Merit-Based Donor Scholarships
Applications for the Merit-Based Donor Scholarships for returning students will be accepted electronically on a rolling deadline. Please contact stscholarships@nl.edu for information regarding Merit Scholarship deadlines.
Charitable support to National-Louis University from alumni, corporations, and other friends has established a variety of scholarships to help NLU students. Each scholarship has unique eligibility criteria; therefore, interested students are encouraged to compare their status with the criteria to determine their eligibility before completing an application. These specific scholarships are awarded based on the student's efforts academically, in the community, and at National-Louis University. The scholarships are competitive in nature and are awarded by a committee of faculty members who review each application packet individually.
- View the scholarship list that details the available scholarships or review Merit Scholarship FAQs
Are you eligible?
To be eligible to receive a Merit Scholarship, a student must:
- demonstrate evidence of academic performance,
- have completed at least one term at NLU prior to applying and
- submit all application materials electronically (application, essay, and letter of recommendation from an NLU faculty member) by the required deadline.
- Turn in all necessary documentation by the deadline - Friday, April 20
You have the option of applying for all the general scholarships for which you are eligible. There are also scholarships with special qualifications (living in a certain area, having a specific ethnicity, or doing a specific job after you graduate for example). Be sure to view the specific eligibility criteria listed for each scholarship. If you would like to qualify for the specialized scholarships, you must manually select each one on the application form.
Quick overview:
Before you begin:
There are 3 components that need to be ready before you successfully fill out and submit your application for a merit-based donor scholarship: a letter of recommendation from an NLU faculty member, a personal essay and your resume.
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Letter of Recommendation
You must obtain one Letter of Recommendation from an NLU faculty or adjunct faculty member. It takes a significant amount of time to write a recommendation letter. When you ask a faculty member to write your letter, make sure you give them enough time to complete it. The faculty are excited to help you, so don't be afraid to ask. You need to be responsible and contact them consistently and in a timely fashion. The letter must be emailed by your professor directly to stscholarships@nl.edu. You cannot submit the letter yourself via e-mail. Recommendation letters from anyone other than an NLU faculty or adjunct faculty members will not meet scholarship criteria. -
Personal Essay*
You must write a 1-3 page double-spaced essay that addresses the following topics (specific examples are expected): -
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What brought you to your current course of study.
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Your specific goals for your study and/or your future goals or plans.
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How you meet the eligibility criteria of any of the specialized scholarship(s) for which you are applying.
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You must write an essay specifically for the purpose of applying for Merit Scholarships. If you are in the the National College of Education and have written a "Why Teach" or "Philosophy of Education" essay for other purposes, DO NOT submit these essays as this will cause your application to be disqualified.
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Resume
You must provide a basic resume with your application. Feel free to include additional sections that you feel will strengthen your application (Unpaid Volunteerism or Community Involvement, for example).
*Some important considerations regarding your essay: Typographical, grammatical and editorial quality are weighed as a reflection, in part, of your ability to communicate. You may seek assistance and have your essay reviewed, at no charge, by tutors from the University's Library & Learning Support department. Please feel free to contact Grover Wake (e-mail grover.wake@nl.edu or call 312.261.3083) to arrange for review or assistance with your essay.
The online application:
Once you have written your essay and prepared your resume, you can complete the NLU Merit-Based Scholarship Application. You have the option of selecting general eligibility guidelines or specialized scholarships. Be sure to review carefully the scholarship criteria listed. Select the full name(s) of all scholarships for which you are eligible and wish to be considered on the bottom of the application.
Submit application:
All parts of your application packet need to be submitted electronically. All parts of your application (online application, essay, resume and recommendation letter) must be received by midnight, on the night of the deadline - Friday, April 20. Incomplete packets will not be reviewed by the committee and consequently, will not be considered for any scholarships.
Please have your professor e-mail your letter of recommendation to stscholarships@nl.edu.
What happens next?
When your application is submitted, you will get an e-mail confirmation within 48 hours that it has been received. You and your professor both will get an e-mail confirmation when your letter of recommendation has been added to your file.
Please send your essay and resume manually via e-mail to stscholarships@nl.edu to be added to your file. You will also get an e-mail confirmation for those submittals.
Within several days of the deadline, all applications will be sent to the Faculty Senate - Student Academic Standards Committee. Each application is reviewed by the individual faculty members and then discussed in a group setting. This process takes over a month.
Scholarship winners will be publicly announced. All winners are expected to attend an awards ceremony which will generally be held in September/October, 2012.