For counselors

The Lu Memorial Scholarship is $5,000. High school, undergraduate, and graduate students may apply, from any country. In 2026 we read 1,635 applications and made 17 awards, so tell a student the odds before they spend an evening on it.

Three corrections

There is no School Report

We retired it. Do not complete one, do not chase a student for one, and do not send one. Nothing replaced it. Earlier versions of this website said a counselor School Report was required. That was wrong, and it was wrong for more than one cycle.

There are no subject-specific letters

There is no letter at all. One adult who knows the student answers four short questions and a readiness check, in about fifteen minutes, and that adult does not have to teach the student. What a recommender is asked for is set out in for recommenders.

Students may translate their own documents

A student, a family member, or a school may translate a transcript into English. We do not require a certified translator, a notarised translation, or a translation agency. This site used to say applicants could not translate their own documents. That was wrong too, and it cost families money.

Transcripts

An unofficial transcript is enough to apply. A student can upload the copy they already have, and they do not need you to send anything on their behalf.

We ask for an official transcript only if a student is selected. At that point, send it to credentials@goalgetit.org. Please do not send transcripts for students who have not been selected: we cannot match them to an application.

A homeschooled student does not need a school to vouch for them. See homeschooled applicants.

We select students who are ready to finish their education and whose path is narrowed mainly by money. The student who works twenty hours a week and sits eleventh in your class is exactly who this is for. So is the student you would not put forward for a merit award, and the student whose grades dipped in a year you know the reason for.

There is no minimum grade average, no test score, and no citizenship or immigration status required. We do not accept honors lists, resumes, or portfolios, and we do not read them if they arrive.

What changed, in one list

• The counselor School Report is gone.
• Recommendation letters are gone. One adult completes a short form instead.
• Unofficial transcripts are accepted at the application stage.
• Students, families, and schools may do their own translations.
• Test scores are not accepted.
• The application now asks about a student’s household and circumstances, and about what one year of their education costs. See what we ask, and why and your plan and costs.

How to help

Tell a student the amount and the dates, then point them at the page for their track. Check that they have a transcript file they can upload, and check that the adult they asked to recommend them has the request. That is the whole of it.

If you have a question we have not answered, write to scholarship@lu-memorial.org. Start a student at how to apply.