General Information

General Scholarships are awarded through the Office of University Scholarships and Financial Aid.

Criteria for these scholarships vary and may include but are not limited to geographic location as defined by high school attended and/or city, county, or state of residence, academic achievement and financial need.

The amount of the scholarship will vary with the average range between $1500 and $3000 for an academic year.  General Scholarship awards are one-time annual awards.  Student must apply each year to be considered.

Types of General Scholarships

Need-Based General Scholarships

In order to be considered for the these scholarships, you must complete the Free Application for Federal Student (FAFSA) aid by the March 1st deadline and must show need eligibility based on the results of the FAFSA.  

• No additional application is required. There may be additional criteria in addition to need, including academic merit.  
• A list of the Need Based General Scholarships is available

Competitive General and University General Scholarships 

These scholarships require that you complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the General Scholarship Application available through the Scholarships Gateway by March 1st each year.  Recipients are selected by committee members from throughout Virginia Tech.

• Please review the Competitive General Scholarship List and the University General Scholarship List and determine which ones you are eligible to apply for.  
• Using one file, write an essay for each scholarship that you will be applying for.   Please use the listing to determine what your topic for the essay should be.   Each essay should start with the name of the scholarship as a title.  Each essay should be no more than two paragraphs.
• Log on to the Scholarships Gateway.   If you are currently a Virginia Tech Student, use your Virginia Tech PID and password to access the Gateway through the log in page. If you are not a current Virginia Tech student, you can create a USFA user account.
• Enter or Update your demographic information in the User Information Section and click on Submit.
• Go to the General Scholarship Application (GSA).
• Select each scholarship that you are applying for and enter any additional information that is requested.
• Upload your file with your essay(s) and click on Submit.

Awarding

Scholarship recipients should be notified in April.  Before the scholarship award is finalized, the recipient is required to write a formal letter of thanks addressed to the donor which should be sent to our office. We will forward letters to the scholarship donor. Instructions on how to complete this letter will be included in the Scholarship Award Notification.