A scholarship is money awarded to a student to help pay for education costs, typically based on academic merit, talent, financial need, or other specific criteria, that does not need to be repaid. The word is spelled s-c-h-o-l-a-r-s-h-i-p. This guide covers the core scholarship definition, common spelling questions, and how scholarships differ from other types of financial aid like loans and grants.
What is a scholarship? Money given to a student for education that doesn’t need to be paid back, generally awarded based on specific criteria rather than given automatically to everyone who applies.
This guide covers the scholarship definition in plain terms, answers the common “how do you spell scholarship” question, and explains how scholarships fit into the broader picture of paying for college.
In This Article
- What Is a Scholarship?
- How Do You Spell “Scholarship”?
- What Does “Scholarship” Mean in an Academic Context?
- How Is a Scholarship Different From Other Financial Aid?
- What Does “Scholarship Definition College” Mean Specifically?
- Where Can You Find a Reliable Scholarship Definition?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line on What a Scholarship Is
What Is a Scholarship?
Whats a scholarship, in the simplest possible terms? Money awarded to help pay for education that doesn’t need to be repaid, unlike a loan.
Define scholarship more formally: financial assistance awarded to a student based on specific criteria, commonly academic achievement, talent in a particular area, financial need, intended field of study, or a combination of these factors.
Definition of scholarship, put another way: it’s essentially a gift, awarded competitively rather than automatically, meant to reduce the overall cost of a student’s education without creating any future debt obligation.
How Do You Spell “Scholarship”?
How to spell scholarship: s-c-h-o-l-a-r-s-h-i-p. It’s a single word, ten letters, no hyphen and no space in the middle, even though it’s built from the word “scholar” plus “ship.”
How do you spell scholarship correctly when it trips people up? The most common mistake is dropping or misplacing the “a” after “schol,” so it’s worth double-checking that middle section: s-c-h-o-l-a-r, then s-h-i-p.
How do you spell scholarships, the plural form? Simply add an “s” at the end: s-c-h-o-l-a-r-s-h-i-p-s, following standard English pluralization rules without any additional spelling changes.
What Does “Scholarship” Mean in an Academic Context?
Scholarship meaning, specifically within education and financial aid, always refers to this financial award concept rather than the word’s older, secondary meaning: academic research and intellectual work in a particular field.
That secondary meaning still exists, when someone refers to a professor’s “scholarship” in an academic sense, they typically mean their research output and contributions to their field, not a money award.
In everyday conversation about paying for college, though, “scholarship” almost always refers to the financial aid meaning, since that’s the far more common usage in the context most students and families encounter.
How Is a Scholarship Different From Other Financial Aid?
Scholarships differ from loans in the most fundamental way possible: scholarships don’t need to be repaid, while loans do, generally with interest added over time.
Scholarships differ from grants mainly in how they’re typically awarded. Grants are commonly based primarily on financial need, while scholarships more often factor in merit, talent, or other specific criteria, though need-based scholarships do exist too.
Scholarships also differ from work-study, which requires actually working a job to earn the awarded amount. A scholarship, once awarded, doesn’t require ongoing work in exchange for the money, only meeting whatever conditions, like a minimum GPA, might be attached to keeping it.
What Does “Scholarship Definition College” Mean Specifically?
Scholarship definition college searches usually reflect someone specifically trying to understand how scholarships work in the context of higher education, as opposed to scholarships for younger students or other, less common uses of the term.
In the college context, scholarships can come from the college itself, called institutional scholarships, or from outside organizations, called external or private scholarships, with different application processes for each type.
Understanding this college-specific context matters because eligibility criteria, application processes, and typical award sizes can differ quite a bit from scholarships aimed at younger students or non-college uses of financial assistance.
Where Can You Find a Reliable Scholarship Definition?
Scholarship dictionary.com and similar general dictionary sources provide a solid baseline definition of the word itself, useful for confirming basic meaning and spelling.
For the specific financial aid context relevant to paying for college, official sources like a college’s financial aid office, the U.S. Department of Education, or established higher education resources generally provide more practical, applied detail than a general dictionary definition alone.
Because a dictionary definition explains what the word means in general, while financial aid resources explain how scholarships actually function in practice, both types of sources serve a genuinely different, complementary purpose depending on what someone actually needs to know.
Is “scholarship” spelled the same way in British and American English?
Yes, “scholarship” is spelled identically in both British and American English, unlike some other words that have different spellings across the two variants, such as “colour” versus “color.” The word doesn’t have a common alternate spelling in either variant, so s-c-h-o-l-a-r-s-h-i-p is correct regardless of which English convention is being used.
Can “scholarship” be used as a verb?
No, “scholarship” is a noun, not a verb, in standard English usage. It’s used to describe the financial award itself, or in its academic sense, a body of research or intellectual work. There’s no standard verb form; someone doesn’t “scholarship” an action, they “receive,” “win,” “apply for,” or “award” a scholarship instead, using scholarship as the object of those verbs rather than a verb itself.
Does “scholarship” always refer to money in every context?
No, though the financial aid meaning is by far the most common usage in everyday conversation, especially around education and college planning. In academic settings, “scholarship” can also refer to a person’s body of research, publications, and intellectual contributions to their field, as in “her scholarship on 19th-century literature.” Context generally makes clear which meaning is intended, and outside of academic research discussions, the financial award meaning is almost always the one being referenced.
The Bottom Line on What a Scholarship Is
A scholarship is money awarded to a student for education costs that doesn’t need to be repaid, typically based on merit, talent, financial need, or other specific criteria. The word is spelled s-c-h-o-l-a-r-s-h-i-p, with an “s” added for the plural form.
Worth pausing on that for a second: understanding the basic definition is a small but useful first step before diving into the more practical side of things, like how to actually find and apply for scholarships that fit a specific student’s situation.
For deeper, practical guidance beyond the definition itself, exploring how to search for scholarships and build a strong application is the natural next step once the basic terminology is clear.
Sam Niclame specializes in the financial landscape of U.S. higher education, with a focus on tuition modeling, student loan structures, and the true cost of attendance across public and private universities. Drawing on years of comparative research across institutions from community colleges to Ivy League schools, Sam breaks down complex cost data into practical tools and guides that help prospective students and families make informed decisions before signing a single financial aid form.
