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Understanding Scholarship Categories and Endorsement Requirements

There are three basic national scholarship and fellowship categories:

1. Endorsement Required awards have a preliminary application process to obtain an institutional nomination.
2. Endorsement Recommended award applications are strengthened by having an institutional nomination, but are not required.
3. Open awards are those to which students can directly apply without an institutional endorsement.

On our National Scholarships List, it is clearly indicated which scholarships need and do not need an institutional endorsement.

• If an institutional endorsement is necessary, then the applicant will follow a set of campus application procedures before submitting the final application.

For these awards, ONSA establishes a campus deadline in advance of the final submission deadline to allow time for application review and committee interviews. The campus deadline will occur weeks or even months prior to the national deadlines posted online, so it is important to take note of the Application Deadline and the Campus Deadline. 

Students must meet the campus deadline to be considered for endorsement from the institution!