Scholarships

The University Honors Program offers three different modes of scholarship support; a select number of UHP students receive one of the three separate forms of support: (1) for a subset of Idaho residents in the program, UHP scholarships contribute partial support toward GO IDAHO Gold Scholarship Awards; (2) the UHP also awards scholarship monies support to several non-resident honors students (in addition to any base-level support under the Discover Idaho award program); (3) each year 15-20 other nonresidents are offered UHP WUE-fee rate awards: these students choose between accepting that award or accepting their Discover Idaho award package.

All awards are based on academic merit (including primary consideration of GPA, test scores, and the UHP admission compositions) and also consideration of financial need. No additional application form is required. Please know that these awards are limited in number and quite competitive--to place such awards in context, the typical unweighted HS GPA of students admitted to the program is 3.90, with an ACT composite score of 28 to 29, or a combined reading and math score on the SAT of 1290 to 1340.

Idaho Residents

(1) Idaho residents who are offered UHP scholarships typically receive GO IDAHO Gold Scholarship Awards; UHP scholarships contribute partial support to that award program. Students who decide to decline the UHP scholarship award or those who may later not have the UHP Scholarship renewed (see UHP Renewal Requirements criteria under link at left) will receive the level of support specified under the renewal criteria of the GO IDAHO program: http://www.uidaho.edu/financialaid/scholarships/goidaho

Nonresidents

(2) For several nonresidents--usually students from outside the WUE-region--who receive a UHP scholarship, the scholarship monies are in addition to each student’s individual initial base-level Discover Idaho award package: http://www.uidaho.edu/financialaid/scholarships/discoveridaho.

(3) For nonresidents offered a UHP Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) Award (approximately 15 awards available for each entering class), the award is at the WUE fee rate of 150% of in-state fees (50% above fees for Idaho residents). The WUE Award cannot be held in conjunction with the Discover Idaho award package. The recipient must choose whether to accept the Discover Idaho package (2.8 minimum UI GPA for renewal) or the UHP WUE Award (minimum 3.3 GPA for Honors renewal plus HON-designated credits requirements as described under Renewal Requirements specified under link at left). For nearly every student, including those who under FAFSA are considered as having substantial financial need, the WUE-rate award typically provides more support both initially and especially over four years, than the Discover Idaho award package. NOTE: Students who do not fulfill UHP minimum HON-designated credits scholarship renewal criteria resulting in non-renewal of the Honors WUE Award will be able to continue with the support of a university WUE Award if they have at least a 2.8 UI institutional GPA (see further information on this especially important note under Renewal Requirements criteria under link at left).

Students are encouraged to apply for admission to the UHP prior to the university's February 15 financial aid deadline. Applications for admission that are received after February 15 are considered for scholarship or WUE-fee rate support, if funding is available. Typically, all UHP scholarship awards are offered to new, incoming students--primarily freshmen--by March 1. Thereafter, if some awards are declined, then the program will seek to re-award those scholarships.

The University Honors Program also helps to advise students about opportunities for national scholarships (see link at left). Since the program's inception, honors students have won national recognition by receiving a variety of such major scholarships as the Cooke, Fulbright, Gilman, Goldwater, Rotary Ambassadorial, Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, Udall, and other scholarships to support their undergraduate and graduate education.