High school sophomores are thinking about college. They may not know where they want to attend or what they want to study, but they know they are going to college. But, how will they pay for it? Here are scholarships open to high school sophomores.

$2,000 No Essay Scholarship
Sponsor: Niche
Amount: $2,000.00
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to high school, college, and graduate students and those planning to enroll within 12 months. Applicant must be a legal resident of the United States or an international student with a valid visa. Applicant must log in to Niche or create a free account to apply for the scholarship.

Appily Easy College Money Scholarship
Sponsor: Appily
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students 13 years of age or older who will be attending college in the future. Applicant must create a Appily profile (if they don’t have one already), share about their extracurricular, leadership, and volunteer activities, and then search Appily for scholarships.

Book Your Summer Scholarship
Sponsor: Utah Educational Savings Plan
Amount: $2,000.00
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to Utah residents with valid U.S. social security numbers who are 18 years of age or younger. Student must participate in the 2026 summer reading program at their local public library.

Flavor of the Month Scholarship
Sponsor: Unigo
Amount: $1,500.00
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students 14 years of age or older who are legal residents of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia who are currently enrolled or plan to enroll in an accredited post-secondary institution of higher education in the future. Applicant will need to submit a short response to a given prompt.

Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship
Sponsor: Gen and Kelly Tanabe
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students in grades 9-12, college, or graduate school students who are legal U.S. residents. Applicant must submit an essay answering why they deserve the scholarship or their academic or career goals.

School Survey Sweepstakes
Sponsor: Niche
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Sweepstakes is open to current high school students, high school alumni who graduated within the last four years, and the parents of those students or alumni. Individual must take a survey on a United States high school.

Student Activist Scholarships
Sponsor: Secular Student Alliance
Amount: Up to $3,000
Closing Date: July 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students currently enrolled full-time in a United States middle school, high school, trade school, university of college. Applicant must submit answers to questions related to secularism, as well as one to two references.

Ethical Torch Essay Scholarship
Sponsor: BBB Pacific Southwest
Amount: Up to $1,500
Closing Date: August 2, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students in grade 9-12 (graduating classes of 2027-2030) residing and enrolled in school in San Diego or Imperial County. Applicant must submit an essay on a ethical issue that they faced and how they handled it.

Innovation in Education Scholarship
Sponsor: LaTutors
Amount: $500.00
Closing Date: August 20, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students currently enrolled in high school or college within the United States with at least 3.0 GPA. Applicant must be a citizen of, permanent resident, or hold a valid student visa in the United States or Canada. Applicant must have designed an innovative project that makes a difference in the lives of others and submit an essay describing the goal of the particular project and provide supporting documentation.

All Star Verified Scholarship
Sponsor: Verified Scholarships
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to high school, college, graduate, adult students, and parents of high school and college students. Applicant must fill out a short form and answer the following question: “What is the best or worst part about finding or applying to scholarships?”

Apprentice Ecologist Initiative Youth Scholarship Program
Sponsor: Nicodemus Wilderness Project
Amount: Varies
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarships are open to students between the ages of 13 and 21 who are candidates for a degree/diploma at a primary (middle school), secondary (high school), or accredited post-secondary educational institution from any country around the world. Applicant must conduct their own environmental stewardship project.

Art Scholarship
Sponsor: California Freethought Day
Amount: $500.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship Is open to California high school and colleges students. Applicant must create a two-dimensional artwork responding to the following prompt: “Information Literacy.”

Driver Education Initiative Award
Sponsor: National Driving and Traffic School
Amount: Varies
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and college freshmen. Applicant must submit an essay on many given topics related to safe driving.

Freethought Day High School Video Scholarship
Sponsor: California Freethought Day
Amount: $1,500.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to United States high school and college students. Applicant must create a PSA-style video responding to the following prompt: “Information Literacy.”

Haiku Scholarship
Sponsor: California Freethought Day
Amount: $100.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to residents of the United states who currently attend high school (grades 9-12) or college (any level). Applicant must submit a haiku answering the following prompt: “Information Literacy.”

Make Me Laugh Scholarship
Sponsor: Unigo
Amount: $1,500.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students 14 years of age or older who are legal residents of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Applicant must share an incident in their life, funny or embarrassing (fact or fiction) that will make us laugh.

Scholarship Detective Launch Scholarship
Sponsor: Scholarship Detective
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to high school and college students who are permanent residents of the United States. Applicant must fill out a short online application and share in 140 characters or less how they will use the scholarship.

