Hagan Scholarship Opening Soon
Offered by Hagan Scholarship Foundation
About This Scholarship
The Hagan Scholarship is a workhorse award for rural students with financial need: up to $7,500 per semester for eight consecutive semesters — as much as $60,000 — plus $2,000 deposited before college enrollment for a computer and other start-up essentials. Founder Dan Hagan, a self-made businessman who attended four small rural Missouri public schools and worked his way through the University of Missouri debt-free, built the foundation around a single mission: helping students with financial need graduate college debt-free.
The requirements reflect that self-reliance philosophy. Applicants must graduate from a rural public high school, keep a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA, and come from a household with adjusted income of $125,000 or less — and every recipient must complete 240 hours of paid work between January 1 and September 1 each year, not just before freshman year.
The extras are unusually rich: recipients manage a foundation-funded Schwab brokerage account that grows to $20,000 by year four, attend required life-skills workshops, and third-year scholars with a 3.5 GPA qualify for an all-expense-paid study abroad experience worth up to $8,000. Hagan Scholars have attended 745 colleges across all 50 states. Applications are due December 1.
Eligibility
- High school senior at a U.S. public, private, charter, magnet, or STEM high school
- Minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA
- Adjusted gross household income under the foundation's cap (recently $100,000-$125,000; check current figure)
- Complete 240 hours of paid, supervised work before the fall semester of college
- Enroll at a four-year (or higher) not-for-profit college — no community college or online-only programs
How To Apply
- Apply online during the fall window (September 1 to December 1, 2026) or the spring window (January 15 to March 15, 2027) — you may apply only once
- Finalists submit supplemental information including FAFSA Submission Summary pages
- Recipients complete workshops and requirements each semester to keep the funding renewing
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Hagan Scholarship work requirement?
Applicants must complete 240 hours of regularly scheduled, compensated work between January 1 of junior year-ish and the start of freshman fall. Part-time jobs count, and the hours can be split across multiple employers.
Can I use the Hagan Scholarship for graduate school?
Potentially yes — recipients who meet the requirements can qualify for up to four additional semesters of graduate funding at the same $7,500-per-semester level.