What's changing in the 2027 application

Four things this site had wrong

These four were wrong for the 2026 cycle as well, which means some people did more work than we ever asked for. We are sorry about that.

What we no longer ask for

The scholarship now goes to students who are ready to keep going and whose path is narrowed mainly by money. Most of what a college admissions form collects does not help us answer that, so we stopped collecting it.

• Test scores. SAT and ACT scores are not accepted. Sending them does not help, and we do not read them.
• Honors lists, resumes, and portfolios. None of these are accepted.
• The 650-word essay. It is replaced by four short responses.
• The Lu Scholar Questions. They are folded into the short responses.
• The counselor School Report. Retired, along with the Honors section of the education page.

We do not score essay polish, school reputation, or the number of activities you list. A long list of activities is not evidence of anything we are trying to measure.

What is easier

• One recommendation, not a letter. Four short questions and a readiness check, about fifteen minutes. Your recommender can be a teacher, a coach, a supervisor, a case worker, or another adult who knows your situation. It cannot be a family member.
• Unofficial transcripts. A screenshot or a printout from your school portal is enough to apply.
• Your own translations. You do not need a translation service or a notary.
• Shorter writing. Three responses at 250 words and one at 150, instead of one essay at 650 plus the short answers.
• Work and family count as time. The activities page is now a page about how you spend your time, with up to five entries and hours per week. A job and caring for a relative belong there.

What we ask instead

Three parts of the form are new or rebuilt.

Your household and circumstances. Household size, who supports you, approximate income and the currency it is in, public assistance, how far your parents went in school, housing stability, anyone who depends on you, paid work hours, and family responsibility hours. There is a checklist of circumstances and an optional 150 words if you want to explain something the form does not fit.

Your plan and costs. Where you are enrolling or enrolled, your program, how many years you have left, the cost of one year, the grants and loans you already have, what your family can contribute, what you earn, and what is left over. You also tell us what will most likely happen if you do not receive this award.

Four short responses. Three are 250 words and one is 150.

• What this award would change: if you receive this $5,000 scholarship, what will you be able to do that you cannot do now, and what will you most likely do instead if you do not receive it.
• What you have done with what you had: one thing you built, learned, fixed, or kept going despite a limit.
• Who your education is for: one problem you have noticed in your family, school, or community that you want your education to help with.
• High school and undergraduate applicants: what you are trying to figure out. Graduate applicants: why this degree, and why now.

There is also an optional 150 words of additional context and an optional two-minute video. Neither is required, and leaving them out does not count against you.

The two pages that explain this in detail are what we ask and why and your plan and costs.

Finalists are interviewed

This is new. The 2026 cycle had no interview at any stage. For 2027, finalists are selected from the applications we read, and those finalists are interviewed. Finalists are interviewed, and the interview is part of deciding who receives the award.

Here is how a decision is reached, end to end.

1. You apply by the deadline.
2. The committee reads every application.
3. Finalists are selected.
4. Finalists are asked for one document confirming their costs, and finalists are interviewed.
5. The interview and the full file decide who receives the award.
6. Decisions are posted in the portal.

Only finalists are interviewed. The interview is online and lasts 30 to 45 minutes. Nothing about applying changes because of this: there is nothing extra to send and nothing to prepare at the point of applying.

What we ask you to show

We do not ask anyone for a document while we read applications. If you become a finalist, we ask for one document that supports what you told us about your costs. Any one of these works: an aid award letter, a funding or assistantship offer letter, a FAFSA Submission Summary, a bursar or financial aid office letter, a meal-eligibility letter, a counselor letter, or a signed statement from a school official or employer.

One staff member at the Goal Get It! Lu Office of Financial Aid reads that document. The selection committee does not see it.

We never ask you for tax returns, bank statements, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, or other government identification numbers.

If you are a counselor or a recommender

There is nothing for a counselor to fill out. The School Report is retired, and no part of the application depends on a counselor signing something. If a student asks you for a transcript, an unofficial copy is what we want, and the student may translate it.

A recommendation is one short form, not a letter, and it takes about fifteen minutes. We ask how you know the student, what you know first-hand about their circumstances, one thing they did with limited time, money, or support, and whether you think they are ready. There is an optional question about what the student will not say about themselves. A student needs one, and may add a second. We do not ask you to rank the student or to compare them to a class.

The details are on the page for recommenders and the page for counselors.

Questions

Write to scholarship@lu-memorial.org. If your school is sending a transcript on your behalf, it goes to credentials@goalgetit.org. The forms open December 1, 2026; until then, how to apply has the requirements in full.