Written Speech Scholarship
Sponsor: California Freethought Day
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to California high school students (grades 9-12) who plan to pursue post-secondary education at a community college, four-year college, trade school, or vocation school. Applicant must submit a written speech of 300-500 words on the following theme: “Pretend that you’ve been invited to speak in front of the California State Legislature. Write a 300–500-word speech to convey your ideas about the importance of information literacy.”

Candace Freeland Photography of Merit Award
Sponsor: The Mitford Museum & Discovery Center
Amount: Up to $750
Closing Date: September 1, 2026
Description: Award is open to U.S. photographers aged 8-22. Photographers are invited to submit black-and-white and color photos captured on a cell phone, based on the theme Food and Family.

Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award
Sponsor: From the Top
Amount: Up to $10,000
Closing Date: September 1, 2026
Description: Award is open to classical instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers between the ages of 8 and 18 who have not yet entered college during the 2026-2027 academic year. This is the first deadline. Deadline II is November 9, 2026.

Leaders Save Lives Scholarship Program
Sponsor: American Red Cross
Amount: Up to $2,500
Closing Date: September 7, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to all high school and college students. Applicant must host an American Red Cross blood drive between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Youth Free Expression Film Contest: Documenting Our Democracy
Sponsor: National Coalition Against Censorship
Amount: Up to $1,000
Closing Date: September 9, 2026
Description: Contest is open to individuals living in the U.S. or its territories (but need not be citizens) who will be age 19 or younger on the day the film is submitted. Contestant must create a three minute film on this year’s theme: “Documenting Our Democracy.”

Breakthrough Junior Challenge
Sponsor: Breakthrough Prize Foundation
Amount: Up to $250,000
Closing Date: September 15, 2026
Description: Competition is open to students between the ages of 13 and 18 years of age. Applicant must explain a big scientific idea in physics, life sciences or mathematics with a short video two minutes maximum).

Ethical Torch Essay Scholarship
Sponsor: BBB Pacific Southwest
Amount: Up to $1,500
Closing Date: September 27, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students in grade 9-12 (graduating classes of 2027-2030) residing and enrolled in school in Orange County (California). Applicant must submit an essay on a ethical issue that they faced and how they handled it.

Don’t Text and Drive Scholarship
Sponsor: Digital Responsibility
Amount: $1,000.00
Closing Date: September 30, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to high school students in grades 9-12 and current college or graduate school students. Applicant must complete a short form and share a 140-character statement explaining why they will not text and drive.

No Sweat Scholarship
Sponsor: Cirkled In
Amount: $2,500.00
Closing Date: September 30, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students 13 years of age or older who are legal residents of the United States or the District of Columbia. Applicant must create a free Circkled in account.

Ethical Torch Essay Scholarship
Sponsor: BBB Pacific Southwest
Amount: Up to $1,500
Closing Date: October 11, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students in grade 9-12 (graduating classes of 2027-2030) residing and enrolled in school in Greater Arizona. Applicant must submit an essay on a ethical issue that they faced and how they handled it.

$1,500 Easy Scholarship: Offline Mode
Sponsor: DoSomething
Amount: $1,500.00
Closing Date: October 31, 2026
Description: No post, comment, or like is worth risking a life. Distracted driving claimed 3,208 lives in 2024, and you chose to Do Something about it! Share your story about why you chose to take the Offline Mode pledge, help your friends stay in #OfflineMode by sharing the pledge and toolkit, and show your community what it looks like to keep eyes on the road, and not on your feed. Submit your impact, and share why you took the offline Mode pledge and what going offline means to you. You’ll be eligible for the opportunity to earn up to a $1,500 scholarship.

Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award
Sponsor: From the Top
Amount: Up to $10,000
Closing Date: November 9, 2026
Description: Award is open to classical instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers between the ages of 8 and 18 who have not yet entered college during the 2026-2027 academic year.

Fields of Corn Photo Contest
Sponsor: National Corn Growers Association
Amount: Up to $500
Closing Date: November 17, 2026
Description: Contest is open to legal residents of the United States. Applicant must submit a photo that helps tell the story of farming field corn in America.

Tommy Tranchin Award
Sponsor: The Dallas Foundation
Amount: Up to $3,000
Closing Date: December 31, 2026
Description: Award is open to North Texas students in grades 8-12 who have a physical, emotional, or intellectual disability.

Paradigm Challenge
Sponsor: Project Paradigm
Amount: Up to $100,000
Closing Date: May 1, 2027
Description: Challenge is open to students aged 4 to 18 years of age worldwide. Applicants may work in a team or alone to use kindness, creativity, and collaboration to help solve real-life problems.