You’re now in your senior year of high school. Congratulations on reaching this significant milestone! This period signifies both the culmination of your high school journey and the beginning of your college adventure.
As you wrap up high school, it’s essential to start gearing up for college ASAP. One of the biggest tasks for students preparing for college is finding and applying for scholarships for high school seniors. A scholarship is your lucky chance to unlock education opportunities that might’ve been out of your reach before. It can help you fund your studies and avoid student debt. Despite the huge importance of scholarships, many students make a big mistake by waiting until the last minute to apply for them. This delay can lead to missed opportunities. So, no matter how complicated or time-consuming it looks, now is the time to get on your scholarship journey.Even if this is all new and daunting for you, fear not! We’ve gathered the top scholarships for high school seniors and helpful tips to help you ensure success!
AFSA stands for the American Fire Sprinkler Association, a global non-profit entity. Every year, the organization awards five scholarships of $1,000 to students in the course of its High School Scholarship Contest, which is held between September and January. The contest is not based on demographics, GPAs, financial needs, or other factors. Instead, all winners of the contest are selected through a random computer drawing among valid entries. Awards are not given directly to the winners. Instead, payments are made straight to the recipient’s college, university, or accredited trade school in the US.
Niche.com is a popular online resource that connects students and their families to colleges and schools across the US. The platform contains college and grad school rankings, helps with college search, and also offers students a convenient scholarship search tool to find the best opportunities based on different filters. Apart from hundreds of scholarship opportunities presented on the platform, there is one special scholarship awarded by niche.com. The site picks one winner and awards them with $50,000 to cover their tuition, books, housing, and other college expenses. Most importantly, this scholarship is awarded randomly, with no essays or GPA requirements.
Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship is one of the four scholarships offered by the portal. It awards two students with $1,500 and $500 for their personal statements on the given prompt. The core goal of the scholarship is to help young people realize the negative effects of excessive screen time.
The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1986 by Coca-Cola to support the young generation. Every year, this organization provides outstanding high school seniors with annual scholarships.
The scholarship provided by the Coca-Cola Scholars Program is entirely merit-based. It seeks applicants with a minimum 3.0 GPA who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievements, as well as their capacity to lead and serve their schools and communities for the sake of making a positive impact. After a careful selection process, the foundation selects 150 Coca-Cola Scholars and gives them a $20,000 scholarship. Every year, the foundation provides millions of dollars to support young scholars.
Unigio.com is a popular online resource created for students. The platform provides students with a wealth of handy resources on interesting student deals, admission advice, college tips, and more. The primary goal of the resource is to help future students review different colleges, match their needs to the right schools, find loan opportunities, and discover available scholarships.
Apart from helping students find scholarship opportunities offered by third parties, Unigo also awards one scholarship on its own. Unigo offers students a $10,000 essay-based scholarship to fund their future studies. The award is given to a single winner and paid directly to their college or university.
US Bank is a large American bank with millions of customers. To support young generations in their academic aspirations, the bank offers various scholarship opportunities.
The US Bank Student Scholarship strives to increase young people’s financial literacy and help them develop healthy financial habits. To enter the competition, students need to complete financial education lessons through a gamified education app. Based on the number of lessons they complete, they can win a $2,000, $10,000, or $20,000 scholarship.
In order to enter the competition, high school students don’t have to be US Bank customers, provide transcripts, or write essays.
The Taco Bell Foundation was founded in 1992 by the same-named company. The goal of the foundation is to support education and career readiness among young people. To do this, the foundation has already awarded over $100 million in scholarships and grants.
The Taco Bell Foundation’s Live Mas Scholarship awards over $10 million to passionate students across the US. The rules of the contest are simple. To enter, students must make a short (under 2 minutes) video or animation exploring their passions and talking about how their passions can make a positive impact on the world. The winners are selected based on their passions.
The Equitable Foundation was established in 1859. The primary purpose of the foundation is to help people through grants, volunteerism, and partnerships.
The Equitable Excellence Scholarship is the foundation’s flagship program. Through this scholarship, the foundation aims to create pathways to success for aspiring college students. The scholarship aims to reward ambitious, self-driven students who engage in school, local community, and work activities that aim to make a positive change in their communities. The program awards 100 one-time scholarships of $2,500 per participant and 100 renewable scholarships of $5,000 provided to recipients annually for four years to cover the cost of tuition, books, and others.
The Gallery Collection is the leading B2B online and mail-order publisher of top-quality, custom greeting cards created and owned by a family in the US. The company has been around since 1929.
Apart from providing premium greeting cards, the company also supports young talents in their aspirations to acquire a college degree. Together with Prudent Publishing Company, the Gallery Collection is sponsoring an annual Create a Greeting Card scholarship contest. The rules are pretty simple — eligible applicants need to create and submit their own greeting card design. The winner will have their artwork featured on an actual greeting card by the leading publisher and receive a $10,000 scholarship.
The Bryan Cameron Education Foundation is a private family foundation. It was established in 2015, and the core goal was to make a difference by investing in motivated, ambitious, and talented young people.
