Glossary
Scholarship glossary: the terms students and parents run into
Short answer
Thirty-two terms you will meet on scholarship sites, applications and privacy policies, defined in plain English. Terms are grouped by topic and linked to the pages that go deeper.
Finding scholarships
Scholarship
- Money for education that you do not repay, given by a company, foundation, college, community group or individual.
Grant
- Money for education that you do not repay, usually based on financial need and often from government or colleges.
Scholarship database
- A searchable collection of scholarships gathered from many funders. Sites state their own database size; the figure is not the number you qualify for. What scholarship sites actually do
Matching
- Comparing your profile with each scholarship's rules to show the awards you appear to fit. How scholarship matching works, and what to put in your profile
Eligibility criteria
- The rules a scholarship sets, such as location, grade level, major, GPA or background.
Local scholarship
- An award limited to a town, county, state or school. Local awards often draw fewer applicants.
Funder
- The organization or person paying for a scholarship and usually choosing the winner.
Award platform
- A site where scholarships are funded and awarded on the site itself, such as donor-funded awards on Bold.org.
Direct admission
- An offer of admission from a college without a full application. Niche says some no-essay applicants who are seniors can receive such offers from partner colleges.
Renewable scholarship
- An award paid for more than one year if you keep meeting its conditions.
Applying
Auto-apply
- A feature where a site submits applications for you using your saved profile, for scholarships its system supports. One application for many: auto-apply and reapplication explained
One application for many
- Reusing a single profile and application across several scholarships instead of filling in each form.
Automatic reapplication
- Being entered again for scholarships that pick winners several times a year, without applying from scratch.
One-click apply
- Applying with a single action because the site already holds your details. Usually for simple or no-essay awards.
No-essay scholarship
- An award that needs no essay. Many are random drawings run by scholarship sites. No-essay scholarships: drawings, odds and what to expect
Random drawing
- A winner chosen by chance among eligible entries, like a raffle without a ticket price.
Personal statement
- A short essay about you, your goals and your story, often reusable across applications. Reusing scholarship essays without sounding copied
Word limit
- The maximum length for an answer. Forms often cut text that runs over.
Application tracker
- A list or app that records each scholarship's deadline, needs and status.
Credibility score
- A rating some sites show on a listing to signal how trustworthy it looks. ScholarshipOwl's app shows one on every scholarship.
Applicant count
- The number of people who applied to a scholarship. Rarely shown on public pages; fewer applicants usually means better odds.
Paying for college
Financial aid
- All the help you get to pay for college, including scholarships, grants, work-study and loans.
FAFSA
- The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the US form used for federal grants, loans and work-study, and by many colleges and states. Official FAFSA page
Need-based aid
- Aid awarded on financial need, usually measured from family income and assets.
Merit-based aid
- Aid awarded for achievement, such as grades, talent or leadership.
Student loan
- Money borrowed for education that must be repaid, usually with interest.
Privacy and safety
Personal information
- Details that identify you, such as name, email, address, phone or school.
Sensitive personal information
- Details that need extra care, such as ethnicity, citizenship, health, disability or precise location.
Data sale
- Passing personal information to another company for money or something of value. Several scholarship site policies say they may do this. Privacy guide
Do Not Sell or Share link
- A link, required in some US states, that lets you ask a site not to sell or share your personal information.
Opt-out
- Saying no to a use of your data that is on by default.
Free trial
- A period of paid service at no charge that usually turns into a paid plan unless you cancel in time. Free vs paid sites