Scholarship Blog navigate_next Latest Posts
navigate_beforeBACK TO TOPICS

How to Write a Thank You Letter for a Scholarship


After you receive notification of the successful scholarship application, you undoubtedly want to celebrate and make plans for your educational future. Do not forget one of the most important tasks to complete, however. Send a scholarship thank you letter to the organization or individual donor who appreciated you enough to hand out free money for college. How do you write this type of letter and express your gratitude for such an important thing?

Accuracy Matters in All Things

With the same amount of care you gave to the scholarship application, write your scholarship thank you letter with accurate grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage. Also, ensure that it is addressed specifically to the person or group who was responsible for making the final decision. Lost letters do not provide a benefit for anyone.

Do not send a form letter that indicates lack of care and accuracy. This is a good opportunity to practice the professional skills that you will use later in your life. If you do not remember professional letter format from your early school days, search for examples or templates online to get you started.

Express Your Gratitude Clearly

A simple thanks may be enough for many things, but it makes sense to express more enthusiasm for a scholarship thank you letter. The committee or individual responsible to decide who received the award saw something special when they looked at you and your information. Make sure they do not regret their decision by saying how grateful you are and why. Specificity helps, and sincerity is the most important thing.

Bad Example: Thank you for the money for college. Sincerely…

Good Example: Thank you for the opportunity to pursue my goal to become an environmental engineer. This scholarship and your support will mean a lot to my future.

Focus on the Future

Just as you see in the good example above, a scholarship thank you letter should focus on the benefits that the financial help will bring to your future. Whether you received the reward based on merit, need, or some other criteria, the ultimate goal of any scholarship is to make your future brighter. They are intended to help you become an important part of society and be solutions that will make things more positive. Indicate what you plan to do with your education in order to properly express gratitude.

Even though it sounds like there is a lot of information to put into a thank you letter addressed to a scholarship donor or committee, you do want to keep the message relatively short. After the application judging process is done, the selection committee probably do not want to read more essays or engage in a long back and forth communication. Make your point, say thank you clearly, and move on. Your scholarship thank you letter will do the job effectively as long as you follow the above tips.