How to Get Full Tuition Academic Scholarships?

How to Get Full Tuition Academic Scholarships

Updated on November 13, 2024

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Colleges offer academic scholarships, or merit scholarships, to attract talented students. These scholarships can cover part or all of your tuition and might even help with housing, meals, and sometimes textbooks and supplies.

Typically awarded by the admissions office based on high school GPA and SAT/ACT scores, academic scholarships do not require a separate application form. They are given to a small percentage of prospective students, sometimes limited to valedictorians, salutatorians, or high-ranking students.

Most academic scholarships are renewable, but recipients are required to maintain at least a minimum academic performance to retain the scholarship in subsequent years.

Key Takeaways

Academic scholarships are awards based on academic performance, which can be used to cover tuition and other college expenses.
Eligibility requirements vary by scholarship, but may include grade point average (GPA), test scores, major or field of study, leadership experience, and involvement in extracurricular activities.
The majority of academic scholarships are offered by colleges and universities, although organizations such as foundations and corporations may also provide them.
Many types of academic scholarships exist, including merit-based awards, honors scholarships, leadership awards, corporate-sponsored scholarships and more.

Major Sources of Academic Scholarships

The most well-known source of academic scholarships are the National Merit Scholarships awarded through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Students enter this scholarship competition by taking the PSAT/NMSQT in October of the junior year in high school. More than 4,000 college-sponsored merit scholarships and more than 1,000 corporate-sponsored merit scholarships are awarded each year through this program.

The Stamps Family Charitable Foundation also funds full-tuition academic scholarships at several dozen U.S. colleges and universities.

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How to Find Academic Scholarships

Academic scholarships are restricted to students who enroll at the college or university that sponsors the award. The easiest way to find these awards is to look on the web sites of the colleges of interest to the student. Googling the name of the college and “academic scholarships” or “merit scholarships” can also help locate information about academic scholarships offered by the college.

Some scholarship matching services list academic scholarships in addition to private scholarships, but only for the colleges that the student lists in his or her background profile.

The web site MeritAid.com allows students to search for colleges that offer academic scholarships that match the student’s academic credentials. U.S. News publishes a list of colleges with the Most Students Receiving Merit Aid. But both of these sources include non-need-based aid, not just academic scholarships. They include many colleges that indiscriminately award small grants to almost every admitted student as part of a strategy that involves front-loading of grants.

Full-Tuition Academic Scholarships

This list includes only the colleges and universities that offer full-tuition academic scholarships. A full-tuition academic scholarship provides a big incentive for academically talented students to consider enrolling at a less-selective institution.