Presidential Scholarship (Dallin H. Oaks)
150% of Latter-day Saint tuition
Published coverage or packageNot recorded as automatic on grades and scores. Read the selection rules. Confirm the policy year with the school.
Start with the award’s published eligibility.
RenewableCheck the conditionsOpen award details for Presidential Scholarship (Dallin H. Oaks)
Who qualifies
Separate competitive application with a mandatory essay. 50 new entering freshman students awarded annually (verbatim per BYU's freshman scholarships page). ACT or SAT score required for consideration (BYU does not publish a hard test-score cutoff but a submitted score is part of the holistic review). For context, the middle 50% of enrolled 2024-25 freshmen scored SAT 1290-1440 or ACT 28-32 with an average 3.90 HS GPA.
How to keep it
Renewable for up to 8 semesters. Multi-year awards issued in 2024-25 or later require a 3.70 cumulative BYU GPA through each winter semester; earlier awards require 3.60. Students must also complete 12 credits each fall and winter and submit an annual thank-you letter before the add/drop deadline.
Worth knowing
BYU's top named freshman merit award, and the only one denominated above full LDS tuition. Because the award is expressed as a percentage of LDS tuition rather than a fixed dollar amount, its cash value tracks future tuition changes. At 2025-26 LDS tuition of $6,888, 150% works out to about $10,332 per year, which covers LDS tuition in full and a portion of other billed costs.
