Heritage Scholarship

The Heritage Scholarship provides full-tuition scholarships to highly qualified students with exceptional intellectual ability, as well as admittance to the Gipson Honors Program. Holders of the Scholarship are expected to demonstrate both the qualities of mind and the qualities of the person that will allow a student to flourish in The College of Idaho’s rigorous and community-oriented academic environment and in the challenging world beyond college. Competition for this scholarship is by invitation only.

Benefits of the Heritage Scholarship

The Heritage Scholarship is about more than free tuition. It is the most valuable academic award available to the most successful and ambitious students applying to The College of Idaho. Join a cohesive community of about one hundred high-achieving students!

Across the four years of a Heritage Scholar’s undergraduate career at The College of Idaho, you will receive a full academic tuition award. This scholarship award is indexed, meaning that any increases in tuition over the four years are covered by the scholarship. Heritage Scholars are not eligible for any other institutional scholarships from the College.

In the sophomore, junior, or senior academic years, Heritage Scholarship recipients will receive (upon presenting an acceptable application) one-time funding in the amount of $2,000 (aka Gipson Fund Award) for an academic enhancement experience, such as a creative project, internship, research work, foreign study course, or study abroad.

As a Heritage Scholar, you also become a member of the Gipson Honors Program, which serves outstanding individuals who have demonstrated broad intellectual curiosity and the potential for high academic achievement. Gipson Honors Students participate in a First-Year Seminar designed specifically for this group of motivated learners. Honors students also receive individualized mentoring from a student mentor with shared academic or personal interests, while benefiting from a dedicated program advisor to provide additional support during their four years of study. Finally, at least twice during their four years, honors students register for a student-facilitated Gipson Honors Colloquium, where discussions occur concerning research, important topics, or texts integral to their academic work.

Keeping the Heritage Scholarship

It is important to emphasize the flexibility of this requirement. Our policy allows for a “bad” semester or an illness: if a student falls below the required 3.25 GPA, the student is placed on probation for the scholarship and has until the end of the next 12-week semester (that is, not counting Winter Term) to attain a TERM (not cumulative) GPA of 3.25. (Attaining a cumulative GPA of 3.25 would be much more difficult to do in one semester once the cumulative GPA has fallen below 3.25.) As long as a 3.25 term GPA is earned in that semester, the student retains the scholarship and is no longer on probation.

Heritage Scholars are required to complete 20 hours each month of campus activities/community service. Nearly any campus activity/service project “counts,” so long as the student is not paid and does not receive academic credit for the activity. Qualifying activities and service include competing on sports teams, singing in the choir or playing in band, participating in campus clubs, tutoring on campus or in the public schools, volunteering at the local hospital or humane society, working with faculty on research, etc. This requirement is intended to encourage the Heritage Scholar to develop socially as well as academically.

Heritage Scholars are expected to be active participants in campus life, take leading and innovative roles on campus, and generally serve as positive role models in the Gipson Honors Program and the larger campus community.

HAVE QUESTIONS?

admission@collegeofidaho.edu

208-459-5305

Patrick Mark ‘23 tells how the Heritage Scholarship coupled with the mentorship he received from College leadership and faculty impacted his story at The College of Idaho. ” I would have left Idaho without this scholarship, and through my experiences at the College, I trust that I will stay in Idaho and make my footprint here. My scholarship transformed my direction and career path.”

Gipson Honors Program

The Gipson Honors Program serves outstanding individuals who have demonstrated broad intellectual curiosity and the potential for high academic achievement.

Yotes go to Vietnam

A group of students traveled with Dr. Rob Dayley (International Political Economy) and Dr. Jeff Snyder-Reinke (History) to Vietnam and got beyond the history books to see and learn about the region with their own eyes and minds.

Perspectives from the #YoteFam

Nathan Badger ‘26

I came to The College of Idaho for a liberal arts experience. While I have since narrowed my focus to law school, I have not been forced to sacrifice my other interests. The College of Idaho curriculum allows my work in math, science, and art to inform my historical research. The result is not a disorganized education, but an enriched one; an experience that keeps me both fulfilled and ceaselessly interested in the work I pursue.

B.A. in History with minors in Art & Design and Scientific Computing.

Patrick Mark ‘23

I was incredibly fortunate to intern at Blue Cross of Idaho to learn about a perspective of healthcare I knew nothing about. Through my mentors at BCI and with interest in becoming a small-town physician, I also interned in clinics in St. Maries, Hailey and Stanley, Idaho. In all, each mentor has had a meaningful impact in defining me and my future aspirations, and I could do none of that without the College.

B.A. in Biomedical Science and Business Administration with a minor in Philosophy.

Megan Gilbert ‘24 (from Boise, Idaho)

It’s nice living your life like a cartoon show character – the next episode will be another wacky adventure. When you embrace that mindset, a lot of cool things can end up happening. So, do the random thing. Send in the random application. It can be one of the more formative moments of your life.

B.A. in History and Political Economy with minors in Art & Design and Natural Sciences. The College’s 3rd Fulbright Scholar.

Learn More About the Fulbright Scholarship

Brayden Banks ’24

In my freshman year, Dr. Carolyn Dadabay reached out to me to work in her biochemistry lab and begin my research career. In her lab, I did graduate level research on sagebrush biochemistry for nearly two years, quickly learning what it takes to do research and grow my passion for it. Through faculty mentorship, I was able to receive the Goldwater Scholarship, establishing myself nationally as a student researcher ready for graduate school.

B.A. in Chemistry and Mathematics-Physics with minors in Music and Criminal Justice Studies. The College’s 3rd Goldwater Scholar.

Learn More About the Goldwater Scholarship

Key Resources

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Gipson Honor

Make Your Future Possible

College is an investment in your future, your purpose, your potential — in you. At The College of Idaho, we’re committed to making that investment one you can afford. Start your journey with us today!

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