Scholarship Statistics

Report Highlights. Over 1.8 million scholarships from private sources are awarded annually.

• However, only 11% of college students will receive a scholarship.
• Including government sources, over $100 billion in grant and scholarship money is awarded annually.
• The average scholarship award for public 2-year institutions is worth $4,100.
• On average, first-time undergraduates who receive government grants and scholarships at a 4-year college receive about $15,750 annually.

Related reports include Financial Aid Statistics | College Savings Statistics | How Do People Pay for College? | Average Student Loan Interest Rate | Student Loan Debt Statistics

Scholarship Statistics for Public vs Private 4-year Colleges

The terms grant and scholarship are used in close conjunction – almost interchangeably – in the data below. Government sources have occasionally referred to grants as needs-based scholarships.

• On average, a student who receives a scholarship or grant at a private non-profit 4-year college will receive $18,670 more than a student in a public 4-year college.
• The disparity in money awarded between public and private colleges is greatest among those families with the highest incomes.
• The graph below uses the combined averages of non-profit private colleges and for-profit private colleges.

Private Scholarships

Private sources award over $8.2 billion in scholarship money annually. In 2003, private sources awarded an estimated $3.3 billion in scholarship money. In 21 years, total private scholarship awards grew by $4.9 billion.

• The Miss America Foundation awards up to $10,000 maximum per individual.
• The United Negro College Fund provides funds for over 400 different scholarships.
• The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation’s biggest scholarship award is worth $20,000.
• In 2023, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) awarded 328 scholarships. Those scholarships amounted to $1,500,000.
• In 2003, the average value of an undergraduate private scholarship was $1,982.
• In 2003, 73% of private financial aid went to dependent students.
• Meanwhile, 27% of private financial aid went to independent students.

Public Scholarships

Grants are typically awarded based on student needs. Other public scholarships may include athletic-based awards, program major-specific awards, state residency-based scholarships, and college-specific scholarships.

• Including government sources, over $100 billion in grant and scholarship money is awarded annually.
• Most Pell Grants are awarded to students from families with an income between $20,000 and $60,000.
• The average Pell Grant award for undergraduates is $4,255.
• The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) requires schools that participate in the program to contribute 25% of the aid awarded.
• The FSEOG awards between $100 to $4,000 in scholarship aid money.
• In 2020, the total amount of federal grant money awarded was $36.4 billion.
• In 2022, $3.6 billion in Pell Grant money went unclaimed because 41% of high school students did not complete a FAFSA.

Need-Based Scholarships by Race

The most federal grant money per student went to Asian students in 2020. The statistics below use public data from 2020, the most recent available. The statistics below only include undergraduate students.

• The majority of White students who received federal grant money received $9,300.
• The majority of Black students who received federal grant money also received $8,300 in aid.
• Hispanic students who were awarded federal grant money received an average of $8,500.
• Asian students who were awarded federal grant money received $13,000 on average.
• For American Indians and Alaskan Natives, the majority that did receive federal grant money received an average of $8,900.
• For Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, the majority that did receive federal grant money received anywhere $6,200 on average.
• Finally, for students in the two or more races category, those that did receive federal grant money received an average of $9,800.

Athletic Scholarships

Athletic Scholarships are divided based on Division rankings. There are no scholarships for Division III athletes, but other forms of financial aid are available. The award amount also varies by gender.

• Athletic scholarships are offered to less than 2% of high school student-athletes planning to attend college.
• Yet, fewer than 180,000 students receive an athletic scholarship annually.
• Division I and Division II scholarships amount to roughly $2.7 billion annually.
• There are 177,559 athletic-based scholarships.
• In the table below, certain sports had scholarships for only one gender.

Sources

1. National College Attainment Network, NCAN Report: In 2022, High School Seniors Left $3.58 Billion on the Table in Pell Grants
2. Society of Women Engineers
3. Federal Pell Grant Program, End of Year Report 
4. Code of Federal Regulations, Part 676: Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program
5. Institute for Higher Education Policy, Private Scholarships Count 
6. Next College Student Athlete (NCSA), Athletic Scholarships: Everything You Need to Know 
7. The Best Colleges, The 10 Biggest Scholarships in the World 
8. Miss America Foundation, Scholarships
9. US Department of Education, 2019–20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study
10. Athletic Scholarship Averages for NCAA I Teams by Sport
11. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Digest of Education Statistics