{"answer":"Montana has 4 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table says what each one pays, who qualifies, and when it closes, in the state's own words.","as_of":"October 2026","date":"2026-10-21","dek":"The table holds every state-funded award we could confirm for a Montana high school graduate going to college. It does not hold federal aid, or a scholarship that comes from one college rather than from the state.","faq":[{"a":"Montana has 4 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table says what each one pays, who qualifies, and when it closes, in the state's own words.","q":"What scholarships does Montana offer?"},{"a":"Montana runs 2 awards that turn on grades or scores, and Montana University System (MUS) Honor Scholarship is one of them.","q":"Does Montana have a merit scholarship?"},{"a":"Every row links to the page the state publishes for that program. The rules and the dollar figures move from year to year, so the page is the thing to read, not a summary of it.","q":"How do I find the rules for a Montana scholarship?"}],"findings":[{"h":"Montana runs 2 awards that turn on grades or scores.","p":"Montana University System (MUS) Honor Scholarship is one of them. 2 of the 3 programs we could read name a GPA, and 1 name a test score. A need-based award asks about family income instead, through the FAFSA."},{"h":"The state's own pages are the only place these rules live.","p":"Every row links to the page the state publishes for that program. The rules and the dollar figures move from year to year, so the page is the thing to read, not a summary of it."},{"h":"What this table does not tell you.","p":"The state agency's own page names 1 more program in a second table below. Some of those pages give no award figure at all, so those rows carry the name and the link only."}],"license":"CC BY 4.0 \u2014 quote with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach)","method":"Programs come from the Montana University System, Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and the agency's own program pages, read in October 2026. The population is a student who graduates from a Montana high school and enrolls as an undergraduate. A scholarship offered by one college, a private foundation award, a federal program and a graduate-only award are all out of scope. A value the agency's own page does not state is left blank rather than filled from elsewhere, and a page that could not be read drops every figure.","question":"What scholarships are available in Montana?","related":[{"label":"Merit scholarships by college","url":"/merit-scholarships"},{"label":"State scholarships in every state","url":"/research/state-scholarships-every-state"},{"label":"High schools in Montana","url":"/research/high-schools-in-montana"},{"label":"Scholarship deadlines","url":"/research/scholarship-deadlines-2027"}],"sections":[{"h2":"How to read a state scholarship","paragraphs":["State awards come in two shapes. A merit award asks about grades, a course list, or a test score, and it does not care what a family earns. A need-based award asks about income and assets through the FAFSA, and it does not care about grades. Some awards ask about both, and the table calls those merit and need.","The deadline column is the one families miss. For most need-based state aid the deadline is really the FAFSA deadline, and it falls months before a college asks for a decision. A merit award more often has no application at all: the state or the high school nominates the student from records it already holds."]},{"h2":"What a family should do with this","paragraphs":["Open the official page in the last column for the one or two programs your student plausibly qualifies for, and write down two dates: the state aid deadline and the FAFSA deadline. Those are the two that close. In Montana the earliest date on this table is the one to put on the calendar first.","Then look past the state. A state award is usually the smaller half of an offer. The college's own merit grid and its net price for your family income move more money than any state program on this page, and both are published."]}],"slug":"scholarships-in-montana","sources":[{"label":"Montana University System, Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education","url":"https://mus.edu"},{"label":"Montana University System (MUS) Honor Scholarship","url":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/mus-honor-scholarship.html"},{"label":"Montana's STEM and Healthcare Scholarship","url":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/stem-scholarship.html"},{"label":"Gianforte Trade and Technology Scholarships","url":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/gianforte-trade-and-technology-scholarships.html"}],"tables":[{"columns":[{"fmt":"str","key":"program","label":"Program"},{"fmt":"str","key":"kind","label":"Merit or need"},{"fmt":"str","key":"award","label":"What it pays"},{"fmt":"str","key":"gpa","label":"GPA it asks for"},{"fmt":"str","key":"test","label":"Test score it asks for"},{"fmt":"str","key":"who","label":"Who qualifies"},{"fmt":"str","key":"deadline","label":"Deadline"},{"fmt":"str","key":"renewable","label":"Renewable"},{"fmt":"url","key":"source","label":"Official page"}],"h2":"Every state scholarship in Montana","intro":"Read the row, then open the state's own page before you count on a figure.","note":"Every row is a state-funded or state-administered award for a Montana high school graduate going to an undergraduate program, as of October 2026. A scholarship from a single college, a private foundation award, a federal program and a graduate-only award are all left out. A blank cell means the state's own page does not state it. Dollar figures and GPA floors change every year.","rows":[{"award":"Waives tuition at an eligible MUS campus; average value at a 4-year Montana campus is $5,000 a year, or $20,000 over four years","deadline":"Applications open December 1; a specific final deadline date was not stated on this page","gpa":"3.4 cumulative GPA at the end of the 7th semester of high school","kind":"Merit","program":"Montana University System (MUS) Honor Scholarship","renewable":"Renewable for a maximum of 8 semesters; transferable to other eligible MUS campuses with proper notification","source":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/mus-honor-scholarship.html","test":"ACT or SAT score (the higher of the two, if both taken), used with GPA for class-rank-based selection","who":"Montana resident; graduate of a Montana high school accredited by the Montana Board of Public Education"},{"award":"$1,000 (year 1), $1,500 (year 2), $1,500 (year 3), $2,000 (year 4) for a qualifying STEM or healthcare major at an MUS campus","deadline":"March 15 of the year of high school graduation","gpa":"3.25 minimum cumulative high school GPA","kind":"Merit","program":"Montana's STEM and Healthcare Scholarship","renewable":"Through the 4th year if requirements are maintained and the student stays enrolled full-time each semester","source":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/stem-scholarship.html","test":"","who":"Montana resident; graduate of a Montana Board of Public Education-accredited high school; declared qualifying STEM or healthcare major; full-time enrollment (12+ credits)"},{"award":"$1,500/year for full-time enrollment or $750/year for part-time enrollment in a qualifying trade or technical program","deadline":"Fall semester September 1; spring semester February 1","gpa":"","kind":"Need-based","program":"Gianforte Trade and Technology Scholarships","renewable":"Up to the equivalent of 4 semesters full-time or 8 semesters part-time, combined across the program","source":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/gianforte-trade-and-technology-scholarships.html","test":"","who":"Montana resident; enrolled at least 6 credits in a qualifying trade/technical program; satisfactory academic progress"}]},{"columns":[{"fmt":"str","key":"program","label":"Program"},{"fmt":"str","key":"award","label":"What it pays"},{"fmt":"str","key":"detail","label":"What the page says"},{"fmt":"url","key":"source","label":"Official page"}],"h2":"Other programs the state names","intro":"The agency's own page lists these too. Where its page gives no award figure, the row carries the name and the link only.","note":"These rows come from the Montana agency's own index of programs. A blank award means that index does not state one, not that the program pays nothing.","rows":[{"award":"A waiver of undergraduate tuition at any four-year campus of the Montana University System","detail":"For a student who has already earned an associate degree with a 3.4 college GPA, so it starts after community college rather than straight out of high school","program":"2+2 Honor Scholarship","source":"https://applymontana.mus.edu/paying-for-school/scholarships/2-plus-2-honor-scholarship.html"}]}],"title":"Scholarships in Montana: the 4 state programs and what each asks for","updated":null,"url":"https://highschoolreach.com/research/scholarships-in-montana"}