Governor’s Merit Scholarship (GMS) (2024)

What is it?

Each year, 35-40% of Ohio’s best and brightest high school graduates attend college or university in another state. Approximately 66% of all U.S. college students stay to work in the state from which they graduate, and in Ohio that number is closer to 70%. Ohio has demonstrated significant success, recently, in attracting and retaining businesses. It is paramount that Ohio also competes to attract and retain a well-educated workforce.

Under the leadership of Governor DeWine and the Ohio Legislature, Ohio recently established the Governor’s Merit Scholarship (GMS) program, funded at $20 million for the first year of the program. The objectives of the GMS are to:

Reduce financial barriers preventing Ohio’s top high school graduates from pursuing higher education;
Recognize the impressive scholastic achievement of Ohio’s top graduates; and
Incentivize Ohio’s high achieving high school students to attend an institution of higher education (IHE) in Ohio.

Who is eligible?

Student eligibility requirements are as follows:

The student is a resident of the State of Ohio, according to Ohio Residency Rule 3333-1-10.
The student has registered for selective service as required by federal and state law, if applicable.
The student is enrolled in a public or chartered nonpublic high school (at the point of eligibility determination) and determined to be in the top 5% of their class as described below.
The student is homeschooled or attends a dropout recovery high school and is determined to be within the top 5% of applicants as described below.
The student is a junior on track for graduation (as determined by the student’s high school) at the point of eligibility determination.
The student graduates from high school on time (within one year of the point of eligibility determination).
- Students who face extenuating circ*mstances may appeal this requirement (e.g.: major illness that delays on-time graduation, etc.).
The student is enrolling at a qualifying institution of higher education (IHE), as specified by law.

How much aid is available?

The Governor’s Merit Scholarship provides an award of up to $5,000 each academic year for up to four years. The GMS is applicable to eligible expenses included within the IHE’s published cost of attendance and may be refundable to the student. If an IHE does not have a published cost of attendance, eligible expenses will be capped at tuition and student fees.

The GMS award is renewable for up to the equivalent of four years of full-time instruction at a qualifying IHE. Renewal eligibility is based upon a student meeting satisfactory academic progress, which is defined as maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above, completing a minimum of 20 credit hours/year, and demonstrating appropriate progress toward earning a degree.

Where can this scholarship be used?

Qualifying IHEs are defined as one of the following:

A state institution of higher education, as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code; or
A private nonprofit institution of higher education that holds a certificate of authorization pursuant to Chapter 1713 of the Revised Code.

What is the application process?

Students at public and participating chartered nonpublic high schools will not need to apply to be eligible for the Governor’s Merit Scholarship. Each school will receive a specified number of scholarships to award to the top 5% of the graduating class. Although there is not an application, students who are offered the GMS will need to actively accept the scholarship once it has been offered.

How will high schools be notified of the number of scholarships they can award?

ODHE will provide each public and participating chartered nonpublic high school with the number of students who are eligible for the GMS from that high school through use of a secure application portal: https://meritscholarship.ohio.gov. ODHE will determine the number of eligible students in public school districts based on the number of students enrolled who are in their third year of the graduation cohort as of the end of the school year. This data will be received from the Department of Education and Workforce (DEW). Unless data are available at the individual high school level, the number of eligible students will be computed per district. In such cases where a district has more than one high school, that district will divide those GMS-eligible students among the district’s high schools proportionally to the population of eligible students in each high school.

ODHE will communicate the number of scholarships per school by July 1 each year.

Note: For the class of 2024, notification of the number of scholarships per school is expected to occur by early December.

How will students be notified of an award?

To ensure that students are informed of their offer of a GMS award with enough time to decide about where to apply to college, both the student’s high school or school district and ODHE will notify students (and their parents) of the award offer through email and/or USPS no later than September 1 (after the student’s junior year). ODHE will similarly notify qualifying homeschooled and dropout recovery school students.

Note: For the class of 2024, award offers are expected to be communicated by February 1 for public and chartered nonpublic high school students and by May 15 for homeschool and dropout recovery high school students.

What are the student responsibilities after accepting a scholarship?

Once a student has received a GMS award notification, the offer remains valid even if the student changes high schools, provided the student continues to meet all eligibility requirements.

Students must proactively accept the award. Students shall inform ODHE of their acceptance of a GMS award and their intended IHE of enrollment via the secure online portal (https://meritscholarship.ohio.gov) by May 31 for full consideration. Any awards accepted after May 31 may be reduced depending on the projected sufficiency of remaining appropriation. Any awards not accepted by July 1 shall be rescinded.

