I hear about students who were offered tuition fee from schools and even receiving housing costs or living expenses.
Are these scholarships-- or any sort of scholarships that is not financial aid-- obtained by applying only? I was wondering if people who didn’t apply for any specific scholarships can be offered scholarships when the acceptance letters come out.
Thank you in advance
Sometimes you don’t have to do any extra application, sometimes you do.
There are merit based scholarships offered by universities to some accepted freshman, usually high caliber students. Schools that offer merit scholarships usually have this information on their website. Sometimes all applications are considered and there’s no other application, at other schools there is a separate application process. However, there are a number of colleges that give only need based financial aid which is based entirely on family income.
This will vary by college. Some schools do offer some merit aid based on the strength of your application only. Others require an additional application for scholarship consideration. Others require a very intense application process for their most generous scholarships.
And some schools just don’t offer merit aid…at all.
The information is usually pretty clear on a school’s website. Be aware that even those scholarships that don’t require a separate application may still have certain conditions, usually in the form of an earlier application deadline. Some test optional schools do require an ACT or SAT score for merit aid.