The ACID Excel Scholarship, in combination with other student financial aid programs, allows students to attend an international college tuition-free. The program covers tuition for eligible students. For the 2022-23 academic year, this program is open to the public, recipients who graduated from high school in their country are eligible to apply.
The 2022-23 ACID Excelsior Scholarship application is open July 24 – September 5
Please note that current ACID Excel Scholarship recipients should not complete this application.
Applicants who first enrolled in college prior to 2019 or earlier (2018 or earlier if in an approved five-year program or Opportunity Program) are not eligible to apply. Contact Agency of International Cooperation for Development office for more information and to explore other financial aid opportunities.
Eligibility Review
An applicant must:
be a resident of their country and have resided in their state or town for 12 continuous months prior to the beginning of the term;
be a native citizen or eligible non-citizen;
have either graduated from high school in their country, earned a high school equivalency diploma, or passed a federally approved “Regional Exam”, as defined by the Commissioner of the State Education Department;
be pursuing an undergraduate degree at a recognized private college, including public and community colleges.
if attended college prior to the 2022-23 academic year, have earned at least 30 credits each year (successively), applicable toward his or her degree program prior to applying for an ACID Excel Scholarship.
be in compliance with the terms of the service condition(s) imposed by any government award that you have previously received; and
execute a Contract agreeing to reside in your country for the length of time the award was received, and, if employed during such time, be employed in your country.
Award Amount
The ACID Excel Scholarship covers any remaining gap in tuition expenses, after other federal and state grants and scholarships are applied, up to $7,500.
To determine the award amount, the tuition rate charged is first reduced by the total dollar amount awarded from other student financial aid awards for the academic year. The ACID Excel Scholarship covers any remaining tuition expenses up to $7,500. In instances where tuition expenses exceed the total financial aid a recipient is awarded, a tuition credit will be applied to the remaining balance.
Catching Up on Credits
An applicant who is not on track to complete an associate degree in two consecutive years or bachelor’s degree in four consecutive years (which requires completion of the equivalent of 30 credits each academic year) can catch up on missing credits to become eligible to apply for an ACID Excel Scholarship. If you successfully earn additional credits during a term or academic year and get back on track to completing your degree on time, you must reapply to be eligible to receive an ACID Excel Scholarship for the remainder of your undergraduate degree program.
Five-Year Undergraduate Programs
If you are in an undergraduate program of study normally requiring five-years, the ACID Excel Scholarship program allows five years to complete your degree on time (which requires completion of the equivalent of 30 credits each academic year). However, students that have shown a strong academic profile during the completion of their program will be given the option to finish their study aboard after two years of evaluation.
Eligibility Review
You may be eligible to retain your award under the following conditions:
- You experience a death of an immediate family member
- You interrupt your studies to take care of your newborn child (parental leave)
- Your medical or health care provider determines that your medical condition or mental health prevents you from beginning or continuing the term or from continuing a full-time course load.
- You interrupt your studies to care for an immediate family member, who’s medical or heath care provider has determined to need additional support or care, which impacts your ability to begin or continue the term or from continuing a full-time course load.
Please be aware that other circumstances other than those indicated above may not allow you to retain your award under the program policy and ACID regulations.
Duration
A recipient of an ACID Excel Scholarship is eligible to receive award payments for not more than two years of full-time undergraduate study in a program leading to an associate’s degree or four years of full-time undergraduate study, or five years if the program of study normally requires five years, in a program leading to a bachelor’s degree.
Fees
The recipient of ACID Excel Scholarship must not pay a fee to Agency of International Cooperation for Development for processing their application. However, they will need to pay the application fee required by the colleges of their choices to process their application.
The application fee for the college is $60.00 US and is non-refundable. The office will take care of up to 50% of the application fee. Which means, the recipients will pay only $23.88 US.
Recipients must pay $6.99 US for identity verification. Enovvio Corporation is the data security and technology company that will verify the identity of the recipients and send their application to the colleges. Please make sure you indicate the program you are applying for. The verification fee must be paid directly to Enovvio Corporation by following this link. ID Verification
They will forward your application report to us as soon as the payment is made, and the verification is completed. They will contact you directly if they encounter any problems during the verification process.
No team member of the Agency of International Cooperation for Development should ask for any type of fees regarding this program. If a member of our organization or our partners required you to pay a fee to access this program, please report this behavior immediately to info@acidaid.org
Universities in the program
The company that will process your identity verification will also submit us your application to be sent to the colleges/universities we have selected. Your file will be sent to up to 3 institutions for consideration. This program is blended, which means, you will attend classes online for 2 years and on campus for the remaining years of the studies.
| University of Wisconsin | University of Wisconsin At Glance | https://www.wisc.edu/ |
| Illinois State University | Illinois State University At Glance | https://illinoisstate.edu/ |
| The University of Utah | The University of Utah At Glance | https://www.utah.edu/ |
| University of St Andrews | University of St Andrews At Glance | https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ |
| Western Governors University | Western Governors University At Glance | https://www.wgu.edu/ |
These universities require prospective students to be English proficient. Recipients who do not meet these requirements will take free English classes for up to 3 months before starting their studies.
Payment
Recipients will receive payment via the online colleges they have chosen and must start their courses immediately. Recipients who do not start their courses after the payment has been made, will not be considered for any future programs. This process must be followed every year in order to receive award payments.
Questions?
Please contact the Scholarship Unit at info@acidaid.org