Receiving a Scholarship
Receiving a named scholarship or award is an honor to celebrate and for which to be thankful. After accepting your scholarship or award, it is vital to quickly follow-up with a personalized Thank You letter to your donor. Not only does thanking your donor demonstrate genuine appreciation, but donors enjoy receiving thank you notes from their scholars.
This page will walk you through two easy steps to thank your donor for their gift.
Thank You Letter
Craft a thoughtful and heartfelt thank you letter for your scholarship or award donor that you will upload to this form.
A thank you letter simply says "thank you" for your generous support, for your confidence, or reaffirming my dreams.
Begin your letter by saying "thank you," and then tell your donor about how this scholarship has helped support your academic plans, your school and community activities, and your career goals. Describe what the scholarship or award means to you.
Previous scholarship and award recipients have also included other personal information such as:
- The reasons you chose Penn State
- Obstacles you overcome to attend college
- Your expected graduation date
- Your initial reaction to receiving the scholarship
General Guidelines
Type your letter as a Word document.
Address your donor as Dr., Mr., Mrs., or Ms. as they were listed in your award notification.
Questions, reach out to the Financial Aid Office at 215-881-7600 or [email protected].
Mention the scholarship by name in your introduction.
Write clearly and concisely. Double-check for typos and grammatical errors. Be sincere.
Type your signature or sign your letter.
See Scholarship Sample letters.
Student Profile
Answering three questions that will be used to create a student profile that will be sent to your donor. Including a photo will help your donor get to know you even better.
Privacy
By typing my name below, I authorize Penn State University to release the aforementioned information in addition to text from thank you notes for use in press releases, newsletters, and at the annual scholarship reception.