Achieving the Eagle rank is not an easy task. A Scout must earn 21 different merit badges, successfully hold a position of leadership, perform a community service project, and pass a board of review. While these are not the only requirements. A Scout must be self-motivated. To be an Eagle Scout is to spend hundreds of hours of your personal time. The time when you can hang out with your friends or play video games or study. To be an Eagle Scout is to love that feeling when you help someone out when you make someone smile because of something you have done.
When people know that you are an Eagle Scout, it is an amazing feeling. Generally, those people who never went through scouts think that there are the Boy Scouts, a group of pimply-faced 13-year-olds who go camping occasionally, and then there are the Eagle Scouts, an entirely separate, special forces-rescue group that can go hiking, camping, anything outdoors in all weather. Eagle Scouts are just Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who dedicated themselves and stayed with it long enough.
There are various organizations such as Girl Scouts of the USA and Boy Scouts of America which provide valuable resume entries for financial aid seekers who want to stand out. Scouting organizations, themselves, provide extensive financial aid resources for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts making the transition to higher education no matter where you compete for aid or your scouting affiliation gives you a leg up
You must apply during your senior year in high school unless the Eagle Scout Review Committee has been held.
You must score a minimum of 1,800 in SAT or 28 ACT points to apply. However, you can use a “super score” to meet this requirement.
To receive a scholarship, you must be a member of the National Eagle Scout Association (NESA). Though, you can apply for a NESA scholarship before applying to be a NESA member.
As an Eagle Scouts, you may apply for merit-based NESA scholarships that begin in your senior year of high school and may apply each year until your first year of university.
Remember that applicants cannot receive a NESA scholarship more than once.
There is a wide range of college scholarships for Eagle Scouts. The in-house funding of these scholarships is from BSA and there is also various sponsorship from outside entities.
The national scholarships offered by NESA are for those students who have earned Eagle status. Academic Scholarships include these options:
NESA Academic Scholarships are valued at $3000 each. The number of scholarships awarded annually is determined by available funding.
NESA offers a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Scholarship to acknowledge the need for highly trained workers in forward-thinking fields. The amount awarded is $50,000 which is distributed in equal payments over the course of each recipient’s education.
The Mabel and Lawrence S. Cooke Scholarships are awarded annually and include four $20,000 Eagle Scout Scholarships (payable at $5,000 per year) and a $48,000 Scholarship (up to $12,000 for four years), as well as different numbers for other.
The scholarships worth $25,000 each offered by the United Health Foundation which works with scouting organizations to provide annual scholarships. To qualify, applicants agree to work in under-served medical facilities following graduation.
Eagle Scouts earn Dofflemyer Honors Scholarships which are primarily need-based awards offered by the prestigious Stanford University.
A number of $500 scholarships for Eagle Scouts offered by Columbia College, in Missouri.
A United Radio Service Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship Fund in Engineering, which funds awards for Girl Scouts and Eagle Scouts maintained by Syracuse University.
Corps of Cadets Scholarships for Scouts are awarded to 20 scouts who enter the Corps each semester at Texas A&M University.
A number of $500 scholarships which are renewable up to four years offered for Boy Scouts by Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. Also, one $500 scholarship provided by the school annually to girl scouts who have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award.
A similar Girl Scout Gold Reward of up to $2,000 donated over the course of a four-year education offered by the Lebanon Valley College.
You might also be interested to read about other College Scholarships
