Research · Scholarships · October 2026

Only 7 of 13 national scholarships post a deadline for fall 2027 entry

Name: Only 7 of 13 national scholarships post a deadline for fall 2027 entry
Creator: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of October 2026: Only 7 of the 13 national scholarships here post a closing date for high school seniors in the 2026-27 school year, who start college in fall 2027. Those dates run from September 30, 2026 to December 22, 2026, and two of them have already passed.

The table holds each program's own posted dates, award amounts and award counts, as each page read in October 2026. It does not hold state grants, college merit aid or local scholarships.

Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

The findings, in plain English

Two of the seven deadlines have already passed. Coca-Cola Scholars closed on September 30, 2026. It gives 150 awards of $20,000 each. The YoungArts competition closed on October 6, 2026. Five of the seven are still open, and the last of those closes on December 22, 2026.

Wendy's High School Heisman no longer exists. The Heisman Trophy Trust ended the program in October 2024. Its own page says so. There is no 2027 cycle and no way to apply. Other lists still carry it, so we print the status in place of a date.

Three pages still show an older award year. GE-Reagan serves seniors who finished high school in winter 2025 or spring 2026, and its deadline reads January 5, 2026. Davidson Fellows says the 2027 form opens in the fall of 2026, but the page still shows the closed February 18, 2026 date. Foot Locker's portal is older still, and names a December 15, 2017 deadline. We print the year each page states, not a 2027 date it does not post.

The seven programs with a posted deadline for fall 2027 entry

In the order they close. Every date is the program's own.

Program	Opens	Closes	Award	Awards a year	Renewable	Source
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation Scholarship	2026-08-03	2026-09-30	$20,000 scholarship	150	—	Source
National YoungArts Foundation	—	2026-10-06	cash prizes between $250 and $10,000	—	—	Source
Regeneron Science Talent Search	2026-06-01	2026-11-05	$250,000 top prize; $3.1 million in awards distributed annually; 40 finalists	40	—	Source
Elks Most Valuable Student	—	2026-11-12	$1,000-$7,500 per year, four-year scholarships (up to $30,000 total for the top 20 finalists; $4,000 total for the other 480)	500	Yes	Source
National Honor Society Scholarship	2026-09-03	2026-11-20	$2 million in scholarships to 600 students	600	—	Source
Burger King Scholars	2026-10-15	2026-12-15	$1,000 - $60,000	4,400	No	Source
Equitable Excellence Scholarship	—	2026-12-22	$5,000 awards, renewable up to three years or until a bachelor's degree is earned	100	Yes	Source

These are the 7 of 13 national programs whose own pages post a closing date for high school seniors in the 2026-27 school year, who start college in fall 2027. A blank cell means the page does not state it. YoungArts prints its closing day without a year beside it. Award counts are per year, as each program states them, and renewable means the award can continue past the first year.

The six programs with no 2027 deadline to apply to

What each page states instead, as it read in October 2026.

Program	What the page states	Date on the page	Award	Awards a year	Source
GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship	entire 2026-2027 academic school year (serves HS seniors graduating winter 2025 or spring 2026, NOT spring 2027 -- 2027 cycle shows a "Notify Me for 2027" placeholder)	2026-01-05	up to $40,000; $10,000/year renewable for up to 3 additional years	—	Source
Davidson Fellows Scholarship	2027 application (page states it "will open in Fall of 2026") but as of 2026-10-15 the page still shows the 2026 cycle's deadline, February 18, 2026 -- 2027 deadline not yet posted	2026-02-18	$100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 scholarships	—	Source
Foot Locker Scholar Athletes	page still displays the 2018 cycle (Fall of 2018 enrollment, December 15, 2017 deadline) as of 2026-10-15; current operating status for 2026-27 could not be confirmed from the primary source	—	$20,000 to 20 high school, college-bound seniors (per most recently cached cycle; current structure unconfirmed)	20	Source
National Merit Scholarship	2027 National Merit Scholarship Program (72nd annual)	—	2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships, about 700 corporate-sponsored and some 3,500 college-sponsored awards; about 6,700 scholarships worth approximately $24 million total	6,700	Source
Wendy's High School Heisman	PROGRAM DISCONTINUED -- no 2027 cycle exists	—	N/A -- program discontinued	—	Source
College Board National Recognition Programs	—	—	—	—	Source

The same 13 national programs, less the seven above. The date column holds the award year each page actually prints, which for GE-Reagan and Davidson Fellows is a prior cycle that has closed, and for Foot Locker is a cycle from 2017-18. National Merit has no application date of its own. The Heisman program ended. The College Board page returned no program content at all, so every cell is blank rather than filled from somewhere else.

The five that are still open, in the order they close

The Regeneron Science Talent Search closes on November 5, 2026. It asks for a research project and names 40 finalists. The Elks Most Valuable Student award closes on November 12, 2026 and gives 500 four-year scholarships. The National Honor Society award closes on November 20, 2026, and only active members may enter. It gives $2 million to 600 students.

Burger King Scholars runs from October 15, 2026 to December 15, 2026, and gave more than 4,400 awards in 2026. Equitable Excellence closes last, on December 22, 2026, with up to 100 renewable awards of $5,000. It is open to seniors at a public high school and asks about family need.

National Merit works nothing like the rest

There is no form and no closing date. A student enters by taking the PSAT/NMSQT in the junior year. For these seniors, that was the test given in the fall of 2025. More than 1.2 million juniors entered that way, and the program plans about 6,700 scholarships.

A senior who did not sit that test cannot enter now. Among the pages that state their rules, National Merit is also the only one that turns on a test score.

What a family should do with this

Work from the dates, not from a scholarship site's front page. Two of these seven closed in the early fall, before most families start to look. If your kid is a senior now, the five open ones are the only names on this page they can still enter.

Read each program's own page before writing a word. A list site can carry a dead program for years, and three of these pages still print an older award year. Match the year on the page to the year your kid finishes high school. And put the two renewable awards first. Elks and Equitable Excellence both continue past the first year, so one win pays more than once.

Questions parents ask

How many national scholarship deadlines are posted for fall 2027?

Only 7 of the 13 national scholarships here post a closing date for high school seniors in the 2026-27 school year, who start college in fall 2027.

Is the Wendy's High School Heisman still running?

The Heisman Trophy Trust ended the program in October 2024. Its own page says so. There is no 2027 cycle and no way to apply.

Which 2027 scholarship deadline is the last one?

Equitable Excellence closes last, on December 22, 2026, with up to 100 renewable awards of $5,000.

Method & sources: The dates, award amounts and award counts are each program's own posted information for the cycle high school seniors in the 2026-27 school year apply to, as each page read in October 2026. The 13 programs are national awards open to seniors in any state, so state grants, college merit aid and local scholarships are all out of scope. Rows in the first table are ordered by closing date; the second table holds the programs that post no 2027 date. Where a page prints a different award year, the table carries that year rather than a 2027 date, and where a page returned no readable content the cells are blank.

This brief as data: /research/scholarship-deadlines-2027.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).