Note: For the class of 2024, homeschooled and dropout recovery high school students may accept awards up to June 1 for full consideration.

Students who have accepted a GMS offer must be enrolled at a qualifying IHE within two years of their high school graduation (e.g.: a student may take one “gap year” prior to enrollment) or the offer will be rescinded. Accepted awards must be fully spent (including all renewals) within six years of initial acceptance. Awardees who transfer from an initial qualifying IHE to a different qualifying IHE may continue to receive and renew their GMS award.

Students who receive an award letter shall not have that award rescinded except as follows:

The student does not accept the award by July 1.
The student moves out of Ohio.
The student does not enroll at a qualifying IHE within two years of their high school graduation.
The student enrolls at an IHE that does not qualify for participation in the GMS program.
The student does not graduate on time (within one year from the point of eligibility determination).
- Note: Students who face extenuating circ*mstances may appeal this requirement.
The student fails to meet qualifications for scholarship renewal.

What are the reporting requirements?

Qualifying IHEs receiving GMS funds will provide data on GMS participants (e.g.: enrollment, credit hours, student demographic information, degree completions) for required reports as requested by ODHE.

FAQs

Our district/school does not rank students. What should we do?

Participation in the Governor’s Merit Scholarship program does not require any high school or school district to publish a ranking of students or even to indicate ranking of any students who are selected for the GMS award. All schools should have sufficient information to indicate which students qualify for a GMS.

Our school has qualified for 3 scholarships, but we have 5 students who have a 4.0 GPA.

It is possible that a tie may occur amongst potentially qualified students. Each school will receive only the number of GMS awards communicated. In such cases where ranking by GPA results in a tie, the school or district will determine which student(s) receive an offer of GMS. The district or school is recommended to consider one or more factors beyond GPA to break such ties, and it is recommended that districts/schools consider codifying such a procedure in policy. Factors that can be considered when breaking a tie may include (but are not limited to):

Established district or school policy
Scores on standardized college entrance examinations (e.g.: ACT, SAT)
GPA for core or college-preparatory coursework
Involvement and leadership in extracurricular activities
Financial need

What is meant when the guidance document reads that GMS provides “up to” $5,000/year in financial assistance?

The GMS was designed to provide $5,000/year in financial assistance. It is important to note that all government programs have budgetary limitations based upon their funding levels. While the funding level for GMS was determined with the goal of providing a $5,000/year scholarship to every eligible student, it is possible that the number of students who qualify for and accept an offer of GMS may exceed the predicted number. In such cases, individual awards may need to be reduced for the total amount of awards to remain within the funding level. In such cases where awards may need to be reduced, recipients will be informed as soon as practicable, so that they can take that information into account when determining which college or university they will attend.

I am a school counselor at a Career Technology Center (CTC). Our school hosts juniors and seniors. Would students be eligible for this if they are in the top 5% of their class at the CTC, but aren’t in the top 5% at their partner school? I wanted to reach out for clarity on this since the CTC does not graduate students.

All students (including CTC students) are included in the calculation of the number of scholarships a district receives. It is within the discretion of the Superintendent of the district to decide how the top five percent of the district is determined, so long as the determination is compliant with state law.

I am a school counselor. I want to begin the process of nominating students for the Governor's Merit Scholarship, but the online portal won't let me set up an account. What do I need to do?

The main District Activation invitation was sent to the superintendent of each school district. The superintendent first needs to activate the district account, then they can add additional staff to serve as "GMS Admins" to input student information. Staff added in this manner will receive an email allowing them to set up an account. If you are going to be adding students to the portal, your superintendent would need to add an account for you before you would be able to log in.

I am a superintendent and am having trouble setting up my account in the GMS portal.

For technical support with the GMS portal, our help desk is available at 844-512-6466.

I am a school counselor and am adding students into the portal. One of the top students in my district has indicated that she intends to go out of state for college. Can I take her off the list and nominate a different (lower ranked) student?

No, districts and high schools are instructed to enter only their top ranked students. These students will receive an offer and will be responsible for accepting or turning down the award.

I am a school counselor at a private high school. Our students do not have an SSID; how can I add them to the portal?

If your students do not use EdChoice and do not have an SSID, an identifying number will need to be created for them. We suggest using the school's IRN and an additional three digits that are unique to the student. This ID number will be used only for the Governor's Merit Scholarship program (unless your school chooses to use if for other applicable programs).

If a student receives an offer of a Governor's Merit Scholarship but turns it down, will the school or district be able to nominate a different student in his or her place?

No, only students nominated by their districts or schools during the nomination period will be made an offer of a Governor's Merit Scholarship. Unaccepted offers are not reissued to additional students.