The Gates Scholarship

Organization: The Gates Scholarship, funded by the Gates Foundation

Type: Scholarship

Location: United States

Deadline: September 15, 2026

Funding: Fully Funded

Funded by the Gates Foundation and running since 2017, this is a last-dollar award for high school seniors from low-income households across the United States. Rather than paying a flat sum, it covers whatever the full cost of a bachelor's degree still costs after other financial aid and the Student Aid Index have been applied, for up to five years of study. Applications for the tenth cohort close on 15 September 2026. **What you get:** - Funding for the full cost of attendance to earn a bachelor's degree, covering what is not already met by other financial aid and the Student Aid Index as determined by the FAFSA, or by the methodology the Scholar's own college uses - Cost of attendance covered includes tuition, fees, housing, food, books and transportation, and may include additional personal costs - Funding for a maximum of five years of study, with the expectation of completing a bachelor's degree in that time - Online support services for the life of the scholarship, including career services, mentoring, leadership development, wellness and knowledge building - No restriction on major or field of study - Funds are paid directly to the Scholar's college or university, not to the student **What you'll do:** - Create a myTGS Profile, the portal you apply through and then keep for the life of the scholarship - Submit the Phase I application by 15 September 2026 - Semi-finalists complete a Phase II application between 1 December 2026 and 15 January 2027 - Finalists interview during March 2027, in person where an interviewer is within reasonable distance and virtually otherwise - Once awarded, submit a FAFSA before each academic year plus a renewal form and enrolment verification forms, and maintain satisfactory academic progress, to keep the funding **Key dates:** - Applications open 15 July 2026 - Phase I applications close 15 September 2026 - Semi-finalists announced 1 December 2026 - Phase II opens 1 December 2026, semi-finalists only - Phase II applications close 15 January 2027 - Finalists announced 1 March 2027 - Finalist interviews 1 to 31 March 2027 - Scholars announced 20 April 2027 - Funds disbursed autumn 2027 **More information:** - Full eligibility and process FAQs sit in the Help Center, with separate sections for students, parents, educators and community representatives - Applications are submitted through a myTGS Profile created at thegatesscholarship.org/sign-up - The programme does not publish how many scholarships it awards each year, and answers that question in its own FAQ without giving a number

The Gates Scholarship, funded by the Gates FoundationScholarship

The Gates Scholarship

This one has closed

Archived

Opportunity type

Scholarship

Funding

Fully Funded

Location

United States

Deadline

Archived

About this opportunity

What you get:

Funding for the full cost of attendance to earn a bachelor's degree, covering what is not already met by other financial aid and the Student Aid Index as determined by the FAFSA, or by the methodology the Scholar's own college uses
Cost of attendance covered includes tuition, fees, housing, food, books and transportation, and may include additional personal costs
Funding for a maximum of five years of study, with the expectation of completing a bachelor's degree in that time
Online support services for the life of the scholarship, including career services, mentoring, leadership development, wellness and knowledge building
No restriction on major or field of study
Funds are paid directly to the Scholar's college or university, not to the student

What you'll do:

Create a myTGS Profile, the portal you apply through and then keep for the life of the scholarship
Submit the Phase I application by 15 September 2026
Semi-finalists complete a Phase II application between 1 December 2026 and 15 January 2027
Finalists interview during March 2027, in person where an interviewer is within reasonable distance and virtually otherwise
Once awarded, submit a FAFSA before each academic year plus a renewal form and enrolment verification forms, and maintain satisfactory academic progress, to keep the funding

Key dates:

Applications open 15 July 2026
Phase I applications close 15 September 2026
Semi-finalists announced 1 December 2026
Phase II opens 1 December 2026, semi-finalists only
Phase II applications close 15 January 2027
Finalists announced 1 March 2027
Finalist interviews 1 to 31 March 2027
Scholars announced 20 April 2027
Funds disbursed autumn 2027

More information:

Full eligibility and process FAQs sit in the Help Center, with separate sections for students, parents, educators and community representatives
Applications are submitted through a myTGS Profile created at thegatesscholarship.org/sign-up
The programme does not publish how many scholarships it awards each year, and answers that question in its own FAQ without giving a number

Who can apply

A high school senior, specifically the class of 2027. Students holding a GED instead of a high school diploma are not eligible
Pell-eligible. Pell-eligibility is calculated by the US Department of Education after a student submits the FAFSA, and the programme notes that in recent years 99 percent of Pell-eligible students came from households with incomes of 80,000 dollars or less per year
A US citizen or permanent resident
In good academic standing with a minimum cumulative weighted GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale, or the equivalent
Planning to enrol full time in a four-year degree programme at a US accredited, not-for-profit, private or public college or university. The institution must be based in the United States or a US territory, and universities in Puerto Rico qualify
Must matriculate into that four-year programme directly after graduating from high school, without interruption. Starting an associate degree at a community college and transferring later does not qualify
No restriction on major or field of study
There is no ethnicity requirement in the published eligibility criteria. Race and ethnicity data is optional on the application, is kept separate from the rest of the application materials, and is not used to influence decisions

AI Verification

✓ AI Verified

Our AI read the official sources and cross-checked the key facts. Here is what held up, and what it could not confirm.

This opportunity is run by an established organization, and we confirmed its key details against the official source. As always, never share sensitive personal or financial information until you are sure a request is genuine.

LOT Verification ScoreStrong

Cross-checked 17 of 21 key facts

Confirmed Our best read Not stated

Good to know

+Covers the full cost of attendance not already met by other aid: tuition, fees, housing, food, books and transport, for up to five years
+There is no ethnicity requirement. Ethnicity data is optional, kept separate from your application, and not used in the decision
+Free to apply
+Funded by the Gates Foundation, and the award follows you rather than tying you to one institution

Worth checking yourself

!Phase I closes 15 September, which is eight days away
!Five hard gates, all of which must be true: you are a high school senior in the class of 2027 with no GED, you are Pell eligible, you are a US citizen or permanent resident, you have at least a 3.3 weighted GPA, and you will enrol full time on a four year US degree straight out of school
!The money is paid to your college, never to you
!They do not publish a closing time, so treat 15 September as ending at the start of the day wherever you are
!Their FAQ says applications open every summer through 2026 while calling next April's cohort the tenth, which may mean this is the final round

What we could not confirm

?Number Of Awards, not published by the organisation. Asked and answered without a figure in their own FAQ, so this is a confirmed absence rather than an unread page
?Deadline Time and deadline Timezone, not published. No time of day or zone string appears on any page read. Defaulted to 23:59 UTC per house style
?Age Min and age Max, not published. Eligibility is defined by grade level rather than age

Sources checked

THthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApplyTHthegatesscholarship.orgApply

LOT finds and checks opportunities from public sources. Always confirm details on the organiser’s own page before applying.