Merit-Based ScholarshipsLong shot

GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program

Offered by Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute · Free to apply

The GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program is run by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in partnership with GE Aerospace. It was created to carry President Reagan's ideals forward by investing in a new generation of values-driven, civic-minded leaders. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute is the only nonprofit organization President Reagan personally established, and it sustains the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, the largest and most visited presidential library. It also operates a policy institute a block from the White House and education programming that reaches students from middle school through college. Seniors who show leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship compete for $10,000 a year, renewable for four years and $40,000 total, plus a place in the Reagan Foundation's scholar retreat and alumni network. Reviewers look at what a student has actually led in school, at work, or in the community rather than at test scores; the floor is a 3.0 GPA and a plan to enroll full time at an accredited four-year US college. Homeschooled students, students in US territories, and students at schools on American military bases abroad are all eligible. Applications typically open in mid-October and close January 5. Semifinalists then submit a transcript, one recommendation, financial documentation, and a values statement, finalists interview virtually in the spring, and renewal each year requires a 3.0 and participation in Foundation events.

Other deadlines near this one

How hard is the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program to win?

A large applicant pool chases this award. Apply if the student is a genuinely strong fit, but build the plan around better-odds awards first.

Estimated odds: roughly 1 in 578 applicants
Modelled applicant field: ~6,000 students
Awards each cycle: 10
Payoff per hour of work: $21 / hr

What drives the odds here

Odds on a scholarship are mostly a question of how many students can enter. Each rule below changes the size of that field.

More rivalsOpen nationwide, so the field is large
Fewer rivalsAn essay is required, which filters out casual applicants
Fewer rivalsRecommendation letters are required, a step many applicants skip
Fewer rivalsAn official transcript is required
Fewer rivalsOpen to a single grade level only
Fewer rivalsRequires at least a 3 GPA
More rivalsA large award draws far more applicants

How Solyo estimates this: We model the applicant field from how narrow the eligibility rules are, then divide the awards available by that field. Requirements such as essays and recommendation letters improve a serious applicant’s odds, because most browsers never complete them. These are estimates derived from each award's published structure, not reported acceptance rates, which almost no scholarship provider discloses. Treat them as a way to rank where the hours go, not as a guarantee.

Who can apply for the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program?

These are the eligibility rules Solyo verified against the official award page, translated into plain English. Your student must meet each one.

Open to high school seniors
GPA of 3 or higher (unweighted)
Open to U.S. citizens

Confirm these before applying

Must demonstrate leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship in community, school, or workplace
Semifinalists must submit a transcript, one recommendation letter, financial documentation, and a values statement
Finalists complete a virtual interview in the spring

Good to know

Must plan to enroll full time at an accredited four-year US college or university
Homeschooled students, students in US territories, and students at schools on US military bases abroad are eligible
Award is renewable for three additional years if standards are maintained

Personalized matching

Does your student actually qualify?

Not sure your student clears every rule above? Solyo checks 20+ criteria against their real profile: GPA, state, grade level, intended major, and more, across every award in this directory at once.

Match my student to scholarships

What the application takes

Essay required. The prompt centers on personal leadership.
1 letter of recommendation. Ask teachers or counselors early; good letters take time.
Transcript required. Request it from the school registrar ahead of the deadline.

Deadline and application cycle

The next projected deadline is January 5, 2027 (estimated). The last verified deadline has passed; the next cycle is projected from this award's usual January 5 deadline. Confirm the exact date on the official site. Applications open mid-October.

Semifinalist materials: transcript, recommendation, values statement: Late winter 2026
Finalist virtual interviews: Spring 2026
Application typically opens: Mid-October 2026
Application due: January 5, 2027 (estimated)
Recipients announced: Late spring 2027

Track the next deadline Apply on the official site

Free to apply. Legitimate scholarships never charge a fee. We use your student's information only to build their plan.

Common questions about the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program

How hard is it to win the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship?

