Applying for Scholarships

BYU scholarships are for current students or ones applying for admission. To be considered for any scholarship offered through the Financial Aid Office, complete the ‘Period’ section and first three sections (Personal, Essays, and Need). Additional sections of the application are for specific awards and you will be considered for each one you complete.

You must apply for scholarships on or before posted deadlines, even if you have not yet been admitted to BYU. Scholarship applications are reviewed after admission decisions have been made. To be considered for scholarships after admission, you must apply by the Continuing Student deadline each year.

To receive full consideration for all scholarships you may be eligible for, you must complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and send it to BYU each year by January 20.
NOTE: We anticipate that the 2025-2026 FAFSA will be available on or around December 1, 2024 using a "soft launch" period of availability.

ACT/SAT for Freshman Academic Scholarships

For freshman scholarships, the Russell M. Nelson, Heritage, and National Merit scholarships require your ACT or SAT score for consideration. Make sure to send your scores to BYU. We will use the highest ACT/SAT score we receive, even if it is not the one on your admissions application.

FAFSA & Scholarships

Starting the 2024-2025 academic year, the federal government has made significant changes to the FAFSA. As a result, if you are considered an independent student on the FAFSA, your parent information cannot be included on the application for scholarship consideration (in previous academic years, you were required to include parent information on your FAFSA up to 30 years old, even if you were considered independent).

We will consider independent students for all applicable scholarships even though they cannot include parent information on the FAFSA. However, we will be using other need-based components available to us to determine need. Please note:

• A FAFSA is required for any student who wants to be considered for need-based scholarships.
• We use multiple factors available to us to award need-based scholarships to our students, so the FAFSA will not be the only factor that we use in our consideration.

If you are considered a dependent student on the FAFSA, your parent information will continue to be required for scholarship consideration.

Application Deadlines

* Winter deadline for continuing students is for return missionaries who are returning in the winter semester.
** Transfer students can apply for academic scholarships as Continuing Students after completing at least 12 credit hours at BYU on or before the appropriate February 1 application deadline.

For Departing/Returning Missionaries

Fall/winter scholarships awarded to you before you depart will be deferred for the time you are actually serving your mission, not for prior or subsequent semesters. Your scholarship will automatically be reactivated previous to the semester/term you are scheduled to re-enroll at BYU. The following information about each scholarship applies:

• Freshman Scholarships- Apply for freshman scholarships during your senior year of high school by the appropriate deadline listed above, even if you plan to serve a mission before attending BYU.
• Continuing Student Academic Scholarships- To apply as a Continuing Student for academic scholarships either before, during, or after your mission, you must have completed at least 12 credit hours at BYU before the February 1 deadline. If you have earned the 12 credits and completed a Mission Deferment form, you will automatically be considered for an academic scholarship for the semester you return. You are not required to submit a new scholarship application while on your mission unless you want to be considered for additional scholarships.
• Financial Need-Based Scholarships- You must submit the FAFSA for the upcoming year by the January 20 deadline. You are not required to submit a new scholarship application when returning from your mission. However, if you have special circumstances, you should fill out the scholarship application by the appropriate deadline listed above and complete the essay in the 'Need' section of the application.