Scholarships

The University of Oklahoma is committed to making a world-class education attainable. 

OU offers a variety of scholarships for admitted incoming freshmen. You must apply by December 15 to receive consideration. No additional application is required for OU’s merit-based awards. This list represents some of the general, university-centralized freshman scholarships for fall 2025, but is not all-inclusive. Applicants are encouraged to retake the ACT and/or SAT through April 30 and send their seventh semester transcript for scholarship update consideration. A student will be offered the highest tuition waiver based on their qualifications. Students cannot receive more than one merit-based award.

The University of Oklahoma uses scores from national or residual tests taken before April 30. Effective for students applying for the fall 2025 semester, OU will practice a test-optional admissions process when awarding scholarships. All applicants are automatically considered for scholarships when they apply by December 15, including students who apply as test-optional. We highly encourage students to submit their test scores to ensure the highest scholarships and the fastest notification of an award. For consideration for our highly selective academic, nomination-based awards, we encourage students to submit a test score. If extenuating circumstances with regard to access to testing exist, we will evaluate on a case by case basis.

OU will also superscore ACT/SAT scores and allow students to self report scores for admission and scholarship purposes. These scores must be verified at the time of enrollment.

OU's Office of Admissions and Recruitment also uses a standardized weighted GPA for scholarship awarding purposes. This is referred to as the student’s scholarship GPA. Scholarship GPA provides extra weight to AP, IB, A Level, Pre-AP, AS Level, honors, and concurrent or dual credit courses in a uniform manner across all applications. This standardized weighting process allows the admissions committee to account for the wide variety of weighting scales used at high schools, and for applicants from high schools that do not provide a weighted GPA, in an equitable manner during the scholarship awarding process.

Institutional scholarships, combined with other federal, state and/or institutional aid, should not exceed the published Cost of Attendance.

The University of Oklahoma offers a variety of scholarships to admitted transfer students based on criteria such as academics, leadership, community involvement, and extracurricular activities. There are two main categories of scholarships for transfer students: academic and competitive scholarships. Please note that for the purposes of these scholarships, you are only considered a transfer student if you have completed 24 college credit hours post high school graduation and haven't previously attended OU as a degree-seeking student. Online degree completion students are not eligible for the below transfer scholarships.

A student will be offered the highest tuition waiver based on their qualifications. Students cannot receive more than one merit-based award.

The list below represents centralized scholarship programs for the Norman campus and for the OU Polytechnic Institute in Tulsa. This list is not intended to be all-inclusive. You must apply for admission by March 1 for Fall and Summer entry terms or October 1 for Spring entry terms to be considered for transfer scholarships (Norman campus). Apply for admission and scholarships at apply.ou.edu. Students may also qualify for additional need-based financial resources and are encouraged to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The University of Oklahoma offers scholarships to international students based on your completed application for admission to the university and qualified SAT or ACT exam scores. Admissible, non-US citizens attending secondary school in a country other than the United States are eligible for the scholarships listed below.

You must apply for admission by December 15 to be considered for these scholarship opportunities. Applicants may retake the SAT and/or ACT exam and send updated, official exam results to the Office of International Admissions & Recruitment through April 30.
 

Please be aware that if you are considered a nonresident alien for US tax purposes, any financial aid or scholarship amounts you receive may be subject to taxation under specific conditions. These conditions depend on whether the awards exceed qualified tuition and fees (referred to as ‘excess awards’) during the calendar year, your residency status throughout that year, and the existence of tax treaties between the US and your home country. If you have any inquiries regarding the taxability of awards for nonresident aliens, feel free to contact fstax@ou.edu.