What are institutional scholarships?

Unlike most private and local scholarships, institutional scholarships are tied to a specific college. These scholarships are awards given by colleges to students they’ve accepted in order to entice those students to choose to attend that college.

Before we look at the three ways colleges award these types of scholarships, let’s briefly look at the pros and cons.

When should I apply for Institutional Scholarships?

Timeframe: Today all the way through when you graduate college.

Yes, there are scholarships at some colleges that you can be nominated for as early as junior year of high school. Likewise, there are often many scholarships available at your college after you’ve enrolled: some once you declare your major, join the honors college, or make some contribution to campus that a professor/administrator notices.

Prime Season: September - March of senior year.

Incoming student/freshman scholarships up for t grabs during this time are often the most well-funded.

Where do I find Institutional Scholarships?

• College Websites: Look for keywords like “scholarships,” “affordability,” and “financial aid”.

  • • Googling “[name of college] freshman undergraduate scholarships” might be quicker than navigating from a college’s homepage. 

    • Pro tip: If the university you’re interested in is public and in another state, try “[name of college] nonresident scholarships” which we’ll talk more about soon.

• College Financial Aid Office: The quickest way to get an answer is by calling and talking to the college’s financial aid office. This office is almost always separate from the admissions office and they will be tickled pink to talk to a prospective student about potential scholarships instead of a parent asking about their student’s most recent bill.

• The College’s Veteran Affairs Office: Feel free to skip this bit if neither you nor your parents have served in the armed forces.

  • • The military offers a variety of options to help pay for college. (We talked about ROTC scholarships and enlistment benefits earlier.) The Veterans Office on campus can provide support for military veterans who are using federal VA educational benefits such as GI Bill or Veteran Readiness and Employment benefits. 

      • • PA Specific Resources: PA Dep't of Education; PA State System of Higher Ed (PASSHE); MyArmyBenefits; Military.com

    • More information about VA Education Benefits/the GI Bill can be found here and also here.  

    • An Important Note from Our Expert Friend Lisa Rielage:

      • Students who are children or spouses of military veterans might have Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits that were transferred to them. These benefits can pay for tuition and fees and have an allowance for books and monthly housing. Benefits are only available to the service member who earned them or to spouse or children if the service member went through the process to transfer them. Transfer requires a specific period of service and a commitment to serve additional years. The benefit is not automatic for families of veterans or service members.

    • If you will be using Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits, you’ll definitely want to look into the Yellow Ribbon Program. Participating colleges provide additional financial help to students using the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The Yellow Ribbon Program can help bridge the gap between Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits and the total cost of tuition and fees, a.k.a. make a partial benefit into a “full-tuition scholarship.” That said, Yellow Ribbon benefits are a supplement to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, not a stand-alone scholarship and are not available to all military-connected students. A college may limit the number of Yellow Ribbon recipients each year. Still, because this is “free money” tied to specific institutions, we wanted to include them here. 

Here are some examples of what you might ask:

“I saw on the website that students with a 3.0 GPA and 22 ACT get a $12,000 scholarship. Is there an SAT equivalent to that score? And when does a student have to have that test score to your office by to qualify?”

“I saw on the website that there’s a list of ‘endowed scholarships’ but I can’t find the list. How can I find it?”

“I saw on the website that you have to be nominated for the [insert name here] award. Can you help me understand how that works?”

“I saw on the website that your college has a priority financial aid deadline, but I don’t really get what that means. Could you explain that to me?”

“I saw on the website that there’s an arts scholarship called ‘ABC Memorial Scholarship’ and that I need to submit a portfolio. Would you know when and how I can do that?”

“I saw on the website that your college has an honors program that’s by invitation. When are students typically notified that they’ve been invited?”

Again, the job of a financial aid counselor is to help you answer these questions. Sometimes they’ll have to refer you to a specific office—the theatre department would answer questions about auditions, or some scholarship programs have their own coordinators or are operated out of the admissions office. But even if these folks don’t have the answer, they will know who does and get you connected.