North Dakota Scholarships

Scholarship Sponsored by North Dakota University System

Overview
The North Dakota Scholarship awards $6,000 to qualifying students and is intended for use at state-approved colleges, universities, professional schools, or registered apprenticeship programs located in North Dakota. The scholarship’s requirements are based on the Choice Ready framework but are stricter than the baseline Choice Ready expectations.

Who is eligible
To qualify, a student must:
- Meet all ESSENTIAL SKILLS requirements (listed below), and
- Satisfy at least two of the following three pathways: POST-SECONDARY READY, WORKFORCE READY, or MILITARY READY.

The combination of essential skills plus two of the three pathway components is required for scholarship eligibility. For full, component-level details, refer to the North Dakota Scholarship Framework and North Dakota Century Code 15.1-21-02.10.

Essential skills (statutory requirements)
Students must meet the following core requirements:
- Earn a North Dakota high school diploma.
- Complete a 9-week career education or individual counseling experience.
- Maintain a four-year rolling plan.
- Pass the North Dakota Civics Test.
- Achieve an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher.
- Demonstrate at least four of the additional indicators listed below.

Additional indicators (need four or more)
- Complete 25 hours of community service.
- Maintain 95% attendance (excluding school-related absences).
- Participate in a career exploration experience.
- Participate two or more years in organized co-curricular activities.
- Participate two or more years in organized extra-curricular activities.
- Successfully complete a capstone project.
- Successfully complete an online learning course.
- Demonstrate competency in 21st century skills.

Verification of indicators and documentation
Public schools
- Public school staff must mark the appropriate indicators for each student when submitting the Choice Ready report.
- The Choice Ready report must be completed by June 30. Any indicator not recorded in that report will not be accepted as meeting scholarship eligibility.

Non-public schools
- Non-public schools must complete and submit the Nonpublic School Verification Form to document indicators.

Home-educated students
- Parents of home-educated students must complete, sign, have notarized, and submit the Home Education Verification Form.

Application timeline and instructions
- The online scholarship application will open on January 05, 2026.
- The deadline to submit the application is June 05, 2026.
- This online application is intended for students who graduate as members of the Class of 2026. Students who graduated prior to 2026 should contact Jim Upgren at 701-328-2244 for application instructions.
- Applications received after June 05, 2026 are not guaranteed to be processed in time for distribution of scholarship funds for the fall 2026 semester.

Legal reference and framework
- The North Dakota Scholarship framework aligns with the Choice Ready Framework and implements the requirements described in North Dakota Century Code 15.1-21-02.10. The framework begins with ESSENTIAL SKILLS and then requires students to pursue POST-SECONDARY READY, WORKFORCE READY, and/or MILITARY READY components as specified above.

For additional specifics on the Post-Secondary Ready, Workforce Ready, and Military Ready components, consult the North Dakota Scholarship Framework.