scholarship program

Academic financial aid

A scholarship program is an organized system for awarding financial aid to students based on academic merit, financial need, athletic ability, or other criteria.

Institutions, foundations, and governments run scholarship programs to support education: She applied to every scholarship program she could find.

The term emphasizes the structured, ongoing nature of the funding—applications, selection committees, recurring awards—rather than a single grant.

Opposites
funding mechanism

scholarship programstudent debt

Borrowed tuition funds owed

loan · tuition bill · debt financing · out-of-pocket costs · financial obligation

MERIT/NEED BASIS vs. UNIVERSAL ACCESS

scholarship programopen enrollment

Designated benefits signup window

universal education · free tuition · automatic enrollment

supported education vs. self-funded education

scholarship programself-funding

Paying one's own way

personal savings · bootstrapping

Family

program, scholarship

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Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated G