Scholarships

Scholarship applicants are reviewed for all admissions, departmental and donor-funded scholarships for which they are eligible. Admissions scholarships are only available to incoming freshmen and transfer students and are largely merit-based. The Golden Opportunity Grant is a need-based grant for incoming freshmen that looks at a number of criteria such as financial need, high school GPA, and ACT/SAT scores. Departmental and donor-funded scholarships each have their own unique criteria. ScholarWeb provides information on the hundreds of scholarships Tech has to offer through the Scholarship Search tool.

You apply for Tech scholarships via an online application called ScholarWeb. Please refer to our helpful How to Apply guide for complete information.

No. You just have to complete and submit one single online application via ScholarWeb to be considered for over 700 scholarships available at Tennessee Tech. The online application will match you with all the scholarships for which you are eligible, and the review committees for each scholarship will then go over all qualified applicants and choose the students they would like to award. Applicants do not have to apply to individual scholarships separately. 

Music, ROTC, the Honors Program, and Athletic all have additional, separate requirements for their scholarships. To view more information about the different scholarships offered at Tennessee Tech, visit our Tennessee Tech Scholarships & Grants page.

Applicants submit a scholarship application between August 1 and December 15 to apply to scholarships for the following academic year. For example, if you want to be considered for scholarships for the Fall 2025/Spring 2026 academic year, you would submit an application between August 1, 2024 and December 15, 2024. 

All students who will be attending Tennessee Tech in the following academic year should complete the scholarship application each fall. This includes prospective (admitted) students, undergraduates, graduate students, and international students.

Please note that you have to be admitted to Tennessee Tech first before you can apply for scholarships.

You need to have completed the Tennessee Tech scholarship application by the deadline to be considered for departmental/donor-funded scholarships.

The scholarship application is not required for the Presidential Scholars program and gives priority status for the other Admissions scholarships, so you may still be able to receive an Admissions scholarship even if you missed the scholarship application deadline.

If you missed the scholarship deadline for the coming year, you may complete the scholarship application starting in August for the following academic year.

Some specific majors and scholarships do require recommendations. To be considered for as many Tennessee Tech scholarships as possible, you are required to submit the name and email address of at least one recommender in order to submit your application. You can log in to ScholarWeb and list the email address of any recommender that you wish to complete a recommendation for you. That person will receive an e-mail with a link. Once they click on that link, they will be brought into ScholarWeb to complete a recommendation for you. All recommendations must be completed by the recommender in ScholarWeb.

You can also see which recommendations have been completed for you, send reminder emails, and withdraw/modify your requests within ScholarWeb. You will find additional guidelines within the application form for any specific letters of recommendation that need to be submitted for a specific scholarship or major. 

In ScholarWeb, you can list the email address of any recommender that you wish to complete a recommendation for you. That person will receive an e-mail with a link. Once they click on that link, they will be brought into a ScholarWeb page to complete a recommendation for you. All recommendations must be completed by the recommender in ScholarWeb. We cannot accept recommendations sent via any other method, such as through e-mail, snail mail, etc.

Log in to ScholarWeb and select the "Recommendations" link in the Applicant Home screen. You will then see the requests that you have already made and whether or not they have been read or completed. The option to send reminder e-mails or withdraw a request and make a new request is available there as well. Three recommendations are the most any applicant would require for scholarship review.

If you are an incoming freshman, your high school transcript is very important! You will not be admitted or considered for any university or departmental scholarships if we don't have your transcript. We use the transcript on file in the Office of Admissions at the time of awarding. It is best to request your transcript as early in the fall as possible to ensure it reaches us in time to be reviewed for scholarships.

Complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as soon as possible after Oct. 1. The recommended deadline to complete the FAFSA for need-based scholarships is January 15, but that date may be extended if the FAFSA is delayed. Apply online at fafsa.gov. The FAFSA is also the official federal document for determining financial need and eligibility for all forms of financial aid in addition to scholarships. If you are eligible for the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (HOPE), you must complete the FAFSA. For more information about the FAFSA, visit the Office of Financial Aid website.

Yes, in fact the 2025-2026 FAFSA may not become available until after the December 15 scholarship application deadline, so students should plan to submit their scholarship application first. Once we have received the student's FAFSA, that information will automatically be reflected on the student's submitted scholarship application. For more information on changes to the FAFSA, please visit www.tntech.edu/fafsa.

The deadline to submit supplemental or supporting materials is the January 15 following the scholarship application deadline. We use the highest ACT/ SAT scores submitted by that date. This means that any new ACT/SAT scores submitted after that point will not be used for scholarship consideration. See the scholarship timeline for new freshmen for more information.

Tennessee Tech does not accept or use ACT superscores for scholarship consideration. We will use your highest Composite score from an individual test. For any scholarships that require a particular subscore, we will use your highest individual subscore for each subject.

A bulk of the scholarship awarding will be completed by the end of March each year. However, some departments may take longer to select scholarship recipients. Transfer and graduate student scholarships may not be awarded until after June 1. Applicants should check their Tech student email accounts regularly because notifications of scholarship offers will be sent there.

If you are selected to receive a scholarship, you will be notified by the department offering the scholarship. Notifications are sent to your Tennessee Tech student email account, so we recommend that you check that account regularly. A majority of scholarship offers will be made by March 31, but some departmental scholarships may take longer to be awarded. You can always log in to your ScholarWeb account at any time and review the My Awards section for most up-to-date scholarship status.

