Navigating the College Board BigFuture Scholarships: A Comprehensive Guide

Applying to college can be a complex and overwhelming process. To support students and families, College Board offers the BigFuture Scholarships, a national scholarship program designed to simplify college planning and reward students' efforts along the way. Formerly known as the College Board Opportunity Scholarships, this program provides a unique opportunity for students to earn scholarships by completing essential college application steps.

What are the College Board BigFuture Scholarships?

The College Board BigFuture Scholarships serve as a simple college planning guide for all students. These scholarships are about how much students grow, not how high they score. Unlike traditional merit-based scholarships that focus on academic achievements, the BigFuture Scholarships recognize and reward students' efforts and actions throughout the college application process. The College Board is investing $25 million over five years for these scholarships, making a total of $5 million available for each graduating class.

Eligibility Criteria

The BigFuture Scholarships are open to students who attend high school in the United States, Puerto Rico, and other US territories. Anyone is eligible to apply for the BigFuture Scholarships - no matter their family income. The program does not require an essay or an application, and there is no minimum GPA or SAT score requirement. To be eligible for the Class of 2026, students must have a high school graduation date of 2026 as of December 4, 2023. Applicants also need a College Board online account.

How to Apply: The Six Steps to Scholarship Success

The College Board BigFuture Scholarships program lays out six simple steps that all students can take to get into college. By completing each of these steps, eligible students earn entries into scholarship drawings.

Start Your Career List: Explore potential careers and save three or more careers to your career list on BigFuture. Students should go to College Board BigFuture and create their own college list with at least three schools. To qualify for this scholarship, students will need to save three or more careers on your career list on BigFuture. This task can be completed between December 4, 2023, and February 28, 2026. EST on the last day of each month from January 31, 2024 to February 28, 2026.

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Start Your College List: Explore colleges that interest you and build and save a college list on BigFuture with at least three schools. Students should go to College Board BigFuture and create their own college list with at least three schools. EST on the last day of each month from January 31, 2024 to June 30, 2026.
Start Your Scholarship List: Explore scholarships and save three or more on your scholarship list on BigFuture. Students should go to College Board BigFuture and create their own college list with at least three schools. This task can be completed between July 1, 2025 and February 28, 2026.
Strengthen Your College List: Create or edit your college list on BigFuture to narrow it down to one “safety” school, two “match” schools, and three “reach” colleges. Create or edit a college list on College Board BigFuture to narrow it down to one “safety” school, two “match” schools, and three “reach” (harder to get accepted to) colleges. This task can be completed between July 1, 2025 and October 31, 2025.
Complete the FAFSA: With your parent or legal guardian, fill out and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form to apply for financial aid. Students should complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) with their parents or guardian. For applicants who are not citizens or do not meet the required residency requirements to fill out the FAFSA, they may complete their state’s financial aid form instead (if available). From your BigFuture dashboard, check the appropriate boxes to indicate that you’ve completed the FAFSA, your state’s financial aid form or if you are legally ineligible to complete those forms. This task can be completed between October 1, 2025 and February 28, 2026.
Apply to Colleges: Apply to a minimum of two colleges and update your status to applied, accepted, waitlisted or denied for these schools on your college list on BigFuture. Apply to a minimum of two colleges and update your status to applied, accepted, waitlisted or denied for these schools on your college list on BigFuture. This task can be completed between October 1, 2025 and February 28, 2026.

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Scholarship Amounts and Drawings

The College Board BigFuture Scholarships offer two types of awards:

$500 Scholarships: There are 90 winners per month from February 2024 to March 2026. Additionally, 90 winners per month will be selected among entrants who are Lower Income Students.
$40,000 Scholarships: There is 1 winner every 2 months from February 2024 to February 2026. There is an additional 1 winner who will be selected from Lower Income Students.

Each scholarship associated with one of the steps has a different opening and closing date, in which the students can complete the step and earn a drawing entry. However, the scholarships are awarded on a monthly basis. The eligibility for such monthly drawings ends at 11:59 pm EST on the last day of each month between the opening and closing date.

Students can only win the $40,000 scholarship once. However, students can win multiple $500 scholarships when they complete more than one step. Additionally, students can win one or more $500 scholarships and the $40,000 scholarship.

What Happens if You Win?

If you are selected as a potential winner, you will be subject to verification by the Sponsor, whose decisions are final and binding in all matters related to the Scholarship Program. Potential winners must digitally sign an affidavit of eligibility and any other applicable waivers to claim their prize. If any such student is a minor, they will also need to have their parent/legal guardian sign such affidavit of eligibility and applicable waivers to claim their prize.

Scholarship funds will be sent in the form of one or more checks payable to a Title IV eligible institution indicated by the student selected to receive scholarship funds. The Winner must indicate the Institution to Sponsor at least 60 calendar days before the beginning of their first semester at the Institution as indicated by Institution. Sponsor will never disburse scholarship funds or monies directly to Winner; it will disburse scholarship funds only to Institutions.

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For all winners who have completed required paperwork, funds will be distributed during the summer of 2026. If a Winner enrolls in a Title IV eligible Institution earlier than the fall of 2026, the scholarship funds will still be disbursed to the applicable Institution during the summer of 2026.

All $500 Scholarships must be disbursed no later than October 31, 2027, except in cases of deferral due to religious or military services in which case they must be disbursed no later than October 31, 2029. All $40,000 Scholarships funds must be disbursed not later than October 31, 2032.

How to Increase Your Chances of Winning

Students with more difficulty covering rising college costs are eligible to receive additional entries. "Lower Income Students" are those eligible for a fee waiver from the College Board; and/or attended a high-poverty school where 75% or more students had free or reduced lunch; and/or have a family Adjusted Gross Income of $60,000 or less. If you qualify, you have a chance to enter separate and additional drawings.

What Can the Scholarship Funds Be Used For?

The College Board wants to help students out with any educational expenses. This could mean tuition but it can also be used towards fees, books, transportation, room and board and any other educational expense.

Avoiding Common Misconceptions

The College Board Opportunity Scholarships program determines winners through random drawings rather than a criteria-based selection process. Even though the College Board Opportunity scholarships are sponsored by the College Board, they are not SAT or ACT scholarships. In fact, they have no connection to standardized test scores.

College Board Scholarship Search Tool

In addition to the College Board Opportunity Scholarship, the College Board can help you find scholarships for college with their Scholarship Search tool. The best part is that College Board Scholarship Search lets you apply for scholarships online and then reuse that information for other applications without you having to retype your data, saving you time and money. You can also access College Board Scholarship Search through the Common App. Once you submit your first common application, you will receive an alert in the Financial Aid Resources tab. Click, and the site will prompt you to connect with Scholarship Search.

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