Private, External or Outside Scholarships

A private, external or outside scholarship is a scholarship that comes from a source other than KU. These scholarships might come from businesses, community organizations, and local and state governments.

Receiving Outside Scholarships

While KU does not make selections for outside scholarships, the Financial Aid & Scholarships office processes them so they can be applied to your student account.

Donors may ask that you complete an enrollment/financial aid certification form for scholarships - if you need assistance with filling out a certification form for your scholarship donor, you may send the form to your financial aid counselor or bring it into the Financial Aid & Scholarships office to be filled out. Typically, once the donor has received confirmation of enrollment, they will send the check to the KU Financial Aid & Scholarships office.

Outside scholarships are split evenly between semesters unless the donor instructions state otherwise. Outside scholarships are taken into consideration in your overall financial aid package as a federal requirement. Therefore, you must report any scholarship you receive to the Financial Aid & Scholarships office.

Search for Outside Scholarships

Report Outside Scholarships

Fill out the Outside Scholarship Reporting Form

Reporting Outside Scholarships

Students that receive or have been notified they will receive an outside scholarship should report the scholarship to KU by filling out the Outside Scholarship Reporting Form.

Scholarship checks can be brought to the Financial Aid & Scholarships office located in the 1502 Building, or mailed to:

University of Kansas

ATTN: Financial Aid & Scholarships

1502 Building

1502 Iowa St.

Lawrence, KS 66045

If mailing in a check, please include the following information so we know who to process the check for:

The student's first and last name
The student's 7-digit KUID number
The check should be made payable to the University of Kansas. If the student's name is also listed on the "Pay To" line, then the student will need to endorse the check before it can be processed.

Searching for Outside Scholarships

The time and energy you spend conducting a successful scholarship search can be well worth the effort when you are awarded a scholarship to help fund your education. Students may obtain scholarships through businesses, community organizations, and local and state governments.

Resources like the Kansas ScholarShop, provided by the Office of the Kansas State Treasurer and powered by the Scholly® Scholarships by SallieSM, can help identify scholarships you may qualify for.
Kansans can also visit the Board of Regents website for scholarship opportunities through the State of Kansas.
Other scholarship search engines such as CollegeBoard, FastWeb, or CareerOneStop may also be great places to begin your search.

We also encourage students to seek out scholarships from other sources, such as:

Guidance counselors and/or advisors
School libraries and local libraries
Clubs and/or Civic organizations
Community Foundations
Places of worship
Private businesses and/or employers

The KU Financial Aid and Scholarships office is providing this information as a courtesy and does not promote, validate or maintain the websites listed. By linking to these external sites, it is not implied that the University of Kansas or the Financial Aid and Scholarships office agrees with the material contained or linked in the websites.

Frequently Asked Questions

Any scholarship that is not awarded from the college / university you are attending is considered a private, external, or outside scholarship.

Typically, outside scholarship donors will send the scholarship check directly to the University of Kansas to be processed as a part of your financial aid package.

If the outside scholarship funds are received by the Financial Aid office and the check does not require your signature, the scholarship will be added to your financial aid package and the funds will be applied to your KU account, typically within 7-10 business days of receipt. Processing timelines may take longer in late-July/August as this is peak processing time for outside scholarship checks.

If the Financial Aid office receives a scholarship check that requires your signature before we can process it, you’ll be notified at your KU email and will need to come in-person to the Financial Aid & Scholarships office to sign the check. Once signed, we will typically apply the funds to your student account within 7-10 business days.

Outside scholarships that have been received and processed will be applied to your KU eBill first and the amount will be subtracted from the amount owed on your KU eBill. If you do not have an owed balance on your KU eBill when the scholarship is applied, then the scholarship will typically be refunded to you via your direct deposit account.

Depending on what other financial aid you are eligible for, receiving an outside scholarship might impact your eligibility for other financial aid.

Financial Aid & Scholarships is required to take into account all of the financial aid you are receiving, including outside scholarships, to determine your eligibility for each type of financial aid. Each type of aid you are receiving has its own rules and policies that must be followed - and all financial aid you are receiving cannot exceed your total cost of attendance (COA). As a result, when scholarships are received, the financial aid office might need to adjust your financial aid package.

If an adjustment is necessary, we often start by reducing or canceling loans, meaning less debt you will have to repay later. But in some cases reducing grants, work study, or other need-based aid is necessary to comply with federal regulations, state laws, and institutional policies.

If no adjustment is necessary, you may sometimes receive a refund for the additional aid, or it may credit unpaid items on your KU bill.

It is your responsibility to report all scholarships to the Financial Aid and Scholarships office. We encourage you to report scholarships as early as possible to avoid having to repay financial aid at a later date.