USA Scholarships
Stamps Scholars Program 2026 - Up to $98,000 a Year
The Stamps Scholars Program 2026 cycle is the one that opens this autumn, and the first thing to understand is that you never apply to Stamps. E. Roe Stamps and his late wife Penny started the programme in 2006 to fund extraordinary educational experiences for extraordinary students, and the model they built has the foundation and each partner university splitting the cost of an award evenly between them. What lands in your hands is a multi-year scholarship worth somewhere between $20,000 and $98,000 a year, which across four years totals an average of $80,000 to $392,000 depending on the school. The wide range is mostly about cost of attendance rather than generosity. Alongside the money for tuition and living costs comes a separate enrichment fund you direct yourself, spent on study abroad, academic conferences or leadership training. Selection turns on academic merit, strong leadership potential and exceptional character, and leadership sits at the centre of the whole thing rather than at the edge. Financial need is not a consideration at any partner. The mechanics are simple once you see them: pick partner schools, apply for admission by their early or scholarship deadline, and at most of them you are considered for a Stamps award automatically without a separate form. Expect interviews, possibly two or three of them. Deadlines belong to the schools, not to Stamps, and 1 November is the single most common one across the network.
What is the Stamps Scholars Program?
The Stamps Scholars Program is built on an arrangement most scholarships do not use: the foundation and the university split the bill down the middle. E. Roe Stamps and his late wife Penny set it up in 2006 to fund extraordinary educational experiences for extraordinary students, and rather than running a single national competition they went and found partner colleges and universities willing to match them dollar for dollar. That is why the award looks different everywhere you find it. Annual amounts run from $20,000 to $98,000, with four-year totals averaging $80,000 to $392,000, and the spread has more to do with what each campus costs than with how much any given scholar is valued.
The money itself comes in two parts, and the second part is the one people underestimate. Alongside the scholarship covering tuition and living costs sits a separate enrichment fund that the scholar directs: study abroad, academic conferences, leadership training, whatever genuinely advances what you are trying to do. Leadership is not decoration in this programme. Selection weighs academic merit, leadership potential and character together, and the enrichment fund exists precisely so that potential has somewhere to go once you are on campus. Stamps alumni turn up later in the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Goldwater, Beinecke and NSF lists often enough that the pattern is worth noticing.
Here is the part that catches people out. You cannot apply to Stamps. The foundation says so on its own site: students are not able to apply directly through the Stamps website, and scholarships are awarded by the partner schools. What you do instead is apply for admission to one or more partners, and at the majority of them that single application, filed by the early or scholarship deadline, puts you in the pool automatically. Some partners want a separate form, and at several universities the Stamps award is wrapped inside an existing programme entirely, so you are actually applying to the Foundation Fellows at Georgia, the Carolina Scholars at South Carolina, or the Gabelli Scholars at Boston College. Expect interviews once you are shortlisted, and expect more than one.
Because deadlines belong to the schools, the calendar is a patchwork rather than a date. Georgia Tech closes on 15 October for Georgia residents and 3 November for everyone else. Boston College and Notre Dame Early Action fall on 1 November, which is the commonest date across the network. Georgia State is 15 November, Tulane 5 December, the University of Miami Frost School 1 December, Arizona 10 December, Northeastern 1 January, Ole Miss 10 January, Elizabethtown 15 January. Already at university? A handful of partners run walk-on awards for second and third-year students, with Chicago on 13 February, Dartmouth on 15 February and a Mid-Term Foundation Fellowship at Georgia in early January. Two rules apply everywhere: financial need is never a consideration, and the scholarship cannot be transferred to another institution, so choose partners you would genuinely be glad to attend. For other large national awards running on the same autumn timetable, the Gates Scholarship guide and the Horatio Alger Scholarship guide are worth reading alongside this. Deadlines and the current partner list sit on the official Stamps how to apply page.
Eligibility
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✓Admission to a Stamps partner schoolThe scholarship is awarded by the partner university, not by the foundation, and you cannot apply through the Stamps website at all. Partners include Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Boston College, Tulane, Northeastern, Georgia State, the University of Arizona, Ole Miss and Elizabethtown College, among others.
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✓Academic merit, leadership potential and characterThose three criteria are what Stamps and its partners screen for together. Leadership potential is called out as a key part of selection rather than a nice extra, which is consistent with scholars later receiving a separate fund to spend on leadership activities of their choosing.
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✓Applying by the school's early or scholarship deadlineIn many cases the normal freshman admission application, filed by a specific early or scholarship deadline, is what puts you automatically in the pool. Miss that date and you can still be admitted while being out of the running for the award entirely.
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✓Availability for interviewsThe programme tells applicants to expect an interview, or two, or three. Partner schools run their own selection weekends and panels, so factor in travel and scheduling from January onwards depending on where you apply.
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✓Entering first-year status at most partnersMost partner institutions award four-year scholarships to entering first-year students. A handful run walk-on awards for students entering their second or third year instead, including the University of Chicago, Dartmouth and the University of Georgia Mid-Term Foundation Fellowship.
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✓No financial need requirementStamps states directly that financial need is not a consideration. No FAFSA threshold, no income ceiling, no CSS Profile gate. That makes it one of the few very large awards where a middle-income or high-income family is not screened out before the reading starts.
