Scholarships & Grants

The single most reliable money on this page. Five tiers for 2026–27 — Gael $26,000, Dean's $30,000, Provost's $34,000, Presidential $36,000, Trustee's $38,000 — awarded automatically at acceptance with no separate form, and renewable four years on satisfactory academic progress. Selection runs off the official weighted GPA alone, so unlike Loyola Maryland's tiers no test score is in play. Saint Mary's does not publish the GPA bands, so which tier she lands in is the open question — but at an ~89% admit rate the floor tier is close to a given, and $26,000 off a private sticker price is the largest guaranteed figure on this list. Ask admissions which GPA lands which tier before assuming the middle.

Reserved for Catholic students. Requires a baptismal certificate and a current parish letter — paperwork, not a stats contest. Santa Catalina being Dominican rather than Jesuit does not disqualify her; these key off Catholic identity and parish involvement. Start collecting documents early.

Automatic, competitively selected on GPA, course rigor and scores if submitted. Renewable 4 years at a 2.0. Reported average admitted GPA ~3.69, so Presidential is likely a reach and the Loyola tier borderline.

The most winnable large award on the list. Initial guidance is 3.00+ GPA, which she clears, and renewal needs only a 2.50. Presidential requires 3.85 unweighted and is out of range.

UO is test-optional for admission but test-blind for scholarships, so the SAT is irrelevant and GPA/curriculum drive it. Worth calling admissions to pin down which tier a 3.49 lands in.

Automatic, no separate form. But Lafayette's own class profile is a 1360–1490 SAT and 3.56 average GPA — she is below the middle 50% of the admitted class, so the merit reach is proportionally larger.

The one UC actually worth expecting something from. Automatic off the standard UC application, no essay, test-blind, and financial need is explicitly not required. A separate Campus Merit award of $2,000–$3,000 also exists.

A separate application with its own Nov 1 deadline — easy to miss, and worth filing regardless of odds. Leadership, MLK, Park and Innovation Scholar programs run separately with a Dec 1 deadline.

The automatic base merit award. Ithaca does not publish the amount anywhere official — a genuine gap in their disclosure. Test-optional applies equally to scholarship consideration.

Automatic, for graduates of Catholic high schools generally — Santa Catalina should qualify on its face. Gonzaga's pages blocked automated checks, and one unverified source cites a 3.75 GPA bar that would put her below range. Call financial aid to get the real number.

Reportedly 98% of admits receive some merit money, and awards are guaranteed not to decrease for 4 years. Two indexed sources give different ranges and neither could be page-verified — confirm directly.

Automatic, need is not considered, and USD explicitly weighs leadership and "Changemaker" qualities alongside grades — her marine research counts for more here than at a pure-numbers school. Renewable with a 3.0. Expect a mid-tier award.

Automatic and holistic with no published cutoff, so her research profile does real work. A Dean's award is plausible; Presidential and Provost are a stretch. Note: SCU's Jesuit Ignatian Scholarship requires a Jesuit high school, so Santa Catalina does not qualify.

Rachel Carson Environmental Science, Peter Castro Evolution & Biodiversity, and Pathway to Success awards are essay-based, which is exactly where her marine ecology record beats a GPA cutoff. All route through the Bronco Scholarship Portal — easy to miss the window. President's Scholars needs 3.5 — at 3.49 she is now one hundredth of a point short, so it is worth asking whether the bar is read against a weighted or recalculated GPA before writing it off.

The only UW award open to a non-resident; the Presidential Scholar and Costco awards are Washington-resident only. Automatic, no FAFSA required, and UW is explicitly test-blind for scholarships. Amount is genuinely unpublished — do not budget around it.

Automatic with the admission application. Both admission and merit are genuinely uncertain here given her numbers against Northeastern's current selectivity. Higher tiers (Torch, Stamps) are nomination-only.

Separate from the Financial Aid Office and a lower bar than Regents — worth filing if she is admitted. Note the UCLA Regents Scholarship is only a $2,000/yr honorarium, not the full ride aggregators claim, and is invitation-only.

Automatic for the base pool, but only ~7% of freshmen receive anything and the average award is small. Named and departmental awards need the separate application. Low odds, low value — file it, do not plan on it.

Judged on a completed, original piece of research rather than GPA or test scores — the single best match on this page for her Monterey Bay and Hawaii coral work. Needs two non-parent nominators. Must be 18 or younger at the deadline.

The one military award that survives at her distance: eligibility explicitly names great-grandchildren of veterans who served after Dec 7, 1941, and Auxiliary membership is not required. Needs 50 verified volunteer hours and two non-family recommendations.

CHamoru qualifies — Guam and Chamorro fall inside the Census Pacific Islander category this fund serves. Minimum 2.7 GPA, FAFSA required. Selection prioritises lower-income applicants, so she is eligible but not favoured; apply, expect modest.

Hispanic heritage need not be exclusive. Minimum 3.0 unweighted GPA, which she clears. Need affects award size rather than eligibility, so expect the lower end of the range. The 2026–27 cycle already closed — watch for the next one.

Pacific Islander students pursuing a medical or health career — a direct fit for the pre-med track. Chamorro inclusion fits the organisation's mandate but is not spelled out; worth a confirming email.

Not an application — a competition entered by placing at an affiliated regional fair, with ISEF finals in Los Angeles May 2027. The Monterey County Science & Engineering Fair is the local feeder and carries a NOAA special award for ocean and marine projects.

Gated on membership, not religion: she must be the daughter of a Knight in good standing, and must attend a Catholic college. One phone call settles whether this applies. A Jesuit family connection alone does not satisfy it.

Same shape as the Knights award — requires that she or a female relative hold active CDA membership. Their site blocked automated checks; confirm directly before spending time.

The best local bet by a distance. One application matches her against up to 85 separate funds, some merit- and field-based rather than need-based. Open to private-school seniors in Monterey County.

Judged on scholarship, leadership and financial need — need is one of three factors, not a gate, so a high-income applicant is not disqualified. Open nationally, not restricted by school.

Eligibility is by home ZIP code (93940 / 93943 / 93944), not by school, so Santa Catalina is no barrier — check the family's ZIP. Financial need is an explicit ranking criterion, which works against her.

No senior scholarship fund appears in public search, but schools like this routinely hold small restricted funds that are never indexed and only reach students who ask. One conversation with college counselling.

No diocese-wide senior scholarship could be found published. Given the Catholic angle already in play, a call to the diocese's stewardship office is cheap to make.