Most departments strongly consider GPA, especially in the subject of your major. They may also consider ACT scores, essays, extracurricular activities, honors/recognitions, financial need, recommendations, and experience related to your field of interest.

Yes, if you do not accept your Tennessee Tech scholarship within the specified time frame, it may be revoked or canceled. Students may have to accept as soon as two weeks after being offered the award. Some scholarships may have additional acceptance requirements, such as a form or thank-you letter, and if those requirements are not met by the specified time frame, the scholarship(s) may be canceled.

The only scholarships that do not need to be accepted are the Presidential Scholars Scholarship and the Tech Transfer Pride. Because these are guaranteed scholarships, they will be automatically accepted on the student's behalf.

We understand that many high school students will not have made their final decisions about college by the time they receive scholarship offers from us. We recommend that you go ahead and accept the scholarship. If you do decide to attend another school, we appreciate you completing the Update Application form to let us know. That way, we can offer those funds to another deserving student. Accepting a scholarship offer does not constitute a formal commitment to attend Tech.

Yes. Scholarship offers are sent by email and posted to ScholarWeb. If you do not have a scholarship offer in the Award Information section of your ScholarWeb account, then you have not been selected for an offer. Remember, eligibility does not guarantee selection. You will have the opportunity to apply for scholarships through ScholarWeb each fall. HOPE scholarships, loans, grants and all other forms of financial aid requiring FAFSA submission are not posted in ScholarWeb. Check your Eagle Online account for information on financial aid awarded by the Tennessee Tech's Office of Financial Aid.

No, we will not send a notification if you are not selected for any scholarships. This is because there is always a small possibility that you could be selected as an alternate for an award that is forfeited by another student even after the main round of scholarship awarding has concluded. This cannot be predicted in advance.

It is always recommended that you complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). We also suggest that you search and apply for external scholarships. Scholarship committees may choose alternates, in the event the chosen recipient(s) does not attend or complete the necessary requirements for the scholarship, so continue to actively monitor your student email account all year. You can apply for Tennessee Tech scholarships each year in ScholarWeb.

Congratulations on being selected to receive the Ned McWherter Scholarship! As stated in your award letter, if an institutional scholarship is being awarded to the student, the institution may consider that the match to the State funded award amount. Most Ned McWherter recipients are also awarded a merit-based Admissions scholarship, such as the Presidential Scholars Scholarship, for $3,000 or more. In these instances, the Admissions scholarship is considered to be Tech's match for the Ned McWherter Scholarship. If the student is not receiving an Admissions scholarship for at least $3,000, then the difference will be made up with additional scholarship funds to ensure the student is receiving at least $3,000 from Tennessee Tech.

Yes, as long as you apply for admission to Tech by December 15th and meet the GPA and test score requirements. We must receive your high school transcript and qualifying test scores by January 15th in order for you to be eligible.

In some instances, yes. If you are receiving a departmental scholarship, it generally requires you to major in that department. All requirements will be outlined within ScholarWeb on the My Awards page. If you are unsure of the requirements for a scholarship you have been awarded, we advise you to contact us before changing your major to ensure you are fully informed.

If you have a renewable Admissions scholarship (Presidential Scholars, High Flyers, Golden Opportunity, etc.), your scholarship will be automatically renewed every year as long as you meet all of the renewal requirements. You are not required to submit a scholarship application every year in order for your admissions scholarship to be renewed. 

However, if you have a renewable departmental or donor-funded scholarship, you are required to submit a scholarship application every year in order to be considered for renewal. Please note that for many departmental and donor-funded scholarships, renewals are not guaranteed even if you are currently a recipient. Additional renewal requirements for you specific award will be outlined in ScholarWeb.

Students who have been re-awarded any renewable scholarship for the upcoming year will receive a notification via e-mail. They will then have to log onto ScholarWeb and accept the scholarship for the year before the funds can be posted on their account.

Some university scholarships or grants require students to work a certain number of hours at an on-campus department. Read more about academic service hours or view available student job titles and descriptions.

If you fail to complete the required number of service hours, you will be placed on scholarship probation the following semester. If a student fails to meet any renewal requirement after their probation semester, their scholarship or grant will be permanently canceled.

Students have secure access to enrollment verification through Eagle Online. Refer to the Enrollment Verification section of the Office of the Registrar's webpage for more information.

Scholarships not funded by Tennessee Tech are referred to as "outside" or "agency" scholarships by the University. Outside scholarship checks should include the full name and T-Number of the scholarship recipient. Mail all outside/agency scholarship checks to:

Office of Financial Aid, Attn: Outside Scholarship Specialist
Campus Box 5076
1000 N. Dixie Ave
Cookeville, TN 38505-0001

Please visit the External Scholarships page on the Financial Aid website for additional instructions. Unless otherwise specified by the donor, the total award amount will be divided equally between fall and spring terms. You may also deliver the check by hand to the Financial Aid Office in Jere Whitson Building room 301.

The Scholarship Office processes and manages the Tennessee Tech University scholarship (ScholarWeb) application. Contact us about Tennessee Tech University scholarships by using the Contact Us form.

For departmental scholarships, you may also contact the awarding department. The HOPE scholarship is managed by the Office of Financial Aid, in addition to the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), loans, grants and Federal Work Study.