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Local awards
Local awards typically pay $2500 (or less) and are generally given on a one year basis. Local funding groups often sponsor awards geared toward specific populations of students (music majors, descendants of college or university alumni, undergraduates from a particular high school, etc.).
Most local scholarship applications ask applicants to provide information related to extra-curricular involvement, community service experience, academic plans, and future goals. This type of local scholarship is attractive to incoming students, and to students who have yet to determine their major, because the funder does not specify an academic area or major. If you are new to the scholarship process, applying for a local scholarship is a good place to start.
National awards
In general, national awards pay more than local awards and draw more eligible applicants. For these reasons, national awards are considerably more competitive than local awards. Some national competitions require nomination. These prestigious national awards generally seek to fund students from a specific field of study or students who are preparing for certain careers.
Merit based awards
Merit-based awards focus on the applicants' achievements. Sponsors of such awards are most often interested in funding students with strong academic records, high grade-point averages, clear academic and professional goals, considerable involvement in student organizations, and volunteer experience. In addition to submitting transcripts and essays, applicants are required to secure letters of recommendation.
Need based awards
Need based awards are similar to merit-based awards, but also take financial information into account. Note: winning a scholarship is considered a change in your financial situation. Contact your office of student financial aid when you win any type of scholarship, if you are receiving need-based financial aid.
Finding help
Your own institution may have resources for searching scholarships. The first step in your scholarship and fellowship search is to find out if your college or university has an office dedicated to scholarships and fellowships. Your financial aid office may be the source of all funding information or specific faculty, like those in an honours program, may dedicate part of their time to facilitating scholarship and fellowship application processes. For many nationally competitive awards, like the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships, you will need to identify who is the campus representative at your institution because he/she are responsible for facilitating the nomination process required by those awards.
SCIO’s scholarship and fellowship database:
For information on funding for study in the UK, visit
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