Counselors

Has a student at your school been awarded the Terry Scholarship?

Terry Scholars across the state have volunteered to attend high school senior celebration ceremonies to welcome 2023 Terry Scholarship recipients to our community. If your school is hosting a senior night or scholarship award ceremony and would like a representative of the Terry Foundation to attend, please complete our Award Ceremony Request Form. If a willing volunteer is nearby, we will connect you with them and help ensure they have the information needed to attend your event. Please note:

We request at least a week’s notice of your event.
We cannot guarantee that a volunteer will be available for every request.
Due to time constraints, we are unable to provide our volunteers with anything to physically present to your student at the event. Instead, we will email a personalized certificate that the school can print, if desired.

Ceremony Request Form

a Terry Scholar in graduation gear holding a sign that says thank you Terry Foundation

The Terry Scholarship Application Process

The following information has been compiled for High School Counselors, College Access Advisors, and other professionals who help high school students with their college scholarship search and application process.

Printable Postcard

What are the selection criteria?

The primary selection criteria for the Terry Scholarship are:

Academic Achievement
Demonstrated Leadership
Financial Need

Unlike many scholarship programs, the selection as a Terry Scholar is not simply based on financial need, test scores, or grade point average. Instead, Terry Scholars are chosen because they exhibit a well-rounded personality, grounded in a desire to succeed, and a demonstrated history of community leadership. Please visit our FAQ Page for more information about our eligibility requirements.

How do students apply?

The Terry Foundation does not accept applications directly from candidates. Instead, that process is conducted at each Terry-affiliated university by our campus partners. Those partners compile applications and review them at the campus level and then nominate candidates for interview to the Terry Foundation.

Our campus partners open their Terry Scholarship applications between August 1st and early October. Each university follows its own process. Texas A&M candidates apply using the ApplyTexas application. UT-Austin applicants must submit responses to Terry-specific questions on their Scholarship Interest Form (available after submitting the admissions application in the MyStatus portal). Other universities provide applicants a downloadable .pdf to complete and submit, along with supporting documentation. Each university has dedicated Terry pages on their university website, detailing their Terry application process. For links to all of our partner’s application websites, and to find the names and contact info for each of our partners, please visit our Affiliated Universities Page.

Application and Interview Timeline

Click on each item for a detailed description of each step

NOMINATIONS:
Our campus partners send their list of nominees to the Terry Foundation mid-February. Partner universities nominate from 26 to 90 candidates annually. These allotments are determined by the Terry Foundation. Although a candidate can be nominated by multiple Terry-affiliated universities, each candidate can only participate in one Terry Scholarship interview. If this happens, the Terry Foundation will contact the candidate and ask them to choose the university for which they will interview.

INTERVIEW INVITATIONS:
The Terry Foundation emails the nominees and invites them to contact the Foundation to schedule their interview in late February. When the candidate calls the Foundation, our staff will coordinate candidate travel and provide additional instructions to prepare for the interview. The Foundation reimburses mileage costs to candidates who live more than an hour from their interview site. If a hotel or flight is required, the Foundation handles the cost directly.

Terry Scholarship Interviews take place once a year, in late March and early April. Candidates interview in either El Paso, Dallas, or Houston, depending on the university they plan to attend. A candidate cannot receive a Terry Scholarship without an interview. Interview dates are intentionally limited; a candidate who cannot interview on the required date, regardless of the reason, will forfeit their interview opportunity. Each 6-person interview panel is comprised of a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and at least five former or current Terry Scholars.

Printable Timeline

Affiliated Universities

The Terry Foundation will offer new scholarships at the universities listed below for the 2024-2025 academic year. The links will take you away from our website and onto each school’s Terry Scholarship information webpage.

Counselors

Has a student at your school been awarded the Terry Scholarship?

The Terry Scholarship Application Process

What are the selection criteria?

How do students apply?

Application and Interview Timeline

AUG – OCT : APPLICATIONS OPEN

DEC – JAN : APPLICATIONS CLOSE

FEB – MAR : NOMINATIONS DUE

MAR – APR : TERRY INTERVIEWS

APRIL : NEW SCHOLARS NOTIFIED

Affiliated Universities