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 and Merit 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.

• No additional application is required. 
• The awards will be made based on need and/or merit
• A list of the Need Based General Scholarships is available

Competitive 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 February 15th each year.  Recipients are selected by committee members from throughout Virginia Tech.

• Review the Competitive General Scholarship List  and determine are there scholarships for which you are eligible to apply. 
• 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 at the Scholarship Gateway.
• 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. Please submit two copies of the thank you letter to our office. We will forward letters to the scholarship donor. Please review this brochure for assistance in writing a thank you letter.  These instructions will also be included with the mailed scholarship notification