Incoming Art & Design Scholarships

Art and Design in the School of the Arts at Northern Kentucky University is pleased to offer art scholarship opportunities for our incoming freshman students. Students who are majoring in Art and Design and have officially applied at NKU may apply for this scholarship support. At least two Art and Design Freshman Scholarships are awarded every year for one semester of in-state tuition. Several alternates will also be chosen.

To apply for one of these portfolio-based freshman scholarships, please fill out the NKU Art and Design Incoming Freshman Scholarship Application through the link provided below. As part of the application, the student must upload a PDF document containing digital images of 10-15 pieces of artwork. Each image must be labeled as directed in the ‘Artwork PDF Instructions’ document (see above). Applicants will be judged on the quality and originality of their artwork, as well as their grade point average, letter of intent, letter of recommendation (preferably from their high school art teacher), and high school transcripts.

Once the deadline passes, the Art and Design scholarship committee, consisting of art and design faculty, will review each qualifying application (see Review Rubric above). Immediate notification will be sent from the chair of the scholarship committee to those that did not meet all the qualifications, along with an explanation of why. After the committee determines the scholarship recipient(s), the Program Head of Art and Design will send a letter of notification to all qualifying applicants. 

Applications must be submitted by December 1 each year. Late (and/or incomplete) submissions will not be considered. Please click on the blue button below to begin your application.

Materials you will need for this application:

1. Letter of Intent
   Please write a short essay that will serve as a letter of intent, sometimes called a “personal statement” or “statement of purpose.” The scholarship committee would like to get to know you as a person and creative individual. Please highlight some of the most important moments in your creative and academic life – those moments that will give the reviewing committee a strong sense of who you are and your commitment to art or design. (Maximum 750 words)


2. Your High School Unofficial Transcript.
   Before uploading, save it as a single document in a PDF.
   Label it as follows: your last name_your first name_transcript


3. Your Artwork
   Before uploading, save your 10-15 artworks as a single document in a PDF.
   Label it as follows: your last name_your first name_artwork
   * Please make sure to properly label your artwork.


4. Letter of Recommendation (preferably from your high school art teacher).
   This may be submitted as PDF. 

All PDF documents must be openable and viewable in the most current version of Adobe Reader.

For questions regarding the scholarship application process,
Brad McCombs
Art & Design Program Head 
email: mccombsr1@nku.edu
phone: (859) 572-5562

Other Institutional Scholarships can be found under the Freshman Scholarship Listing.

Complete list of Scholarships and Awards

Merit-Based Scholarships

Contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance for more information.
Toll-Free 1-888-225-4499