External Scholarships

External scholarships are financial aid awards offered by private donors, foundations, businesses and community organizations outside of Ohio State. Examples include scholarships funded by your local Rotary Club or Lions Club, high school booster organization, or church.

External scholarships are different from institutionally awarded scholarships (e.g., Maximus, Provost, and Trustees Scholarship; National Buckeye Scholarship) and federally or state awarded grants (e.g., Pell Grant, Ohio College Opportunity Grant).

Submit an External Scholarship


To ensure timely and accurate processing of your external scholarship, please review the following submission requirements.

Submit an External Scholarship for One Student

The external scholarship donor should include the following on the Memo line of the check:

  • The student's full legal name, including middle initial, if available
  • The student's 8 or 9 digit OSU ID number or name.# (e.g., buckeye.1) in the Memo line.

This information is critical to accurately processing the scholarship on a student's behalf, as more than one student may be enrolled at Ohio State with the same name.

Processing for scholarship checks made payable to both the university and a student (e.g., "The Ohio State University and Brutus Buckeye") may take longer due to the additional endorsement required.

Submit External Scholarships for Multiple Students

When submitting external scholarships for more than one student, we recommend recommend sending one check for the combined amount.

On the payment stub or in an attached memo, please include a list containing:

  • the full legal name including middle initial, if available, of each student to be awarded
  • Each student's 8 or 9 digit OSU ID number or name.# (e.g., buckeye.1)
  • Details about how the funds should be distributed

This information is critical to accurately processing the scholarship on a student's behalf, as more than one student may be enrolled at Ohio State with the same name.

Processing for scholarship checks made payable to both the university and a student (e.g., "The Ohio State University and Brutus Buckeye") may take longer due to the additional endorsement required.

All external scholarship checks should be made payable to The Ohio State University. Please mail external scholarship payments to:

The Ohio State University - External Scholarships
PO Box 183248
Columbus, OH 43218-3248

Scholarship checks for students attending a regional campus (i.e., Newark, Marion, Mansfield, Lima, or Wooster/ATI) should also be submitted to the above address in Columbus.

Payments must be postmarked by the fee payment deadline in order to avoid late fees. Please allow 1-2 weeks from the time your scholarship check is sent for it to post to a student's account. All mailed payments are processed within 2-3 business days of receipt.

Failure to include the key identifying information outlined in the submission requirements above with your scholarship check may cause processing delays that result in a late fee being assessed to a student's account.

    Recommended Submission Timelines

    The following submission timelines are intended as a guide to ensure your scholarship arrives and is posted prior to the fee payment deadline for the corresponding term.

    TermSubmit Scholarship Check...
    Autumn SemesterFirst Week of July
    Spring SemesterFirst Week of October
    Summer TermFirst Week of April

    Note that processing timelines may increase at peak periods in mid-August, late December, early January, late April, and early May. During these periods, allot extra time.

    Resources

    External Scholarships and Other Financial Aid


    Federal regulations require that external scholarships be included as part of your overall financial aid package, which cannot exceed the cost of attendance. Once a payment from an external scholarship is applied to your account, it will be added to your financial aid award. This may initiate a revision of your financial aid award package and impact your eligiblity for other types of financial aid.

    Monitor your My Buckeye Link account closely if you are expecting an external scholarship in addition to your other financial aid.

    External Scholarship Posting Policies


    The following external scholarship acceptance policies ensure that Ohio State adheres to highest standards of fiscal stewardship while mitigating risk to the institution and to you.

    External Scholarship Payment Application

    External scholarship funds will be credited to the student’s account once the Bursar’s Office has received and processed the check from the donor. The funds will be applied in the following priority sequence to the following charges:

    • Tuition and Fees
    • University Housing
    • Other educational expenses

    External scholarship funds are applied to the current semester fee statement, with the exception of the following circumstances:

    • The donor specifies the semester to which the funds should be credited.
    • The student makes a specific request to the Bursar's Office within the current award year and there are no donor instructions

    External scholarship funds will not be credited to a student’s account until a check from the
    donor has been received.

    The Bursar’s Office does not hold funds to disburse over future award years. Checks are processed for the current award year only.

    After all university charges have been paid, any remaining credit balance may be issued to the student as a refund.

    Enrollment and Academic Progress

    The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (link is external) (FERPA), a federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records, restricts Ohio State from providing information about a student's grades, number of enrolled credit hours, course schedule, enrollment status or other academic progress markers without their written consent.

    Scholarship donors who require enrollment or academic progress verification to award funds should contact students directly with their request.

    Failure to Enroll

    If a student fails to enroll at Ohio State or transfers to another educational institution, the Bursar’s Office will return the external scholarship funds to the donor approximately 5 weeks into the term. They can be returned sooner at the request of either the donor or the student.

    Please contact the Office of the University Bursar to make your request at externalscholarships@osu.edu

    Requests for Statements of Account

    Ohio State does not produce statements (invoices) for external scholarship donors. Specific tuition and fee information, if required, may be obtained from the student who has access to their statement of account through a secured website.

    Upon request, the Office of Student Financial Aid will send a general letter listing the cost of tuition and other expenses for the semester/year.