Research · Scholarships · October 2026
Scholarships in Utah: the 3 state programs and what each asks for
As of October 2026: Utah has 3 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table starts with Opportunity Scholarship: A maximum of $800 per semester for up to four semesters ($3,200 total).
The table holds every state-funded award we could confirm for a Utah 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.
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
Utah runs 1 award that turn on grades or scores. Opportunity Scholarship is one of them. 1 of the 2 programs we could read name a GPA, and 0 name a test score. A need-based award asks about family income instead, through the FAFSA.
Opportunity Scholarship is the award to read first. What Opportunity Scholarship pays: A maximum of $800 per semester for up to four semesters ($3,200 total). The next program on the table is Utah Promise Grant. The table carries the deadline and the renewal rule for each one.
What this table does not tell you. 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.
Every state scholarship in Utah
Read the row, then open the state's own page before you count on a figure.
| Program | Merit or need | What it pays | GPA it asks for | Test score it asks for | Who qualifies | Deadline | Renewable | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opportunity Scholarship | Merit | A maximum of $800 per semester for up to four semesters ($3,200 total) | 3.3 cumulative high school GPA to qualify; a minimum semester GPA of about 3.0 to keep receiving payments in college | — | Graduate from a Utah high school; complete 1 Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Concurrent Enrollment (CE) course in each of math, science, and language arts; complete the FAFSA; enroll at an eligible Utah college/university in the Fall and Spring semesters | For the Class of 2027: Priority Deadline January 29, 2027; Final Deadline March 18, 2027 | Paid out over up to four semesters while the student maintains enrollment and satisfactory academic progress (typically a minimum semester GPA of 3.0) | Source |
| Utah Promise Grant | Need-based | Varies based on available funding | — | — | Be a Utah resident or qualify for resident tuition; complete the FAFSA; eligible at public degree-granting institutions, technical colleges, and private non-profit Utah institutions | — | Available up to completion of the first bachelor's degree or after attempting 120 credits | Source |
Every row is a state-funded or state-administered award for a Utah 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.
Other programs the state names
The agency's own page lists these too. Where its page gives no award figure, the row carries the name and the link only.
| Program | What it pays | What the page says | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Credential Scholarship | $625, subject to available funding | For a Utah high school student who finishes five general-education concurrent-enrollment courses, 300 hours of a technical-college career program, or 300 hours of an approved youth apprenticeship, and files the FAFSA | Source |
These rows come from the Utah agency's own index of programs. A blank award means that index does not state one, not that the program pays nothing.
How to read a state scholarship
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.
What a family should do with this
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 Utah 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.
Questions parents ask
What scholarships does Utah offer?
Utah has 3 state scholarship programs for students who graduate from its own high schools. The table starts with Opportunity Scholarship: A maximum of $800 per semester for up to four semesters ($3,200 total).
Does Utah have a merit scholarship?
Utah runs 1 award that turn on grades or scores, and Opportunity Scholarship is one of them.
How do I find the rules for a Utah scholarship?
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.
Method & sources: Programs come from the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) and the agency's own program pages, read in October 2026. The population is a student who graduates from a Utah 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.
This brief as data: /research/scholarships-in-utah.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).
Related: Merit scholarships by college · State scholarships in every state · High schools in Utah · Scholarship deadlines