Hey everyone!
I am a rising sophomore (junior standing though) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and I was wondering whether there were any merit scholarships out there for current college students that were purely based on merit. Also, ideally if these scholarships did not give any priority to certain demographics as most likely, that would work against my favor. Hopefully you guys know of any scholarships that fit as it would definitely help me a lot this year financially!!
What about your own University’s departmental scholarships for continuing students?
I applied to them but unfortunately, all of them still look at financial status so my chances at getting one of those are extremely slim. Thus, I was looking for any outside scholarships that looked purely on merit as I would have a better shot.
Look for professional associations associated with your major.
Are you receiving need based aid from Michigan? If so, your merit awards will likely reduce your need based aid. You are required to report them to UMich.
There are very few outside awards for current students. The only one my son got was from the national engineering honor society…and even that was a one time award for $2000.
There just isn’t much interest in private entities to provide awards for continuing students, particularly those w/o need.
As mentioned above, look at entities that are related to your major.
What is your major? Although most of the departmental scholarships have a need component, there are also industry sponsored scholarships for engineering students for instance. However, the deadline for that is today.
For non-engineering students, there are also many merit scholarships available. Check out the lists below:
http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/admissions/finances/scholarships/current-students
http://scholarships.engin.umich.edu/resources/