1,225 Major Merit Scholarships – Updated List

Published by Wendy Nelson on

Full Ride and Full Tuition Scholarships

This post was published in July of 2016. The latest version of the Full Scholarship List, version 7.1 was published 3-13-2019 and contains more scholarships than all the previous versions. It is still available through the links below.

The Full Scholarship List, with 1,225 major merit scholarships, is newly updated as of July 31, 2016.

I have validated all scholarships on the list, removed some that were no longer offered, corrected any links to the scholarship listings on the school websites that have changed, and found a few new full ride scholarships and full tuition scholarships in the process.

I created the Full Scholarship List to help parents and their college-bound students find the best  institutional merit scholarships offered to attract top students.

The primary goal of the Full Scholarship List is to capture full ride scholarships and full tuition scholarships.  The list also includes scholarships listed as “up to full ride” and “up to full tuition”.

Scholarships on the Full Scholarship List are separated into the following categories:

  • Automatic – this scholarship is given to any student who meets the criteria listed
  • Competitive – students who meet the listed criteria compete for a limited number of scholarships
  • National Merit/Achievement – These scholarships are offered exclusively to National Merit, National Achievement and/or National Hispanic finalists, and/or semi-finalists, and/or “commended” students
  • Talent – These scholarships are given to students demonstrating specific talents such as music, art, theater and dance.

Anyone who has previously purchased the Full Scholarship list in the past year (on or after July 31, 2015) will receive an email with a link to access the updated version of the list. (Purchasers always receive updated versions for all versions published in the next year.)

These full ride scholarships and full tuition scholarships are targeted at the best and brightest high school students.  Generally, these students have GPAs of 3.5 and above and ACT scores in the 28-36 range, although there are many scholarships listed that do not require specific GPAs or test scores.

I recommend purchasing the list when you have a rising high school junior so you can find additional schools to put on your student’s potential college list.  Most often, the schools offering the best merit scholarships are not the ones at the top of the rankings lists.  Those colleges do not need to offer large merit scholarships to attract students.  The Full Scholarship List contains some well known schools, but many that you probably have never heard of or your student has never considered.

I do a major review on the list twice a year to catch any changes to the full ride scholarships and full tuition scholarships offered by colleges and the links to the school websites. I then send out updates to all current purchasers.

I hope you will find this to be a useful tool as you look for a great deal on a college education for your student!  You can purchase your copy here.