Extremely hard: the 2025 class had just 10 winners nationwide, and over its first 15 years the program has funded 236 students total, roughly 10 to 20 per year. The foundation does not publish applicant or semifinalist totals, saying only that volume is too high to give individual feedback. The saving grace for families: the first-round application asks for essays and activity lists but no transcript or recommendation, so the cost of entry is modest. Transcripts, a recommendation, financial documentation, and a values statement are requested only if your student is named a semifinalist, so the heavy paperwork arrives only after the odds have already improved dramatically.

What GPA do you need for the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship?

A minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale, or the equivalent. Treat that as a floor, not a target: the program's stated selection basis is the four Reagan core values of leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship, evidenced through extracurriculars, community service, and paid work, with academics framed as "strong academic performance" rather than a class-rank contest. Note the fine print families miss: eligibility also requires U.S. citizenship and a plan to enroll full time at an accredited four-year U.S. college, so a strong GPA cannot substitute for either. Transcripts are not even collected in the first round; they are requested only from semifinalists.

Who is eligible for the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship?

Current U.S. high school seniors who are U.S. citizens, hold at least a 3.0 GPA, plan to enroll full time at an accredited four-year U.S. college the following fall, and can demonstrate leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship. Home-schooled students count, as do seniors in U.S. territories and commonwealths and students on U.S. Armed Forces bases abroad. Two groups are firmly out: non-citizens (permanent residents included, per the citizens-only FAQ answer) and anyone already in college; this is strictly a senior-year award, and younger students cannot start an application early. The program also states it is apolitical, so no ideology test in either direction.

How much is the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship worth?

$10,000 per year, renewable for up to three additional years, so up to $40,000 total. Two pieces of fine print matter. First, renewal is not automatic: recipients must apply for renewal each year and stay in good academic standing. Second, the money is applied to expenses charged through the student account, such as tuition, fees, books, required supplies, and on-campus room and board; it generally does not cover off-campus housing, transportation, groceries, test-prep courses, club fees, or student loans, though course-required technology may qualify. Also note that semifinalists and finalists receive nothing; scholarships go to recipients only.

When is the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship deadline?

The foundation has not yet posted dates for the next (2027) cycle; its page currently says the 2026 application is closed and offers a "Notify Me for 2027" signup. For calibration, the last cycle opened October 13, 2025 and closed January 5, 2026 at noon Central time, with all applicants notified by March 1. Expect a similar fall-open, early-January-close pattern, but confirm on reaganfoundation.org once the application posts. The trap in that deadline is the clock: noon Central, not midnight, so a student planning a deadline-day submission in the evening will find the portal already shut. Application questions go to the administrator, Kaleidoscope, not the foundation.

What do GE-Reagan Scholarship semifinalists have to submit?

Four things, due in mid-March: one recommendation, a high school transcript, financial documentation, and a values statement. The values statement is exactly what it sounds like, a short statement on your values; the foundation publishes no prompt for it, but the program judges candidates on leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship, so that is the vocabulary to write in. From there, finalists sit virtual interviews in April and recipients are notified by April 30. Everything moves by email from @mykaleidoscope.com, and the foundation warns applicants to whitelist that domain and check spam. Do not mail anything: documents mailed to GE, the foundation, or Kaleidoscope are discarded unread.

Is the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship need-based?

No income cutoff exists, and the foundation goes out of its way to say so: applicants are considered first on merit, financial information is just one component of the evaluation, and there is no adjusted-gross-income threshold that disqualifies anyone. Families who assume they earn too much routinely rule themselves out of this one for no reason; the foundation explicitly asks them not to. That said, the application does collect basic financial information up front, and semifinalists must later submit financial documentation, so need is a real factor in the mix even though it is never a gate. Apply on the strength of the leadership record and let the committee weigh the rest.

When do GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program applications open?

Applications open mid-October, and close January 5, 2027 (estimated).

Does the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program require an essay?

Yes. The application requires an essay, 1 recommendation, and a transcript. Expect to spend about 5 hours on it.

Is the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program free to apply?

Yes. The GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program is free to apply. Legitimate scholarships never charge an application fee, and Solyo verifies every listed award against its official page.

More merit-based scholarships

Lists this award appears on

Award details are curated by Solyo and verified against the official scholarship page. Deadlines and requirements can change between cycles, so always confirm on the provider's site before applying.