FAQ

Question 1

Who is eligible for the College Board Opportunity Scholarships?

Accepted Answer

The College Board Opportunity Scholarship program is open to all class of 2021 students who attend high school in the United States, Puerto Rico, US territories and US students attending Department of Defense Education Activity schools. Students in the class of 2022 will be eligible in December 2020. For more information, please see Official Rules.

Question 2

Are there family income requirements to earn scholarships?

Accepted Answer

No. This program is open to students regardless of their family income. At least half of all the scholarships (at least $2.5 million) will be designated for students whose families earn less than $60,000 per year.

Question 3

How will students be identified as having family income below $60,000?

Accepted Answer

Half of the scholarships awarded through the College Board Opportunity Scholarships program will go to students whose families earn less than $60,000 per year. Participants will automatically be identified as meeting this criterion in two ways:

If students have received a fee waiver through the College Board for one of our assessmentsIf they attend a high school where 75% or more of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch If students have not been automatically identified as qualifying for additional scholarship entries, but feel they qualify because their family earns less than $60,000 per year, they will be able to provide additional information once they opt in to the program. Students can to update their self-reported income level at any time.

Question 4

How can students participate?

Accepted Answer

Students can return to the homepage to opt in to the program via their College Board account.

Question 5

When can students begin taking part in the College Board Opportunity Scholarships?

Accepted Answer

Students in the class of 2021 can opt in through February 2021. For the class of 2021, the last scholarship drawing will take place on March 1, 2021. Students in the class of 2021 can opt in starting December 2019. For the class of 2021, the first scholarship drawings will take place at the end of January 2020.

Question 6

Can I dispute my activity progress in the College Board Opportunity Scholarships? What do I do if I don’t think my activity tracker on the program website is accurate?

Accepted Answer

It may take up to 24 hours for your activity to be updated in the progress tracker. After that time, if you still feel that your information is not up to date, please contact Customer Service at 844-298-3554.

Question 7

Do students have to participate online via the College Board Opportunity Scholarships website?

Accepted Answer

There is a mail-in entry option for students who cannot participate online. See the Official Rules for more information. We encourage students to use the College Board Opportunity Scholarships website to track their progress and stay up to date on the latest information regarding this program.

Question 8

What are the dates for the program and the various drawings?

Accepted Answer

For the class of 2021, drawings for the Improve Your Score scholarships will be awarded in September 2020, December 2020 and January 2021. The drawings for the Apply to Colleges and Complete Your Journey scholarships will occur one time on the above dates. Drawings for all other scholarships will occur monthly during the windows noted above.

Question 9

How will students be notified if they win?

Accepted Answer

Students will receive an email if they’re selected as a winner and will be notified when they return to their progress tracker or view their My Achievements page.

Question 10

How can I opt out of updates regarding the College Board Opportunity Scholarships?

Accepted Answer

Students can update their email and text message preferences at any time by logging into their College Board account and updating their settings.

Question 11

Can these scholarships be applied regardless of institution type (two-year, four-year, for-profit)?

Accepted Answer

These scholarships can be used for any Title IV accredited institution of higher education, including accredited two-year and four-year.

Question 12

How will students receive the money if they earn a scholarship?

Accepted Answer

We will disburse the money directly to the institution that the student ends up attending. As a student moves through the college application process, the money will be set aside for them until they let us know where they enroll in college. Because we are disbursing the money directly to the institution, there are no tax implications for the student.

Question 13

Are the scholarships one-time awards?

Accepted Answer

The individual activity-based scholarships are all one-time awards and will be disbursed to the student’s institution for their first semester of enrollment, unless they don’t have unmet need that semester. The overall Complete Your Journey scholarship ($40,000) will be disbursed in installments based on what is most advantageous to the student.

Question 14

Are the scholarships only for tuition?

Accepted Answer

We want these scholarships to help students meet their expenses associated with attending college, so we’ll be instructing institutions that the scholarships should be applied to tuition, fees, books, and other relevant educational expenses.

Question 15

What if a student doesn’t end up enrolling in a qualifying institution?

Accepted Answer

Once a student claims their scholarship (which must happen within 60 calendar days of being notified that they were selected for a scholarship per the Official Rules), they must keep the College Board updated on their college plans. During the spring semester of their senior year, we’ll email students who have earned a scholarship about the disbursement process and next steps. If students plan to enroll at an institution of higher education immediately after graduating high school, they must notify the College Board so that funds can be disbursed to the institution. If a student will be taking a gap year, they will be able to wait one year before using their scholarship at the institution where they enroll.

Question 16

What happens if the scholarship is greater than the students’ unmet need?

Accepted Answer

We will work with the student and their institution to apply the scholarship in a way that is most beneficial to the student. This could include spreading it out over multiple semesters to meet their need or working with the student and their institution to reduce the self-help portions of their institutional aid package like loans and work-study.

Question 17

How will you verify that a student has taken all these actions?

Accepted Answer

When a scholarship winner earned an entry based on actions that the student would take outside of the College Board's web properties, the student will need to provide confirmation only after receiving notification from the College Board. For example, only students who earn scholarships for the Complete the FAFSA step will need to provide a screenshot or photo of their FAFSA submission confirmation email. Any students who earn scholarships for the Apply to Colleges step will be required to submit proof of their college application(s).

Question 18

Can students earn more than one scholarship?

Accepted Answer

Yes. They can also earn multiple scholarships in the same month (e.g., Improve and Apply scholarships) and earn the same scholarship in different months (e.g., Practice scholarship in February and April).

Question 19

How can a student opt out of the program?

Accepted Answer

Students can log into the College Board Opportunity Scholarships website using their College Board account and update their opt-in status on their My Achievements page.

Question 20

If my child wins, will their name be posted publicly? Can a student or their parent/guardian request to opt out of having their name shared with anyone if they win?

Accepted Answer

When a student earns a College Board Opportunity Scholarship, we will ask for their permission to share their name in promotional materials. If a student is under 18, we will ask for parent permission to highlight their child as a winner.

Question 21

How will you ensure that the information provided by students via their participation in the College Board Opportunity Scholarships will be kept secure?

Accepted Answer

The College Board is committed to keeping student information safe and secure. We collect personal information only to administer tests and deliver educational opportunities to students. We give students and families complete discretion as to how much additional information they disclose, beyond the minimum information needed to connect students with college success, including registering for the SAT or saving college lists. The same will be true for the College Board Opportunity Scholarships.

Question 22

Who can company or foundation representatives contact if they are interested in becoming a sponsor of this program?

Accepted Answer

Interested parties should email admin-opportunityscholarships@collegeboard.org.

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