WELCOME
UMBC offers competitive merit scholarships to incoming First-Year Students, Transfer Students and International Students. Additional scholarship opportunities for incoming and current students may be found in Scholarship Retriever.
Prospective Student Timelines
Fall 2025 First-Year Students:
- Apply for admission as soon as possible for automatic merit scholarship consideration!
- Once you have a campus ID, complete your General Application on Scholarship Retriever and continue applying to new opportunities!
- Once you are admitted, a Scholarship Offer is included in your admissions mailing, if offered.
- Make sure to sign your Merit Scholarship Agreement by May 1st, 2025!
Fall 2025 Transfer Students:
- Apply for admission as soon as possible for automatic transfer merit scholarship consideration!
- Students interested in Scholar Programs must apply to programs separately.
- Once you have a campus ID, complete your General Application on Scholarship Retriever and continue applying to new opportunities!
How much does it cost?
For the best estimate of the charges you will be directly billed for throughout your time at UMBC, we recommend utilizing the Financial Aid Cost Calculator! This tool will allow you to better determine your expected Cost based on intended enrollment (12 or more credits is full-time for undergraduates, and the same price), residency, and housing. You will then be able to plug in expected aid to see your out of pocket cost. For questions please contact our Financial Aid unit.
NEWS
Now Hiring Scholarship Assistants!
The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships is now hiring undergraduate UMBC students for our Federal Work Study (FWS) Scholarship Assistant Position, to start as early as May 27th. The position requires attention to detail and includes phone, email, and in-person customer service. The position pays minimum wage, which is currently $15/hour. Submit your application by 4:00pm Thursday, April 24th for priority consideration. Note that you will need to be signed into your myUMBC account in order to access the google form application. Any additional questions regarding the application should be sent to Natalie Smith, Scholarships Coordinator at nasmith2@umbc.edu.
Spring 2025 Scholarship Discontinuation
Students who do not meet the terms of their scholarship agreement following the Spring 2025 semester will be notified of the discontinuation of their scholarship by June 9th, 2025. Students will have an opportunity to appeal this discontinuation via the Scholarship Discontinuation Appeal form, which will become available June 9th. All Spring 2025 Scholarship Discontinuation appeals are due by 11:59PM EST July 6th, 2025, no late appeal or in person meetings are accepted, and all decisions regarding appeals are final.
Discontinuation Timeline
- Scholarship Discontinuation Notification Emails are sent on/by June 9th.
- Scholarship Discontinuation Appeal form opens June 9th. The appeal form will be posted here and you are encouraged to review the questions asked in the appeal ahead of time.
- 11:59PM EST July 6th: Final Deadline to submit a Scholarship Discontinuation appeal, for consideration of the reinstatement of your scholarship. Failure to submit an appeal by this deadline, or if you choose not to appeal, your award will not be reinstated regardless of whether you show academic improvement in future semesters. This is the only period to appeal for reinstatement , and you must submit your appeal by the deadline.
Financial Aid Disbursement
Spring 2025 Financial Aid Disbursements
Spring billing statements begin posting by Student Business Services (SBS) January 1st. Any charges added after this date will appear on the next months billing statement. All charges included on the billing statement are due by the 20th of that month. You can find a full billing schedule as well as information on payment plans and refunds on the SBS website.
Financial aid for Spring 2025 disburses to student accounts weekly beginning January 17th. Aid for part-time (less than 12 credits) undergraduate students begins to disburse after the add/drop date for the semester. You must pay any portion of your balance not covered by financial aid or a payment plan by the due date in order to avoid late fees.
2024-2025 Athletic Scholarships
2024-2025 athletic scholarships awarded to student athletes with a signed NCAA Agreement will be posted to student accounts in August. For additional information, please contact Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance, Whitney Ames.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please visit our FAQ page to get answers to the most common questions you have regarding merit scholarships.
Scholarship Retriever
All UMBC students and applicants with a UMBC Campus ID may now submit a General Scholarship Application through Scholarship Retriever to be considered for Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 institutional scholarships.
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