Apply for Competitive Scholarships

The University of Missouri-St. Louis offers several scholarships for which students are considered automatically when they are admitted to UMSL. Other scholarships require students to submit an application. Please be sure to read all information carefully before starting the scholarship application. The yearly scholarship application opens October 3rd for the next school year.

Returning Students: Please refer to your award letters or contact the Student Financial Services office for more information on renewal criteria.

 UMSL Scholarship Application

Steps for Applying for Scholarships at UMSL

1. Apply for Admission - You will not be able to apply for scholarships until you have been admitted.
2. For Need-Based Scholarships, you will need to fill out your FAFSA - The FAFSA is the only method by which we determine financial need. You must submit a valid FAFSA to be considered for any scholarships which require financial need. If you choose not to complete the FAFSA, you are encouraged to review the information regarding Missouri House Bill 390 (HB390).
3. Complete the online scholarship application.
4. Check with the department of your major to determine if you will need to do a separate scholarship application for their awards. You'll also want to check with any campus student organizations that you participate in to see if they (or their regional or national organizations) offer scholarships.
5. Review the External Scholarships page for additional scholarship opportunities. Scholarships offered from donors outside UMSL often can be used to help defray your costs at UMSL.
6. Whether you are completing an application for an UMSL scholarship or for a scholarship outside UMSL, you'll want to be sure to review our tips for completing your application.

Important Deadlines

Tips for Using the Scholarship Application

Tutorial

We encourage all students to review the Using the Scholarship Application website before starting the application.

Single-Sign On and Password Protection

Before you attempt to apply for scholarships, you must have your User ID (aka SSO ID) and Password. To protect your information, you will use these to sign in through University of Missouri systems. This means you only have to remember one User ID and Password to access the scholarship application as well as any other UMSL-based systems. If you need help with your User ID and password, please visit the ITS web page about Student Accounts.

Scholarship Directory

Through the scholarship application, students can review a comprehensive list of scholarships available. Since scholarships are offered by various colleges, departments, and organizations to students who meet specific criteria, we encourage all students to apply regardless of their accomplishments, major, class level, or GPA. We also are able to list scholarship opportunities for UMSL students that are not offered by UMSL. See Using the Scholarship Application for more information.

Two-Step Application Process

The scholarship application has two parts: The General Application and scholarship-specific applications. All students must complete the General Application before they can apply to specific scholarships. Once the General Application is complete, one of two things will happen:

1. The General Application will automatically be applied to those scholarship opportunities that don’t require additional information.
2. The student will be able to apply to specific scholarships that have additional questions.

If corrections need to be made after the scholarship application has been submitted, students have the ability to log-in and update their information as long as it's before the scholarship deadline.

Personal Statements and Other Essays

You will be asked to provide one or more statements as you complete the General Application and apply for specific scholarships. You can use any word processor you feel comfortable with to write these statements, and then you can copy and paste your work into the application. Do not use special text formatting such as bold, italic, colors, etc., as these will not appear. Pay special attention to spelling, grammar, and content as your application will be carefully reviewed by selection committees including donors, faculty and UMSL staff.

UMSL Online Scholarship Application