Private Scholarships

We encourage students to pursue scholarship opportunities in their local communities, as well as on a national level. We recommend these Scholarship Search services:

• CareerOneStop – Scholarship Search
• College Board Scholarship Search
• FastWeb Scholarship Search

What to do when you receive a private scholarship:

Students should upload a copy of the private scholarship notification letter to their MyBU Applicant Portal or BU FA Document Portal and email BU Financial Assistance to report the scholarship amount and awarding agency. The amount of the outside scholarship will be incorporated into your financial aid award.

BU Financial Assistance cannot incorporate private scholarships into a student’s financial aid award until we are notified of both the scholarship amount and awarding agency. In order to avoid financial aid adjustments later in the semester, please report private scholarships to BU Financial Assistance as soon as possible after receiving notification of the award.

Effects of a private scholarship on your financial aid:

You must promptly inform BU Financial Assistance in writing of any additional award you receive from any source, either within or outside of Boston University.

Awards you must report include (but are not limited to):

• Outside Scholarships & Grants
• Tuition Benefits

BU’s primary objective is to allow students to retain the maximum possible benefit from their outside scholarship by reducing self-help components of your financial aid package before reducing institutional grant or scholarship assistance.

Outside scholarships will be incorporated into your financial aid package and may result in an adjustment to other forms of financial aid only if required by federal or state regulations or if total financial aid exceeds: 

• Your Federal eligibility for need-based aid (COA – SAI), or 

• BU’s published Cost of Attendance (COA). 

If you receive any additional award from another entity within Boston University, your need-based grant will be reduced by the amount of that award.

_{*Effective for awards beginning in the 26/27 Academic Year.}

Notify Student Financials

Notification letters and the payments from private scholarship donors should be mailed directly to:

Boston University, Student Financials
25 Buick Street, Suite 130
Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Email: studenta@bu.edu