The Official Prospective Scholar E-Newsletter
October 17, 2008 Edition

It’s time for the final Official e-Newsletter for applicants to the Horatio Alger Scholarship. Your senior year of high school is already flying by and college planning has kicked into full gear! We are glad that you are applying for the Horatio Alger Scholarship and hope that you will take a few minutes to read this update from the Association. In this last issue we feature information on the required forms and the letter of support. Many of you have called or e-mailed us with questions related to these aspects. We hope that the information provided here will answer many of those questions.

—The Horatio Alger Staff


Letter of Support Form

  • You have the option of selecting two letters of support providers. Note that only one letters is required. If for any reason one of them does not complete the letter in time your application, one completed letter would be sufficient.

  • Give it some time and thought before you enter the names, e-mail accounts and contact information of your letters of support providers. Do they know you well enough? Could they write about the challenges you experienced and how you dealt with them?

  • Make sure you have the correct e-mail addresses for your letter of support providers. Once you designate your recommender(s) you will not have the option to change it or submit a different one. Many applicants have experienced problems because of misspelled e-mail addresses.

  • Contact your letter of support providers in advance, and ask them if they are willing or have the time to write it. Inform them of the scholarship application, about your plans for college and emphasize that their letter should paint a clear picture of your character.

  • Make sure your letter of support provider is aware of the deadline.

  • Your work is not done once you designate them. Check your application account regularly. See if the letter of support providers have submitted their letter. If not, contact them and remind them to do so. Ask if they are having troubles with submitting the letter and give them our contact information. If they have submitted the letter you might want to send them a thank you note.

  • If you made a mistake and need to change the e-mail of one of your recommenders you must call or e-mail us.

If you lost or have forgotten your online application username: it is your e-mail account.

You can retrieve your application password online.

If you have troubles retrieving your account information contact us!

Don’t let shyness prevent you from getting answers to your questions!

Contact us:

Phone (866) 763-9228

E-mail horatioalger@act.org


The paperwork should be submitted together and postmarked by the application deadline.


Required Documents:

Income Verification

  • Do NOT submit your own tax form.
  • If you are in foster care or are a ward of the state please enter $0 in the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) field and explain your situation in your application essay.
  • You MUST provide a copy of the front page of your parent/guardian's 2007 individual federal tax return. This form could be one of the following: 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ or 1099 SSA (Social Security Tax Form).
  • If your parent/guardian's Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is a negative number, please submit copies of their parent/guardian's federal individual tax return for the years of 2005, 2006, and 2007.
  • If your parent/guardians were not required to file a tax return, include statement copies of any government benefits, such as food stamps or Public Assistance documents.

Certifications Form

  • While you are logged in to your application account, download the certifications form. Complete this form, obtain the signatures needed and submit this form by mail.
  • Note that the form must be signed by the applicant, parent/guardian, and the applicant's principal or vice principal prior to mailing. It takes time to get these signatures so act on it now!

Transcript with legend

  • You must submit an official High School transcript with legend. Make sure that the transcript includes senior year classes. If the transcript you receive from your high school does not indicate your senior classes, obtain a separate document that shows this information and include it with your paperwork.

Remember Applications are due October 30, 2008!

This is a deadline for two items: First, this is the last day you can edit your application and essays online. After this date, the applications will be closed. Secondly, this is a postmark deadline for all of your supplemental materials. Gathering the signatures and tax forms, takes some effort, so be sure not to wait until the last day to start!