Merit Scholarships: How to Get 6-FIGURES in Scholarships for College!

Are you looking to get $100,000 or more in scholarship money for college? Let’s talk about how to chase down the money! In this blog, we’ll discuss where to find merit scholarships that offer full ride or full tuition scholarships.

Below, we have a large table of merit scholarships available to incoming freshmen. Because they are based on merit, all of these scholarships require strong academic talent. Many of them recommend or require certain test scores and GPAs. If you’re looking for links to these scholarships, check out the table!

Merit Scholarships

Most merit scholarships are linked to a specific university or institution. This helps universities keep their stats up and climb the rankings on the US News and World Report. However, most elite, Ivy League institutions aren’t giving out full ride merit scholarships. Instead, these schools have aid packages that cover the full cost of attendance to students with financial need. Of course, these are still affordable options for many people because they meet 100% of demonstrated need.

Merit scholarships, for the most part, are not given out based on your financial situation. Instead, they are based on your achievements.

Scholarships Not Specific to Universities

The first scholarship we’ll talk about is the Stamps Scholarship. This scholarship is available at 28 or more schools including Purdue, Boston College, Notre Dame, and many others. This scholarship offers up to full tuition depending on the university it’s partnered with. The application requirements also change depending on which school you’re applying to. You should check out the specific school’s scholarship page to make sure you know what you need.

Other scholarships not linked to institutions are the Cameron Impact Scholarship, the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, and the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway. These scholarships can offer $100,000 or more, and they can cover up to full tuition. For these types of big money scholarships, community service can help you. Even though community service isn’t as important for admissions, it can really help with scholarships. Scholarships are often concerned with cold hard numbers. They want to see if you have the right GPA and test scores, and then they may also like leadership and community service experience.

Top 50 Schools Offering Full Ride Scholarships

Full ride scholarships cover tuition, housing, and any extra fees you would need to pay to attend. One great scholarship opportunity for both UNC Chapel Hill and Duke students is the Robertson Scholarship. This program is offered through a third party program called The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program. If accepted, you would attend either Duke or UNC. However, during your Sophomore year you would participate in a campus switch. During this switch, you would take classes at the other school’s campus.

Other top 50 schools that offer full ride merit scholarships are UNC Chapel Hill (again), Emory, Ohio State, UT Austin, Wake Forest, Northeastern, and the University of Virginia. In addition to full ride scholarships, some of these schools may offer lesser merit scholarships as well.

Top 50 Schools Offering Full Tuition Scholarships

These schools will fully cover your tuition for 4 years. They include USC, Boston College, University of Georgia, University of Rochester, Tulane, Vanderbilt, WashU, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and William & Mary.

Top 50-100 Schools Offering Scholarships

Although these schools might be less competitive for normal admission, keep in mind that these merit scholarships are all still very competitive. Top 50-100 schools with full ride scholarships include American University, Clemson, public Florida Universities, Fordham University, George Washington University, Indiana, NC State, Miami University of Ohio, Michigan State, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the University of Alabama.

Top 50-100 Schools offering full tuition scholarships include Syracuse, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, and Loyola Marymount University. In addition to these schools, there are also a lot of flagship state schools that offer great merit aid. Flagship schools are the most well known state school in your state, and they are often the first school ever founded. This is a great option for in state students.

Liberal Arts Colleges Offering Scholarships

Similar to universities, top ranked liberal arts schools probably won’t have a lot of merit aid. But when you get down the list a little bit, there are more options. There are full ride scholarships at Washington & Lee, University of Richmond, Davidson College, Furman University, and Hendrix College.

There are also some full tuition merit scholarships at liberal arts colleges. These include Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, St. Lawrence, Lewis & Clark, and Oglethorpe University. This is not a complete list. There are plenty of other institutions with merit scholarships.

While we focused on scholarships available to domestic students, international students can also apply to many of these scholarships. Check out our table below!

