Congratulations! You’ve won a scholarship! This is exciting news. However, you have a bit of work ahead of yourself before you actually receive the funding: you need to accept the scholarship, and you need to submit a thank you letter to the donor(s). This handout provides advice on the latter: how to write an effective thank you letter for the reception of scholarship funds. Generally, you have three specific areas to address in this type of letter: the thank you, the “why it matters,” and the formatting. This handout will cover all three.

Thank Your Donor

The core of your letter should focus on the actual gratitude you feel that you were selected for this scholarship. You will want to actually, explicitly say how thankful you are. Phrasings you could adopt or mimic in your letter can include:

  • Thank you for selecting me to receive the [X] scholarship.
  • I feel honored that you selected me to receive the [X] scholarship.
  • My name is {Y}, and I want to thank you for choosing me to receive the [X] scholarship.

You can write it entirely differently than these templates, of course, but hopefully they give you an idea of how to begin your letter. In short, make sure you show gratitude from the first moment all the way through to the end of your letter.

Explain Why It Matters

In addition to the explicit thank you, another aspect of the scholarship thank you letter is to explain how these funds will impact your studies and your future: why it matters. To effectively explain, you will need to offer up some details about yourself, including your past, present, and future. Let’s unpack what might fit into each:

  • Your background
    • where you are from, what’s your family dynamic
    • which life experiences have shaped you
    • how have they led you to winning this scholarship
  • Your current situation
    • your declared major and relevant studies
    • what you enjoy in your free time
    • whether you belong to any groups
  • Your goals
    • what you hope you will achieve once completing college
    • where you hope your career path will take you
    • how this scholarship has paved the way or contributed to this future

Remember that you should keep your letter to one page, around 300-500 words total, so you can’t cover absolutely everything about who you are and what you want to do – focus on what you need to get your point across, and no more.

Formatting

Professional letters have very specific guidelines for what to include and how it should look. On this page, we’ve provided a template you can use to build your specific scholarship thank you letter, with some annotations explaining these aspects in more detail. For the three paragraphs, write out what the first page of this handout describes.

[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Contact Info]

[Date – formatted however it makes sense, but usually Month Day, Year]

Dear [Name of Scholarship Donor],

          Paragraph 1, (who are you?): Introduce yourself and your background, such as your hometown and other personal details worth sharing. State the letter’s purpose, which should mention the scholarship you’ve received. 

          Paragraph 2, (what have you done?): Talk about your academics, including your major, year, extracurricular involvement, special achievements, and plans for the future or other interests you feel are relevant to share. 

          Paragraph 3, (what do you hope to do?): Conclude with another “thank you” statement. Highlight the scholarship’s role in your future successes once you receive your degree and begin your career path. 


[Salutation]

This formatting assumes you are writing a separate document you will then attach in an email (as either a .pdf or a .docx file) to finaid@uis.edu. Make sure to label the file appropriately (for example, “X Scholarship Thank You Letter”). Also make sure to write a brief but professional email that outlines the reason for your correspondence, and directs the reader to the attached letter.

Checklist for Your Scholarship Thank You Letter

  • Do you have the formatting properly executed, with addresses, greetings, salutations, etc.?
  • Have you clearly thanked your donor at multiple points within the letter?
  • Have you given a sense of who you are, and what you hope to achieve as a result of these funds?
  • Have you kept it to around one page, the preferred length? Should you find ways to trim, if not?
  • Do you have any mistakes you need to fix in a quick proofreading/editing review?

Adapted from U.S. News & World Report and We Are Teachers as well as information from Financial Aid – check these out for great examples and more information to help you write the best thank you letter you can muster!