Iowa 4-H Foundation Scholarships

Iowa 4-H members are eligible to apply for 4-H scholarships if they meet individual scholarship requirements. Applicants must enroll as a full-time student (minimum of 12 credit hours) to receive scholarship awards. Only ONE application form is needed for all Iowa 4-H scholarships. Eligible Iowa 4-H youth may apply for more than one scholarship, however, only one scholarship per individual will be awarded per academic year. Please visit the links below for more information.

All 2024 4-H scholarship applications are due March 1, 2025, 11:59 p.m.

The Iowa 4-H Scholarship program is designed to encourage Iowa 4-H members to continue their education beyond high school. Iowa 4-H'ers participating in any 4-H and youth educational program are eligible to apply if they meet eligibility requirements. 4-H Alumni that are currently enrolled in college are also encouraged to apply. Applicants must enroll as a full-time student (minimum of 12 credit hours) to receive scholarship awards.

Scholarships are funded through donor contributions who set the scholarship criteria. There are scholarship opportunities for current high school seniors, collegiate undergraduates and students attending veterinary school.

About the Hills Bank Leadership Grant

The Hills Bank Leadership Program is for current juniors in high school in the Hills Bank service area. This area includes the following counties: Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine, and Washington. Potential participants apply as juniors and as seniors participate in a leadership training sponsored by Hills Bank. Upon completion of the leadership courses, each participant receives a $1,000 scholarship. The scholarships are for students applying to a two- or four-year college or university in the state of Iowa. Twenty students are selected for the program each year.

Students of Hills Bank employees are not eligible for the Leadership Grant. Applicants do not need to be 4-H members to apply. Iowa 4-H Scholarships and the Hills Bank Leadership Grants use the same application system.

Check the Iowa 4-H Scholarship List carefully for eligibility specifics relating to each 4-H scholarship.

The link to the application site is https://iowa4h.awardspring.com/

Scholarship Policies

1. The 4-H’er is responsible for completing the scholarship application. 4-H members must complete the applicationprocess, using their personal e-mail and password. Applications with the names of parents or guardians will be disqualified.
2. Online application materials, essays, transcripts and the required two reference reflections, must be submitted online through the Awards Spring system no later than 11:59 P.M. on March 1 to be considered.
3.  Only one online application form is needed for all 4-H scholarships listed for which the applicant is eligible. 4-H'ers will be considered for all scholarships they are eligible to receive. Only one 4-H Scholarship will be awarded to a 4-H member in any one academic year. — Some scholarships may have additional questions or essays to complete once the eligibility has been determined.
4. Applications are not complete until all additional questions/essays are submitted. Your application remains open for edits until 11:59 p.m. on March 1st. Applications are evaluated in two rounds. (Please refer to the evaluation matrix at the end of this document.) Applicants that do NOT advance to Round Two will receive an e-mail notifying them of that status by April 10th. The e-mail address used in the application process will be the e-mail address used for this notification. Those selected as a scholarship recipient or selected as an alternate will receive a letter via e-mail from the Iowa 4-H Foundation on or before April 20th.
5. All scholarship recipients are required to write a thank you note to the scholarship donor. The original thank you note will be submitted to the Iowa 4-H Foundation who in turn will review it and send it onto the donor/s. Scholarship recipients will receive information about their donor in the letter from the Iowa 4-H Foundation.
6. Scholarship recipients are recognized at the Scholarship Reception in June. Attendance is not required but is highly encouraged. Recipients will have the opportunity to interact with and thank the scholarship donors.