporting and encouraging students who are passionate about the field of life sciences and its applications to water conservation. This scholarship recognizes water’s critical role in sustaining life and ecosystems and seeks to foster innovative solutions and advancements in this area.
The scholarship is open to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in accredited universities or colleges, majoring in any discipline within the life sciences, including but not limited to biology, ecology, environmental science, biochemistry, and hydrology. Applicants should demonstrate a strong academic record, a genuine interest in water conservation, and a commitment to positively impacting this crucial field.
Successful applicants will receive $250 in financial support to further their education and gain recognition for their dedication to water conservation. The scholarship award can be used to cover tuition fees, textbooks, research expenses, or any other educational costs.
The Bayar Fellowship, established in 2020, is dedicated to finding, developing, and supporting the next generation of leaders.
We aim to empower high school students from marginalized communities and low income backgrounds by providing them with the fundamental tools necessary to become leaders in their communities.
The Law Offices of Leifert & Leifert is steadfastly committed to giving back to the community. We continue to stand by this commitment through different artistic, civic, academic, and philanthropic causes.
One of the fundamental ways we give back is by helping young people achieve their full academic potential so they can then have a positive impact within their community and those around them. To promote this idea we have created the Leifert & Leifert Right to Privacy Scholarship.
The Harvard MBA is one of the world’s leading business programmes, taught at one of the world’s most prestigious Universities.
The Boustany MBA Harvard Scholarship is granted once every two years for a two year course at Harvard Business School.
The Scholarship offers the following:
• Financial aid amounting to 75% of the tuition fees
• Travel and accommodation expenses related to the internship.
The next Scholarship will be awarded for the class commencing Autumn 2025.
This fellowship was created in 1988 by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and Richard L. Menschel (MBA 1959) to encourage students from the nonprofit sector to pursue an MBA at HBS. Mr. Menschel, a former director of the Foundation and Limited Partner, Goldman Sachs, was an early supporter of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative and served on its Advisory Board.
The Blakemore Foundation was established in 1990 by Thomas and Frances Blakemore to encourage the advanced study of Asian languages and to improve the understanding of Asian fine arts in the United States. The Blakemore Foundation offers fellowships to fund a year of advanced language abroad to college graduates using East or Southeast Asian language in their careers.
The Blakemore Freeman Fellowships are awarded for one year of advanced level language study in East or Southeast Asia in approved language programs.
The Quad Fellowship was established in September 2021 by Australia, India, Japan and the United States to strengthen ties among the next generation of scientists and technologists. The Fellowship will sponsor 100 American, Japanese, Australian, and Indian master’s and doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to study in the United States. Schmidt Futures will administer the fellowship with the help of a non-governmental task-force composed of academic, foreign policy and private sector leaders from each Quad country.
A private education in a bold environment shouldn’t be as expensive as it sounds. That’s why DePaul has introduced the State Scholar Plus scholarship for admitted fall freshmen. With merit award packages up to $100,000 (over four years) we are as affordable as the leading public institution in Illinois.
Shell Company (“Shell”) offers $5,000 annual scholarships through the Shell Incentive Fund Scholarship program to underrepresented students pursuing an undergraduate degree in a specific technical field of study at certain universities. The scholarship can be used to pay for tuition and/or school expenses.
If the necessary criteria are met, at Shell’s discretion, a student’s scholarship may be renewed up to four years or until Bachelor degree requirements are complete, whichever occurs first.
Scholarship recipients are notified of their status during the summer following their application. Renewal of the scholarship is contingent upon the student remaining qualified.
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.