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✓Check international eligibility school by schoolInternational students are eligible at some partner schools but not all, and Stamps asks you to check directly with the programme you are interested in. Do that before building an application list, because the answer varies across the network.
Benefits
- Annual award $20,000 to $98,000, set by the partner school
- Four-year total An average of $80,000 to $392,000
- Enrichment fund A separate award you direct yourself
- What enrichment covers Study abroad, academic conferences, leadership training
- Duration Multi-year, four years at most partners
- Need requirement None, financial need is not a consideration
- Transferring to another university Not possible, the award is not transferable
- A single national deadline None, every partner sets its own
- The Stamps Scholars community A national network across all partner campuses
- Advising and leadership development Built into the programme on campus
- Track record Scholars go on to Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Goldwater, Beinecke and NSF awards
- Cost sharing The foundation and the partner school split the award evenly
- Walk-on routes Second and third-year entry at select partners
- Applying directly to Stamps Not possible, awards come through partner schools
- The same award everywhere No, terms and amounts differ by institution
Document checklist
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✓The partner university admission applicationAt most partners this is the whole application. Filed through the Common App or the school's own system by the early or scholarship deadline, it is what puts you in the Stamps pool without any separate form.
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✓A separate Stamps application, at some schoolsA minority of partners ask for their own supplementary application for Stamps consideration. Which ones do is not standardised, so check the specific programme page for every school on your list rather than assuming.
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✓Transcripts and test scores as the school requiresRequirements belong to the university, not to Stamps, and vary across the network from test-optional to test-required. The scholarship committee reads whatever the admission file contains.
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✓Evidence of leadershipNot a single named document, but the thread the selection runs on. Whatever your application allows, activities lists, essays, recommendations, make the leadership story specific and continuous rather than a list of titles held.
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✓Letters of recommendationSet by the partner school as part of admission. Where a recommender can speak to initiative and character rather than just grades, that letter is doing the work Stamps selectors care about most.
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✓Interview availabilityKeep January through March loose. Selection at partner schools often runs through scholarship weekends with in-person or virtual panels, and dates are fixed by the university.
How to apply
Deadline and timeline
FAQ
What is the Stamps Scholars Program?
A multi-year undergraduate scholarship founded in 2006 by E. Roe Stamps and his late wife Penny, run jointly with partner colleges and universities. The foundation and each partner split the cost of the award evenly between them. Scholars receive an annual award plus a separate enrichment fund, and join a national community of Stamps Scholars whose alumni go on to Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Goldwater, Beinecke and National Science Foundation awards.
How much is the Stamps Scholarship worth?
Annual awards range from $20,000 to $98,000, and four-year awards total an average of $80,000 to $392,000. The spread mostly tracks the cost of attendance at each partner rather than differing generosity, so a state university award sits at the lower end and a private university award at the higher. On top of the scholarship, every scholar receives separate enrichment funding for study abroad, academic conferences and leadership training.
How do you apply for the Stamps Scholarship?
You apply to one or more partner universities, not to Stamps. The foundation states plainly that students cannot apply through its website. At the majority of partners, filing the normal freshman admission application by the early or scholarship deadline puts you into consideration automatically with no separate form. A minority of partners do ask for their own Stamps application, so check every school on your list individually.
What is the Stamps Scholars deadline for 2026?
There is no single national date, because each partner sets its own. 1 November is the most common across the network and covers Boston College and Notre Dame Early Action. Others include 15 October for Georgia residents and 3 November for non-residents at Georgia Tech, 15 November at Georgia State, 5 December at Tulane, 10 December at the University of Arizona, 1 January at Northeastern, 10 January at Ole Miss and 15 January at Elizabethtown College.
Which schools offer the Stamps Scholarship?
Partners run to several dozen institutions across the country, including Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Notre Dame, Boston College, Tulane, Northeastern, Georgia State, the University of Arizona, the University of Miami Frost School of Music, Ole Miss, Wake Forest, Mercer, Barry University, Elizabethtown College, the US Military Academy at West Point and the US Air Force Academy, with NYU and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine among recent additions. The current list lives on the Stamps partner schools page.
Is the Stamps Scholarship need-based?
No. Stamps says directly that financial need is not a consideration. Selection rests on academic merit, leadership potential and character, which makes this one of the few very large undergraduate awards that does not screen on family income at any stage. You will still want to complete financial aid forms for your university, but they play no part in the Stamps decision.
Can international students apply for the Stamps Scholarship?
At some partner schools, yes, but not across the whole network. Stamps directs students to check eligibility directly with the individual programme they are interested in. Because the answer varies school by school, an international applicant should confirm it before investing in an application list rather than after.
What is a walk-on Stamps Scholarship?
A route for students who are already enrolled. While most partners award four-year scholarships to entering first-year students, several offer walk-on awards to students entering their second or third year, typically providing enrichment funding for the final two years of study. The University of Chicago closes on 13 February, Dartmouth on 15 February, Wake Forest on 1 October, and the University of Georgia runs a Mid-Term Foundation Fellowship with an early January deadline.
Can I transfer a Stamps Scholarship to another university?
No. Stamps Scholarships are not transferable to other colleges or universities, because the award is jointly funded by the foundation and that specific partner institution. Practically, that means the choice of school matters more here than with a portable award: pick a partner you would be happy to attend for four years, since walking away from the university means walking away from the scholarship.
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