Grants and Scholarships FAQs

Scholarships are made possible through generous donations. A well-written "thank you" letter is an important way to acknowledge the funding you have received and gives the donor the opportunity to learn about you. The following tips and sample letter may be helpful for writing your own letter.

Tips for writing your "thank you" letter:

• Begin your letter with Dr., Ms., Mr., or Mrs. as appropriate. Do not address the individual by their first name. Only use “Dear Donor” or “Dear Benefactor” in cases where the award letter instructs you to do so, such as when writing to an anonymous donor.

• Acknowledge the scholarship you have received by referencing the full name of the scholarship in your first sentence. Include your mailing address and email address if you would like to give the donor the opportunity to respond.

• Do not include your Penn State Student ID number. Make it personal. Donors believe that both they and you are making a difference in the world. They are interested in hearing about you.

• Avoid confrontational topics such as political, religious, spiritual, or cultural viewpoints. Do not assume that the donor’s viewpoints/preferences are the same as yours.

• Proofread! We ask that you write a new "thank you" letter for each year that you continue to receive a scholarship.

• If you receive funding from the same donor in previous years, update them on your academic plans, your extracurricular activities, and your career goals. Let them know what you have accomplished this year and how their funding helped make that possible.

Apply for as many scholarship opportunities as possible. They are often available through private companies, nonprofit organizations, local businesses, community organizations, churches, or social organizations.

Try these free sources of information about scholarships:

• A high school or TRIO counselor the U.S. Department of Labor’s FREE scholarship search tool

• Your state grant agency

• Your library’s reference section foundations, religious or community organizations, local businesses, or civic groups organizations (including professional associations) related to your field of interest ethnicity-based organizations your employer or your parents’ employers Fastweb Unigo.

• More information on scholarships from Office of Financial Aid

Don’t ever pay for a scholarship search!

Outside Scholarship Form Policy When you apply for scholarships through an outside agency, they often require you to provide information about your costs, aid offer, and FAFSA. You can print this information directly from LionPATH. Student Self-Service You can find the links to view your Financial Aid Budget and Financial Aid Offer Letter in your LionPATH Student Home Base under the Financial Aid Offer. You will need to print the information and submit it to the scholarship agency. Certification of Forms by our office In the event that the scholarship agency is unwilling to accept the information that you have printed from LionPATH, requests to complete scholarship forms can be reviewed on a case by case basis with the understanding that the form can only be provided to the student for submission to the respective agency. Similar consideration may be given to students who need to submit their scholarship forms before the information is available in LionPATH.

All students who have submitted their FAFSA by the University’s recommended deadline and have indicated an interest in work-study on the FAFSA will be considered during awarding. Penn State does not require a separate application for Federal Work-Study. Due to limited funding, not all students who are eligible will receive an offer of Work-Study. If you are offered work-study, it will appear in your Student Aid Summary in LionPATH. Your work-study offer must be accepted.