Merit Scholarships

UChicago's merit scholarships are among the oldest in the country and are given to applicants on the basis of outstanding academic and extracurricular achievement, demonstrated leadership, and community commitment. Exemplary students are selected during the admissions process to receive merit scholarships that are guaranteed for four years of study (as long as good academic standing is maintained). Merit scholarships are determined by a merit scholarship committee without consideration of financial need.

All students, including first-year applicants, are automatically considered for merit scholarships; no additional merit scholarship application is required. Only transfer students are not eligible for merit-based scholarships. Scholarship winners will receive notification on a rolling basis through the end of April. Please note that only scholarship winners are notified.

If you have further questions concerning merit scholarships, please contact your Regional Admissions Counselor.

Outside Scholarships

You are encouraged to apply for scholarships from agencies outside of the University. One popular scholarship search resource is Fastweb. If you receive a scholarship from an outside agency, you must report it to the Office of College Aid as soon as you are notified of the scholarship. These non-University scholarships can help reduce your family’s out-of-pocket expenses paid to the University.

UChicago students benefit from 100% of their outside scholarship funds, meaning their institutional aid will not be reduced to accommodate the outside scholarship. Any outside scholarship funds earned will go toward reducing the family's out-of-pocket cost. Institutional aid may be reduced if the sum of all gift aid and outside scholarship funds exceeds the total yearly cost of attendance.

All third-party scholarship checks should be mailed to:

Office of the Bursar
6030 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL  60637

See the list of third-party and outside scholarship resources.