The Cameron Impact scholarship is a program developed by the foundation. Every year, the foundation selects a group of 10-15 outstanding future college students based on their academic performances and impact on their families, friends, and communities to give them a full-ride scholarship that covers all expenses, including full tuition, books, fees, etc. To enter the contest, students must demonstrate excellence in school, community service, and extracurricular activities.
The Davidson Institute is a non-profit organization created to support gifted young people. Since 1999, the organization has been helping outstanding students attain their academic goals and reach their full potential.
The Davidson Fellows scholarship is the flagman program of the Davidson Institute. It’s a prestigious scholarship developed for high-achieving students under 18 years old. The scholarships of $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000 are awarded based on significant student projects that have the potential to make a positive contribution to society. An eligible project can be a new high-impacting idea, a creative application of existing knowledge, an interdisciplinary discovery, etc.
Earlier, we told you about the Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship. The Digital Privacy Scholarship is also provided by digitalresponsibility.org — an organization that strives to inform young people about technology and its possible negative consequences.
The Digital Privacy scholarship is also focused on technology. To participate, students need to fill out an application form with their personal data and some academic details, such as a GPA. Additionally, participants need to write a 140-character personal statement on the given prompt. The winner of the contest will receive a $1,500 scholarship, and the runner-up will get a $500 scholarship.
The Young Filmmakers Contest takes place in the framework of the One Earth Film Festival. The contest accepts domestic (US) and international applications from students from grade 3 and up to 25 years.
In order to participate, students need to film a movie (or animation) with at least 3 minutes duration on one of the following topics — Climate, Energy, Food, Transportation, Waste, Water, and Wildlife & Ecosystems. The winners will have their films screened during the festival and published on the festival’s official website. Additionally, winners will receive cash prizes, scholarships, and matching grants from $100 to $1,000 depending on their age.
Award Amount: From $100 cash prize plus $100 matching grant to $1,000 scholarship/cash prize plus $1,000 matching grant depending on the academic level + several $500 Environmental Activism Awards from sponsors.
The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) is a non-profit organization that promotes Objectivism, the philosophy developed by the American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. The organization provides a wealth of resources and information on the life, work, and philosophy of Ayn Rand.
The organization constantly holds exciting essay contests to find talented students and reward them with scholarships and cash prizes. The Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest is one of the current contests offered by ARI. To participate in the contest, students need to write an essay in response to the Atlas Shrugged book by Ayn Rand.
The United States Senate Youth Program, originating from a US Senate Resolution in 1962, caters to exceptional high schoolers aiming for public service careers.
Throughout the program, every state will be electing two student delegates to represent their states. The leaders from each state will be invited to spend a week in Washington, watching their national government work in action. All expenses are covered by the program, and every delegate receives a $10,000 scholarship to fund their undergraduate studies.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation operates independently. The foundation was established in 2000 with the aim of supporting education advancement in exceptionally promising students who have financial needs. The foundation has granted nearly $250 million in scholarships to over 3,000 recipients to date.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation offers several scholarships and grants for students of all ages. For high school seniors, in particular, the foundation offers the Cooke College Scholarship program. The program rewards promising seniors planning to attend one of the country’s best four-year colleges and universities.
The Engebretson Foundation is an independent foundation established in 2006. The goal of the foundation is to recognize outstanding students and support them financially in the fulfillment of their potential.
The Engebretson Foundation Scholarship is an annual scholarship program awarded to graduating high school seniors who show outstanding academic potential. The program is both need-based and merit-based. Participation is open to all US senior students who meet the minimum eligibility requirements and submit their applications on time. The winner can get up to $40,000 to fund their undergraduate studies in an accredited college or university in the US.
The Ron Brown Scholar Fund is a public charity fund that developed the Ron Brown Scholar Program (RBSP). The program was established in 1996 by Anthony M. Pilaro to honor Ronald H. Brown, an American politician and the late Secretary of Commerce.
The scholarship program is meant for outstanding African-American students who demonstrate strong leadership, public service, and individual excellence. Every year, the Ron Brown Scholar Fund awards 45-50 scholarships of $40,000 to support selected students in attaining their college degrees. Additionally, all program winners receive exclusive leadership experiences, professional mentoring, and service opportunities to help them reach their full potential.
Lounge Lizard Worldwide, Inc. was established in 1998. It’s an award-winning digital agency with offices all across the US.
The Lounge Lizard Web Design Scholarship is a contest-based program developed by the agency to recognize young talents and support them in their education. The program awards $1,000 in a scholarship to winners semi-annually — during Fall and Spring semesters. To participate, students must demonstrate their creativity and talent by creating a web design or live URL project created by themselves. The projects can be from the past or present. The winner will receive a scholarship and a design critique session with the agency’s founder — Ken Braun.
The Lindsey Vonn Foundation is a private foundation with a great purpose. The foundation was established in 2015 by Lindsey Vonn. The primary goal of the foundation is to nurture dreams, fuel passions, and create friendly and positive environments for underserved girls where they can reach their full potential and shine.
The Lindsey Vonn Scholarship is a cumulative term. In reality, the foundation offers two types of scholarships simultaneously — an enrichment scholarship and a sports scholarship. Both opportunities are meant for girls who demonstrate significant financial need and are striving to obtain undergraduate education.