Freshman Scholarships
All applicants must carefully review the admission Application Instructions and ensure that all required documents (including no less than an official 6th semester high school transcript or a final transcript for students that have already graduated from high school) are on file with the Admissions Office by the first business day in February filing deadline.
All students admitted as first time freshmen (including students who completed college coursework while still in high school) on or prior to the first business day in February prior to their academic year of enrollment (i.e. February 2013 for a fall 2013 start), will receive an automatic award offer of $3,000 per year for each of their first two years of attendance if they meet one of the following two criteria:
- Have ACT scores (or SAT equivalent scores) of both 32 composite and 32 math, or higher; or
- Have an ACT score (or SAT equivalent score) of 34 or higher in either composite or math.
Recipients remain eligible to compete for award offers of greater value as noted in the next paragraph, an award of which would replace the $3,000 offer, for each of their first two years at SDSM&T.
The SDSM&T Scholarship Committee has developed a formula that evaluates each student's ACT Composite, ACT Math and high school Cumulative Grade Point Average and ranks each student on an Order of Merit List (OML) from the highest to lowest score. A student's relative position on the OML will determine who will be offered four-year Surbeck Scholarships ($7,000 a year), four-year Presidential Scholarships ($3,000 a year), four year Distinctive Scholarships (ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 a year) and two-year Tech Challenge Scholarships (ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 a year). Some of our scholarship donors have set up scholarships with very specific eligibility criteria. These one year, non-renewable awards range from $100 to $2,500.
If scholarship funds become available from a higher dollar amount or multiple year award due to a recipient turning down their scholarship, awardees may be "moved up" to a more prestigious scholarship as appropriate. In addition, as scholarship funds become available, students that were not selected in our initial awarding process will be reconsidered for scholarship funding and notified accordingly.
Scholarship recipients will be notified of their awards approximately the third week of March. All applicants are notified whether or not they have been awarded a scholarship.