Merit Scholarships Chart

School	Merit Scholarships	Award	Link	Are int'l students eligible	Test Scores (if stated)	GPA	Nomination or Rec?	FAFSA Req'd?	CSS Req'd?	Nat'l Merit?	Leadership?	Add'l Essay?
28+ schools	The Stamps Scholarship	Up to full tuition	Link	Sometimes-- check with school	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Agnes Scott College	Perry Presidential Scholarships	full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	Yes	No
American University	Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars Program	full ride	Link	Yes		3.8	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Boston College	Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program	full tuition/meets full need	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Boston University	Trustee Scholarship	full tuition and fees	Link	Yes		4	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Carthage College	Presidental Scholarship Program	Up to full tuition	Link	No			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Catholic University of America	Archdiocesan Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes		3.8	No	No	No	No	No	No
Claremont McKenna College	Interdisciplinary Science Scholarships	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Clemson	National Scholars Program	full ride	Link	No	1510	Top 1% of high school class	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Davidson College	Belk Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			Yes- nomination	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Drake University	National Alumni Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes		3.8 OR top 5% of class	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Duke & UNC-CH	Robertson Scholars	full ride	Link	Yes			2 letters of rec	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Emory University	Emory Scholars Program	Up to full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
Florida public universities	Benacquisto Scholarship Program	Up to full in-state tuition	Link	No			No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Fordham University	Cunniffe Presidential Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes		Generally top 1-2% of class	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Furman University	Duke Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	Yes	No
George Washington University	Presidential Academic Scholarship, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholarship	Up to full ride	Link	Yes, for Presidential Scholarship			Yes for SJT	No	No	No	No	No
Harvey Mudd College	President's Scholars Program	full tuition	Link	No			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Hendrix College	Hays Memorial Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
Illinois Institute of Technology	Duchossois Leadership Scholars Program	full ride	Link	No		3.5	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Indiana University Bloomington	Wells Scholars	full ride	Link	Yes	1430+/32+ recommended	top 5%/3.9	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Lewis and Clark College	Barbara Hirschi Neely Schholarship	full tuition	Link	No
Loyola Marrymount University	Arrupe Scholarship	Up to full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
Miami University (Ohio)	Presidential Fellows Program	full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Michigan State University	Alumni Distinguished Scholarship	full ride	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	Yes
North Carolina A&T State University	National Alumni Scholarship	full ride	Link	No		3.75	Yes	Encouraged	No	No	No	Yes
North Carolina State University	Park Scholarship	full ride	Link	No		A average	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Northeastern University	Torch Scholars Program	full ride	Link	No			Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Oglethorpe University	JEO, Civic Engagement Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
Ohio State University	Eminence Fellows, Morrill Scholarship	Up to full ride	Link	No			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Providence College	Roddy Scholarship	full ride	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	No
Rollins College	Alfond Scholars Program	full ride	Link	Yes	1450/32	3.8	No	No	No	No	No	No
St. Lawrence University	Trustee Scholarship	full tuition	Link	No			No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Saint Louis University	Presidential Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes		3.85	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Southern Methodist University	President's Scholars Program	full tuition	Link	Yes	optional- 1500 recommended	Top 10% of graduating class	No	No	No	No	No	No
Stevens Institute of Technology	Ann P. Neupauer Scholarship	full ride	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	No
Stevenson University	Presidential Fellowship	full tuition	Link	Yes		3.7	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Syracuse University	1870 Scholarship, Coronat Scholars	full tuition	Link	1870- Yes	1480 mean	4.15 mean	No	No	No	No	No	No
Texas Christian University	Chancellor's Scholars Program	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
Tulane University	Deans' Honor Scholarship, Paul Tulane Award	full tuition	Link	Yes	1400/31+ recommended		No	No	No	No	No	Yes
University of Alabama	Academic Elite Scholarships	Up to full ride	Link	Yes	1420/32	3.8	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
UCLA	UCLA Alumni Scholarship	Up to $20,000/yr	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	Yes
University of Georgia	Ramsey Honors Scholarship/Foundation Fellowship	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of Hawaii	Regents Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes	1340/29	3.5	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
University of Houston	Tier One Scholars	full ride	Link	Yes	1400/30	Top 10% of class	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of Kentucky	Presidential, Singletary Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes	1390/31	With test- 3.5, test optional- 4.0	No	No	No	No	No	No
University of Louisville	Brown Fellows Program	full ride	Link	Yes	1230/26	3.5	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of Maryland	Banneker/Key Scholarship	Up to full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
University of Miami	Singer/Hammond/Weeks/Jenkins Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Only Singer			No	No	No	No	No	No
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Morehead-Cain Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	Levine Scholars Program	full ride	Link	No			Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
University of North Texas	UNT Excellence Scholarships	Up to $12,000/yr	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
University of Pittsburgh	Chancellor's Scholarship	full ride	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	Yes
University of Richmond	Richmond Scholars Program	full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
University of Rochester	Alan and Jane Handler Endowed Scholarship	"More-than-full-tuition"	Link	Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
University of Southern California	Trustee Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of Texas at Austin	CR Smith Endowed Scholarship	Up to full tuition	Link	No			No	Yes	No	No	No	No
University of Texas at Austin	Forty Acres Scholars Program	full ride	Link	No			No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of Texas at Dallas	Eugene McDermott Scholars Program	full ride	Link	Yes			Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
University of Tulsa	Presidential Scholars	full tuition	Link	No		4.0 or top 5% of class	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
University of Vermont	Green and Gold Scholars Award	full in-state tuition	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	No
University of Virginia	Jefferson or Walentas Scholars Program	full ride	Link	No			Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
University of Wisconsin-Madison	Chancellor's Scholarship	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Vanderbilt University	Ingram, Vanderbilt Scholarships	full tuition	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Wake Forest University	Nancy Susan Reynolds Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			No	No	No	No	No	No
Washington and Lee	Johnson Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Washington University in St. Louis	Ervin, Rodriguez, Danforth Scholars	Up to full tuition	Link	Yes			Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
William & Mary	William & Mary Scholars	full tuition and fees	Link	No			No	No	No	No	No	No
Wofford College	Richardson Family Scholarship	full ride	Link	Yes			Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
NA	Cameron Impact Scholarship	full tuition	Link	No		3.7	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
NA	Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship Program	Up to $55,000/yr	Link	No		3.5	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
NA	Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway	Up to $100,000 in tuition	Link				No	No	No	No	No	Yes

Merit Scholarships: How to Get 6-FIGURES in Scholarships for College!