Leadership honor societies offer many benefits to their members — from invaluable learning opportunities that shape your skills to tangible certificates, digital badge credentials, and more. At The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS), we are proud to offer a well-rounded selection of benefits to our members, including opportunities for financial support in the form of scholarships, awards, and grants.
Read on as we discuss some of the frequently asked questions we receive about scholarships and our application process.
Oftentimes, monetary challenges are a common, stressful issue that many students face when trying to complete their education. At the NSLS, we believe in providing scholarship opportunities to help alleviate such financial burdens. Investing in our members allows them to continue their studies and be a force of positive change as they further invest in their communities.
Our scholarship program is designed to help our members excel in their education and careers, without worrying about finances.
The NSLS Foundation awards over $400,000 per year in scholarships to NSLS members across the nation, giving many students exclusive opportunities to access the financial support they need to succeed. On average, we award around 300 scholarships and awards annually.
The NSLS awards the following Stephen Covey Tribute Awards:
Chapter of the Year and one runner-up
Advisor of the Year and one runner-up
Executive Board member of the Year and one runner-up
The NSLS Foundation awards the following scholarships and awards:
Dream Support Grant
Academic Excellence Scholarship
New Member Scholarship
Online Member Scholarship
Alumni Scholarship
Healthy Living Grant
Practicing Leadership Scholarship
Living Leadership Scholarship
United By Purpose: Building Equitable Leaders Scholarship
Student Success Scholarship
Each scholarship, grant, or award has different specific requirements that you must meet, such as member status, application and essay completion, GPA requirements, projects, and more.
You can review each scholarship's requirements carefully in our annual scholarships and awards packet.
Whether you’re considering applying for a scholarship now or in the future, you may find yourself with some questions throughout the process. Here are the most common questions we get from students.
College students that are registered (both pre-inducted and inducted) members of The NSLS are eligible to apply for a scholarship, award, or grant. Your member-status requirements will vary depending on the type of scholarship you’re applying for.
The NSLS Foundation welcomes international students and non-U.S. citizen NSLS members to apply for any award, scholarship, and/or grant if you meet that specific scholarship/award criteria. If chosen as a winner, as long as you are able to complete a W8-BEN form for tax purposes, you are allowed to apply for our scholarships. This also applies to F1-VISA and DACA students.
The W-9 and W-8BEN form will be given to the winner to be completed and returned via email to our Scholarships and Awards Department.
There are two general NSLS scholarship application windows during the year. Fall scholarships open in early September and close in late October. Spring Scholarships open in late January and close in late March. Applications are accepted for approximately eight weeks per season. Email announcements are sent to all registered members once scholarships have opened up with exact open and close dates.
Submission dates and deadlines for upcoming scholarship and award seasons will be updated on the NSLS Scholarships and Awards page.
Stephen Covey Tribute Award applications may be submitted to awards@nsls.org.
All other scholarship applications must be submitted through the NSLS Foundation’s partnering organization, Scholar's App.
Scholar's App is a platform that connects students not only to NSLS scholarships but to hundreds of additional scholarship sponsors. The app keeps track of the entire scholarship application process for you.
It’s easy to apply!
Either click on the links in the NSLS scholarship emails sent to you or visit scholarsapp.com.
Create a free Scholar's App profile.
In the search bar, type “NSLS” to find NSLS-specific scholarships.
Submit your applications during our open enrollment periods.
We have also included some video tutorials and step-by-step PDF guides in our scholarships and awards packet to walk you through the Scholar’s App website and scholarship application process.
For assistance with finding additional scholarships outside those offered by the NSLS, please contact Scholar's App directly at hello@scholarsapp.com.
Members can apply for more than one scholarship per term, as The NSLS Review Board evaluates each submission individually, based on the criteria of the specific scholarship, grant, or award.
While you can apply for more than one scholarship, applicants can only win one scholarship, grant, or award maximum per term.
With the exception of the Stephen Covey Tribute Awards, previous scholarship winners can not win the same scholarship more than once. However, we encourage you to apply for other scholarships you are eligible for.
No, all submissions are final. Please do not submit your application more than once as it will not be reviewed.
Each scholarship application is evaluated by the NSLS Review Board based on the criteria specific to each individual scholarship, including applicant eligibility and truthfulness.
We encourage members to ensure they are tailoring each application they submit to that specific scholarship and answering all essay prompts with thorough, well-thought-out responses. Please see our “Scholarships Tips” section within our scholarships and awards packet for more helpful suggestions to assist you with your application process.
Yes, applications that are inaccurate, incomplete or utilize AI technology to complete their essay submission may be disqualified.
The number of scholarships we give out and the number of recipients per award varies each year. On average, we award around 300 scholarships and awards annually. This includes the scholarships outlined in our packet as well as awards given out during our Speaker Broadcasts, leadership summits, and additional member prizes as determined by the NSLS National Office.
The NSLS sends out a winner email announcement to all NSLS members in December for our Fall scholarships season and May for our Spring scholarships season. Exact announcement dates can be found in our scholarships and awards packet.
After the NSLS winner email announcement is sent to all NSLS members on the specified dates, individual scholarship and award winners will be contacted by an NSLS representative separately within 24-48 hours. This follow-up email will include next steps and any necessary paperwork to complete the processing of your payment.
The Academic Excellence Scholarship is sent to your university via check. All other scholarship payments are made directly to you via direct deposit.
Scholarships are generally paid within 30 days of contacting the scholarship winner. However, the timeline depends on how quickly winners complete their tax and banking paperwork. Once banking information has been received, payments are typically processed within four weeks. If you choose to receive a check instead, it may take additional time.
We have included a robust updated FAQ's section in our scholarships and awards packet. We encourage you to review this section for answers to the most common questions we have received over recent years.
If you still need additional support, please email awards@nsls.org.