Applications for the 2025 Most Valuable Student Scholarship are open until November 12, 2024. All high school seniors who are United States citizens are eligible to apply. Judged based on leadership, service, academics, and financial need, the Top 20 applicants receive $30,000 scholarships. The 480 runners-up receive $4,000. Learn more and apply at enf.elks.org/MVS.
The Most Valuable Students (MVS) contest is now open – Applicants will be judged on scholarship, leadership, and financial need.
Eligibility:
- Current high school seniors, or the equivalent, who are citizens of the United States are eligible to apply.
- Applicants do not need to be related to a member of the Elks.
- High school graduates are not eligible to apply.
- Applicants must be citizens of the United States on the date their applications are submitted; permanent legal resident status does not qualify.
- Scholarships are available only to students who enroll in four-year undergraduate degree programs at accredited U.S. American colleges or universities.
MVS Frequently Asked Questions:
https://www.elks.org/scholarWeb/resources/mvsFAQ.cfm
Awards:
- The Elks National Foundation will award 500 four-year scholarships to the highest-rated applicants in the 2025 competition.
- Male and female students compete separately.
- Ranging from $1,000 per year to $7,500 per year, Most Valuable Student scholarships are for students pursuing a four-year degree, on a full-time basis (minimum of 12 semester hours), in a U.S. college or university. All scholarships are in the form of certificates of award conditional upon the full-time enrollment of the winner in an accredited U.S. college or university.
- NOTE: The Chicago office of the Elks National Foundation will announce the 500 national winners of the 2025 contest in April 2025. (Many local Lodges, districts and state Elks associations award their own scholarships through this program. These scholarships are not to be confused with the 500 Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarships.)
Learn more about the MVS Leadership Weekend
https://www.elks.org/scholars/scholarships/lead.cfm
Scholarship Guidelines
Our scholarship programs are for undergraduate study only. A student may not receive more than one Elks National Foundation scholarship award or grant in any one academic year.
The scholarships awards (except EEG) are evidenced by a Certificate of Award issued by the Chicago office of the Elks National Foundation. All checks are paid directly to the school; under no circumstance can we make payment directly to the student.
Scholarship awards may be used for cost of attendance expenses. In order to receive payment, a student must have the school send to our Chicago office, the completed Verification of Enrollment form, whereupon, we will issue our check, payable to the school, and mail it directly to the school to establish a credit in the name of the student. We will notify the student when we mail the check.
Since most checks are being prepared during the months of August through November, student and school must allow four to six weeks for payment.
If a student terminates his or her courses for any reason, the undisbursed balance of the award MUST be returned directly to the Foundation’s Chicago office. It may NOT be transferred to another school, and it may NOT be paid to the student personally.
It is the responsibility of the student to follow up on all matters relating to his or her scholarship award.
In all correspondence relating to a student who has been awarded a scholarship, we must have the full name and the ENF ID of the student.
The information herein should not be turned over to publishers or those who wish to include it in a computer resource listing. We receive hundreds of requests from students who pay for scholarship/grant information, only to find they are not eligible or that the information is years out-of-date. Unfortunately, many of these sources do not publish complete information, nor do they update their files on a regular basis.
The Elks National Foundation has no loan programs, vocational grants or assistance for graduate study available, and it does not maintain a mailing list.
If a student would like to use his or her scholarship funds for a study abroad program, it must be billed through an accredited, U.S. degree-granting institution. We cannot issue funds to a third party program or vendor.
The Elks National Foundation reserves the right to cancel an award in total, if we do not hear from a student for two consecutive academic years.
For more information contact the Elks National Foundation Scholarship Office at [email protected].