University of Maryland Merit Scholarships and Aid

The three awards

• Banneker/Key. Covers up to the full cost of tuition, mandatory fees, housing, food and a book allowance, and includes admission to the Honors College. No additional materials required, but semifinalists must interview. Interview invitations by 1 March, notification by 1 April.
• President's Scholarship. A four-year award ranging from $2,000 to $20,000 annually, evaluated from admission application materials including academic achievement, extracurricular activities, awards, honors and an essay. Notification by 1 April.
• Dean's Scholarship. $1,500 for the freshman year, or $4,500 annually for the freshman and sophomore years. Non-renewable. Approximately 400 recipients annually. Notification by 1 April.

The one deadline that governs all of it

All three require the admission application and materials by the 1 November early action deadline. There is no separate scholarship application to forget, which is convenient, and no way to be considered late, which is not. For a family where merit money would change the decision, that date is the whole game.

Need-based aid is a separate track

These are merit awards, decided on what you bring rather than what you can pay. Need-based aid at Maryland runs through the standard federal and institutional process and has its own forms and deadlines. Check both, because they are decided by different offices on different timetables.

Before you count on a number

Run Maryland's net price calculator. Merit awards and need-based aid interact, in-state and out-of-state costs differ substantially at a public flagship, and the only figure worth planning around is your own net price.