We encourage students to pursue outside scholarships to reduce their out-of-pocket costs. Students apply directly with the scholarship agency/company. If you receive outside scholarships, be sure to notify URI Enrollment Services, as it is required to be added to student financial aid awards.
Note that these are only some of the available resources for outside scholarships:
- Local businesses
- Civic organizations
- Charitable foundations
- Parent employers
- Places of worship
Partial List of Outside Scholarships
Below are a few national, regional, and local options to get started with your search! We encourage students to research other options as well.
- American Indian College Fund
- Appily
- Big Future
- College Planning Center of Rhode Island
- Community Foundation of Greater New Britain (CT)
- Fastweb
- Healy Foundation
- Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (CT)
- Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)
- Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
- Narragansett Indian Tribe
- New England Society Scholarship Program (NYC high school students attending college in New England)
- Niche
- Rhode Island Foundation
- Rhode Island Indian Council
- Scholarship America
- Stephen Phillips Memorial Scholarship Fun (New England Residents)
- United Negro College Fund (UNCF)
- United South and Eastern Tribes INC.
High School Seniors and Current URI Students
- Pay attention to deadlines. Most scholarships have deadlines early in your senior year of high school. There are some for continuing college students, too! Start your research early and mark deadlines to ensure you have time to prepare.
- Rhody Ram tip: Consider setting reminders on your phone or having a physical calendar available to keep track of deadlines.
- Set aside time to apply. Stick to this schedule.
- Rhody Ram tip: Some students find it helpful to set a certain time and/or day of the week to focus solely on applying for scholarships.
- Create a strong essay. You might be able to use the same essay for various scholarships. Common topics include why you are deserving of the scholarship, how you have demonstrated leadership, describing challenges you have overcome, or what you hope to accomplish with your education.
- Be aware of scholarship and financial aid scams.
- Someone promises guaranteed scholarships.
- You are asked for credit card/banking numbers.
- Remember – scholarship applications are always free.
High School Juniors
- Research opportunities and mark deadlines on your calendar. Scholarship applications open and close at different times of the year.
- Have a letter of recommendation and student resume ready. For letters of recommendation, consider asking a teacher who can highlight your best qualities and abilities.
- Create a separate email address. Use it for scholarship applications and to de-clutter your existing email address. You may receive many of emails during your search, so it is helpful to have them organized.
How are scholarships applied to my financial aid offer?
- All institutions are required to include outside scholarships as other financial assistance in your financial aid.
- Total financial aid cannot exceed Cost of Attendance (COA).
- When you receive an outside scholarship, we first use it to reduce your out-of-pocket cost, to fill in any gap between your demonstrated financial need (as calculated by the FAFSA) and the aid you were offered.
- If the scholarship(s) exceeds your COA amount, we then reduce your loans to ensure you are receiving the maximum benefit for your hard work.
- Scholarships that exceed your gap (the amount between your cost of attendance and financial aid) and loans may reduce URI grant aid, if applicable.
For Current URI Students
Be sure to apply yearly for donor scholarships through the Academic Works portal, which opens every April.