Horatio Alger Scholarship: How to Qualify

The Horatio Alger Scholarship Programs specifically help high school students who have faced and overcome significant obstacles in their young lives. It is one of the largest need-based college scholarship programmes in the country.

The Horatio Alger Association seeks students who have demonstrated perseverance, integrity, and determination in overcoming adversity as well as having a serious financial need. While many programmes focus primarily on recognising academic achievement or leadership potential.

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Level/Field of Study

Horatio Alger Scholarship is designed for high school students with strong interest in furthering their education in college.

Host Nationality

This scholarship is funded by Horatio Alger Inc for every American interested in going to college.

Criteria for the Horatio Alger Scholarship

In order to be considered for the Horatio Alger Scholarship (National), candidates must fulfil the requirements listed below:

Being a junior in high school enrolled full-time in the United States
Demonstrate a strong desire to enrol in and complete a bachelor’s programme at a non-profit, accredited institution in the United States (students may start their studies at a two-year institution and then transfer to a four-year institution)
Prove a severe lack of funds (adjusted gross family income must be $55,000 or less).
Participate in extracurricular and volunteer activities.
Show integrity and tenacity in overcoming challenges.
Keep your grade point average (GPA) at least at 2.0; and
Possess US citizenship

*The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all fifty states offer the National Scholarship Program to students who qualify.

In order to be considered for a Horatio Alger Scholarship (State), candidates must meet the requirements listed below:

Being a junior in high school enrolled full-time in the United States
Demonstrate a strong desire to enrol in and complete a bachelor’s programme at a non-profit, accredited institution in the United States (students may start their studies at a two-year institution and then transfer to a four-year institution)
Prove a severe lack of funds (adjusted gross family income must be $55,000 or less).
Participate in extracurricular and volunteer activities.
Show integrity and tenacity in overcoming challenges.
keep your grade point average (GPA) at least at 2.0; and
possess US citizenship

Additionally, there are targeted scholarships that have particular eligibility criteria. All targeted scholarships must meet the following requirements:

senior in high school
necessary financial support ($55,000 or less per family in adjusted gross income)
Integrity and tenacity in battling adversity
a citizen of the United States

Qualifications for the Career & Technical Scholarship Program:

possess a high school diploma (or earned a high school equivalency credential)
Have no earlier than May as your graduation date, and at least 50% of your programme remaining.
must be enrolled in your programme and not be taking prerequisite courses.
To qualify, students must be enrolled full-time by the fall.
Demonstrate a strong desire to enrol in and finish a career or technical programme (up to two years) at an accredited, non-profit post-secondary institution in the United States.
demonstrated a desperate need for money (must meet the requirements to be eligible for the Federal Pell grant as determined by the FAFSA completion)
demonstrated tenacity in overcoming difficulty
being under 30 years old
possess US citizenship

Required Suppporting Documents to Apply for Horatio Alger Scholarship

Deadline for the Horatio Alger Scholarship

With a priority deadline of June 15, 2023, the Career & Technical application will go live on March 15. Students who have faced and overcame significant challenges in their lives and wish to pursue a career or technical education at an accredited non-profit post-secondary institution in the United States are given scholarships.

On August 1 and through October 25 you can apply for the Horatio Alger Scholarship. The Horatio Alger Scholarship application is a common application, which means that if you submit one, you will be given consideration for all of the scholarship opportunities the Association has to offer. Your application and all required materials must be submitted online by October 25 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time in order to be taken into consideration.

Application portal reopens December 1, 2023.

Application Proccess for the Horatio Alger Scholarship

Visit https://scholars.horatioalger.org/about-our-scholarship-programs/ to log in (or register a new account).
The online application form will be available beginning on March 2023. Complete it. (You can save the application and return to it later; you are not required to finish it in one sitting.)
Scholarships are given out by the Horatio Alger Association to students who have faced and triumphed over significant adversity. It is crucial that applicants provide as much information as they can to give the selection committee a clear picture of each applicant’s unique situation.
Utilizing the online application form, upload all necessary documents. (No documents sent via email, fax, or postal service will be accepted.)
Send in your application.

Scholarship Reward

Each scholarship has a value of $25,000. The best part is that 106 scholarships are available to students, giving you a better chance than most of getting one if you fully qualify!

For the National Scholars Conference in the spring of their senior year, National Scholars are given an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. The National Scholar’s Conference is a requirement for all winners.

About the Sponsor

Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. was founded in 1947 to dispel the growing notion among the country’s youth that the American Dream was no longer attainable.

Horatio Alger, Jr., a well-known author whose stories of overcoming adversity through unwavering perseverance and fundamental moral principles enthralled the public in the late 19th century, is the name-bearer of the Association. In close collaboration with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the organization’s founder, Dr. Kenneth Beebe, hoped to encourage each American to realise their full potential, thereby enhancing American society as a whole. They established the Association to honour outstanding achievers in order to demonstrate to Americans the boundless opportunities afforded by the free market.