What are guaranteed schlarships and how to get one

Guaranteed Scholarships Do Exist

I have often warned students and parents that there is no such thing as a guaranteed scholarship. Scholarships are competitions, which you win based on the quality of your application. However, there is one class of scholarships that are virtually guaranteed. These awards are usually based on some object criteria such as your grades or test scores. If you achieve certain standards, you will receive the scholarship - guaranteed.

The majority of guaranteed awards are sponsored by colleges and state governments. It is important that you carefully research your current college or colleges that you are applying to as well as your state to see if they offer any type of guaranteed award.

National Merit Scholarships

The PSAT can be one of the most lucrative tests you'll ever take. The National Merit program, administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a non-profit organization, receives the scores for all high school juniors who take the PSAT. Using these scores they select the highest-scoring students to be named National Merit Semifinalists. About 16,000 students out of the more than 1.2 million students who take the PSAT become Semifinalists.

This alone is an honor because it means that out of all of the juniors who took the PSAT exam you are among the top scoring. Unfortunately you don't automatically win a scholarship yet. However, if you are a National Merit Semifinalist you are invited to compete for a National Merit Scholarship. From the 16,000 Semifinalists about 8,000 win a National Merit Scholarship that might be one of the following:

US Dollars 2,500 from the National Merit Scholarships
Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards
College-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards

The key to being honored as a National Merit Semifinalist and thus being able to compete for some money is to take the PSAT exam during your junior year.

Automatic scholarships based on your GPA and test scores

As your parents have probably told you since birth, there's a reason to get good grades. One of those reasons is to get a scholarship from a college that automatically gives money to students with certain scores. Such guaranteed awards are based on SAT I or ACT scores or GPA.

Other schools have created a tiered system for awarding guaranteed scholarships. Wilmington College of Ohio offers guaranteed scholarships to all incoming students who meet the following criteria:

US Dollars 4,500-US Dollars 9,000 for students with a minimum 3.25 GPA and variable ACT/SAT score
US Dollars 1,500-US Dollars 6,000 for students with up to a 3.25 GPA and variable ACT/SAT score

Freshmen who apply to the State University of New York at Potsdam can receive money through the Freshman Scholars Program with a minimum GPA of 90 or SAT score of 1100 or ACT score of 24. The awards start at US Dollars 1,000. Plus, if you maintain a 3.25 GPA while at SUNY you get this amount each year. Take a look at your school or the schools you are interested in and see if they offer similar guaranteed scholarships. You'll probably find that many colleges offer such incentives to attract students.