Scholarship Guidelines

Our scholarship programs are for undergraduate study only. A student may not receive more than one Elks National Foundation scholarship award or grant in any one academic year.

The scholarships awards (except EEG) are evidenced by a Certificate of Award issued by the Chicago office of the Elks National Foundation. All checks are paid directly to the school; under no circumstance can we make payment directly to the student.

Scholarship awards may be used for cost of attendance expenses. In order to receive payment, a student must have the school send to our Chicago office, the completed Verification of Enrollment form, whereupon, we will issue our check, payable to the school, and mail it directly to the school to establish a credit in the name of the student. We will notify the student when we mail the check.

Since most checks are being prepared during the months of August through November, student and school must allow four to six weeks for payment.

If a student terminates his or her courses for any reason, the undisbursed balance of the award MUST be returned directly to the Foundation’s Chicago office. It may NOT be transferred to another school, and it may NOT be paid to the student personally.

It is the responsibility of the student to follow up on all matters relating to his or her scholarship award.

In all correspondence relating to a student who has been awarded a scholarship, we must have the full name and the ENF ID of the student.

The information herein should not be turned over to publishers or those who wish to include it in a computer resource listing. We receive hundreds of requests from students who pay for scholarship/grant information, only to find they are not eligible or that the information is years out-of-date. Unfortunately, many of these sources do not publish complete information, nor do they update their files on a regular basis.

The Elks National Foundation has no loan programs, vocational grants or assistance for graduate study available, and it does not maintain a mailing list.

If a student would like to use his or her scholarship funds for a study abroad program, it must be billed through an accredited, U.S. degree-granting institution. We cannot issue funds to a third party program or vendor.

The Elks National Foundation reserves the right to cancel an award in total, if we do not hear from a student for two consecutive academic years.

For more information contact the Elks National Foundation Scholarship Office at scholarship@elks.org.

Awards

    • The Elks National Foundation will award 500 four-year scholarships to the highest-rated applicants in the 2020 competition.
    • Male and female students compete separately.
    • Ranging from $1,000 per year to $12,500 per year, Most Valuable Student scholarships are for students pursuing a four-year degree, on a full-time basis (minimum of 12 semester hours), in a U.S. college or university. All scholarships are in the form of certificates of award conditional upon the full-time enrollment of the winner in an accredited U.S. college or university.

  • The Chicago office of the Elks National Foundation will announce the 500 national winners in late April. (Many local Lodges, districts and state Elks associations award their own scholarships through this program. These scholarships are not to be confused with the 500 Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarships. 

The 20 top finalists will participate in an all expenses paid Leadership Weekend in Chicago during which they’ll interview with the national judges. These 20 finalists will be vying for two first-place awards of $50,000; two second-place awards of $40,000; and two third-place awards of $30,000. The remaining 14 finalists will receive awards of $20,000. The 480 runners-up will receive fifth-place scholarships of $4,000.

Looking for other Elks scholarship options? Learn about Legacy Awards and Emergency Educational Grants.

Questions? Email Scholarship@elks.org or call 773/755-4732.