NCHE Scholarship Program
For information on other NCHE graduate opportunities, visit Graduate Central.
Scholarships
The NCHE Scholarship Program was instituted to encourage and reward excellence in homeschooling in North Carolina. Since it began in 1998, the program has awarded over $180,000 to homeschool graduates from NCHE member families. NCHE scholars have attended a range of two- and four-year colleges, including the University of North Carolina, N.C. State, and Duke; the U.S. Air Force Academy; Moody Bible Institute and Patrick Henry College, as well as non-degree programs in aviation and missions.
Scholarship categories
academic
arts
community service
scholar athlete
missions and ministry (sponsored by Apologia for students wishing to pursue studies/careers in missions and ministry)
Students may select as many categories as they wish. Every applicant will be considered for all awards for which they qualify–whether they’ve selected that category or not. Only one scholarship will be awarded to each successful applicant.
Qualifications
For all scholarships, the applicant must be a member of NCHE, and a legal, full-time North Carolina homeschool senior. NCHE member: To check your membership status, go in to https://nche.com, sign into your account and click the button below. If you need to become a member of NCHE, please click here: https://www.nche.com/join/
Legal, full-time homeschooler: NCHE recognizes the wide range of educational paths taken by individual families, and the selection process is designed to take this into account. For the purposes of this scholarship program, “legal” is defined as being properly registered with the North Carolina Division of Non-public Education; and “full time” is defined as a student whose high school education is under the parents’ supervision, and not being claimed as a full time student by any other institution.
Selection Process
Applications will be evaluated by the scholarship selection committee, a panel of homeschooling parents with experience in collegiate academics and the college application process. Applications are evaluated and ranked by the committee, and awards are conferred based on the composite rankings. Members of the selection committee do not have any students applying for this program. Decisions of the selection committee are final.
Note that although standardized test scores will be considered, they are only a small part of the total package which includes records of the student’s course of study, extracurricular activities, after-school work, apprenticeship, volunteer experience, and the student’s own statements of interest in post-secondary education.
Applications
Please complete and sign the application form (which will appear below AFTER you sign in to nche.com and return to this page). The application package must include:
- Completed NCHE Scholarship Application Form
- Transcript of high school coursework. If student is dual enrolled in community college or other college classes, please include a copy (unofficial is acceptable) from that academic body as well.
- At least one standardized test score report (SAT, ACT or CLT preferred); just include the main score summary page. If you were unable to take the SAT, ACT or CLT, please include your most recent annual test (such as an Iowa or Stanford) not proctored by a family member. Our first choice, however is SAT/ACT/CLT; other scores only as an alternative. NOTE: Judges will superscore–so if you have taken the SAT more than once, send in score summary pages from each testing.
- Two letters of recommendation from adults outside the applicant’s family. All recommendation letters must state how long and in what capacity they know the student; assessment of student’s character; student’s strengths and weaknesses; and their estimation of whether or not the student is likely to complete their future studies and career goals. If applying for the Community Service Scholarship, at least one of the letters must come from a supervisor for the service project(s). If applying for the Scholar Athlete Scholarship, at least one of the letters must come from a coach.
- A resume of the applicant’s outside activities such as extracurricular organizations, service projects, community activities, apprenticeship or after-school work experience. If applying for the Arts scholarship, please include a small folio sample (visual arts) or video of performance art (YouTube). If you are applying for the Scholar Athlete scholarship, please include all sports played whether within or outside of NCHEAC, any athletic awards such as NCHEAC all-conference, all-tournament, team awards from within a program or awards received at sports camps, from AAU, the State Games of NC, travel teams, etc.
- An essay responding to the following prompt: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What life experiences have you had that make you tend that way? What do you think you need to do to get there? (Note: often, this part of the application is the clearest reflection of the student’s personality and creativity.)
- One of the scholarship sponsors is Apologia. If you have used Apologia materials as part of your curriculum, please be sure to state what courses used Apologia materials in either the transcript or resume portions of the submission.
- In either the transcript or resume portions, it is helpful–but not required–for the judges to know which major curriculum publishers were used.
Application instructions
To allow prompt consideration by the committee, applications must comply with the following guidelines:
- All materials must be submitted no later than March 31, 2024.
- The entire application, including letters of recommendation, test score reports, art folios, etc. must be received as a single package.
Submission
Deadline: March 31, 2024
Correspondence
Questions concerning the application process should be directed to the NCHE Activities Director at evelyn.bickley@nche.com. Thank you for your interest in the NCHE Scholarship Program.
Previous Scholarship Recipients