Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program, also known as Byrd Honors Scholarships, is funded federally but state-administered through the state education agencies (SEA) to support postsecondary education. This program creates to recognize and distinguish outstanding and competent high school seniors who promise to demonstrate their commitment of constant academic achievement in postsecondary education.
The U.S. Department of Education provides funds to state education agencies that supervise public elementary and secondary schools in their respective States. These agencies award scholarships to the eligible students to meet their expenses of colleges. States receiving the funds include, Puerto Rico, District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, the Virgin Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and The Federated States of Micronesia.
Renewal of the participation in the program is required each year by the states. The scholarship is of $1500 annually and at the maximum can support four years of study at any eligible higher education institution. High school graduates who have enrolled at the higher education institutions and have exhibited excellent and impressive academic accomplishment and promise to continue their excellence can apply to states of which they are residents. The Department on the formula basis grants funds to the states.
The eligibility conditions require that the year in which the scholarship is to be awarded, the student should have completed graduation from a public or private secondary school or have obtained an equally recognized high school diploma. A student should be a legal resident of the state in which the scholarship applies.
He or she needs to be a citizen or a national of U.S. If a student is permanent resident in U.S. then proof from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is required to show his resident status in order to depict that he has not been in the country for any temporary purpose.Higher education institution must have accepted the enrollment of the student.
An eligible student needs to certify that he has not defaulted on a Federal student loan or in fact any other obligation and thus qualifies for the assistance. A student also needs to file with the school of his or her intention to attend a Statement of Selective Service Registration Status. The students who want to pursue their career in military and have enrolled in the military academy are not eligible to receive this scholarship.
SEA of the respective states sets the deadline for the applications and students should request from the state education agency for the application package and are required to follow the instructions mentioned for the application procedures.
