Students all around the United States are struggling to afford their tuition expenses, which are increasing with each school year. As a result, many college students end up in debt long after they complete their studies.
Companies and government agencies are aware of this, which is why they provide financial assistance in the form of scholarships and awards.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) is one such entity, and it is responsible for the Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship.
We’ll describe how the Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship program works in terms of eligibility conditions and how to apply for the scholarship.
What is the Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship?
Whether you are a high school, undergraduate, graduate, or PhD student, studying in Arkansas is not cheap.
Costs await you at every stage of the journey. The ADHE provides financial assistance to students and their families. Arkansans can apply for a variety of awards through the program, including:
- The Arkansas Academic Challenge Program
- Arkansas Concurrent Challenge
- Law Enforcement Officers’ Dependents Scholarship (LEO)
- Arkansas Future Grant (ArFuture)
- Arkansas Health Education Grant (ARHEG)
- Military Dependents Scholarship (MDS)
- Arkansas Workforce Challenge
- State Teacher Education Program (STEP)
The Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship is available to high school seniors who plan to attend an Arkansas college or institution that is part of the program.
They must enroll full-time and demonstrate exceptional academic accomplishment.
It’s one of the most competitive programs, with only a small fraction of applicants receiving the award.
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Who can apply for the Arkansas Governor’s Scholarship?
Some prerequisites must be met before you may enter the competition and compare your academic achievement to that of other applicants.
Only Arkansas residents are eligible for the award, which is not offered to international or freshly transferred students.
To be eligible to apply, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of Arkansas, or an out-of-state student who has resided in Arkansas for at least six months before applying for the program.
Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship Academic Requirements
The award commission establishes the minimal academic qualifications that students must meet for their application to be evaluated. Remember that this is a competition-based scholarship, so fulfilling the basic requirement is unlikely to result in receiving the grant.
The following are the conditions for academic excellence:
- Have a minimum high school GPA of 3.5.
- Have at least a 32 composite ACT score or a 1410 composite SAT score (combined critical reasoning and math scores).
- Have leadership qualities.
- End-of-course tests in math, reading, and writing literacy must be passed, or an ACT score of at least 19 must be obtained.
- Finalists for the National Achievement or National Merit Scholarships do not need to achieve the GPA criteria, but they must have appropriate ACT or SAT scores.
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The Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship Application Process
The deadline for application submission is March 1. To apply for the program, simply complete the application form using ADHE’s YOUniversal site.
Because the program does not consider students’ financial circumstances, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, as well as other standard materials such as letters of recommendation, essays, or personal statements, are not required.
Arkansas Governor Scholarship—What’s the Award?
The scholarship will pay up to $10,000 per year in housing, board, and tuition. If you finish at least 27 credit hours per year and maintain a high GPA, you can continue the scholarship for another three years.
Depending on your GPA, you may be eligible for:
- If the GPA is between 3.0 and 3.25, $4,000
- $10,000 if the GPA is higher than 3.25.
Most students will not be able to afford college expenses if their tuition is reduced by $10,000 per year.
Fortunately, the Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship can be combined with other financial assistance programs, and the prizes are added together to reduce or even eliminate personal contributions.
If you’re having trouble finding scholarships, sign up for DoNotPay! With our app, you will obtain a personalized list of all scholarships for which you are eligible in a matter of seconds.
Enrollment in Arkansas
Arkansas colleges have 158,587 students enrolled as of 2021. Although enrollment has fallen by 9.8% since 2010, the number of college students has climbed by 237.9% since 1970.
While college enrollment is declining, Arkansas people are not far behind the national average when it comes to high school graduation.
By the age of 25, 86.6% of Arkansas people have completed high school, which is not far behind the national average of 88%.
Despite having a high school diploma, just 23.0% of Arkansas citizens have a bachelor’s degree or higher by the age of 25. A bachelor’s degree is held by 32.1% of the population in the United States.
Colleges in Arkansas
Only 14.6% of Arkansas high school graduates leave the state to attend college, implying that the vast majority of Arkansas students remain in-state.
Approximately half of the colleges and universities in Arkansas are publicly supported. In Arkansas, 62.0% of children attend public schools.
The University of Arkansas is Arkansas’s largest and most well-known public university.
For the 2020–2021 academic year, the University of Arkansas has 27,562 students, including 22,825 undergraduates and 4,737 graduate students.
The average undergraduate tuition and fees for Arkansas institutions in the 2020–2021 academic year were $9,133 for Arkansas residents and $12,883 for non-residents. Hendrix College led the way in total costs in 2015, with a tuition rate of $49,490 per year.
Arkansas also features various historically black colleges and universities, such as Arkansas Baptist College and Philander Smith College. Many Arkansas schools and universities are Christian, including Hendrix College and Harding University.
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College Demographics in Arkansas
Females make up 33.0% of full-time students in Arkansas.
This is much lower than the national norm, where women make up 55.5% of undergraduate and graduate students.
Arkansas colleges have 99,672 white students, accounting for 62.85% of all students. In the United States, 54.3% of college students are white or Caucasian.
Even though Arkansas institutions have a high majority of white students, there is still a lot of variety.
Arkansas institutions have 22,751 black students, 3,043 Asian students, and 11,670 Hispanic students.
Final Thought
Students interested in financial help can begin applying for Arkansas scholarships on Bold.org in just a few simple steps! Begin by making a free Bold.org profile.
You can create an account and access financial resources by clicking on any of the scholarships mentioned.
From there, you may begin browsing hundreds of special scholarships for postsecondary education offered by Bold.org, and you can save any scholarships of interest that you come across.
There are numerous scholarship possibilities in Arkansas for suitable applicants, whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student.
It is never too late to begin managing your financial aid and getting on the path to a college degree.
Begin applying for scholarships once you’ve decided which ones are ideal for you.
The scholarship application procedure is designed to make applying as simple as possible, and each scholarship description will specify what applicants must do to be considered.
This allows you to apply for more Arkansas scholarships and maximize your Bold.org wins with the least amount of work.
