Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship

Before you spend hours on this

Will this scholarship actually lower your cost?

Not always. Many colleges reduce your financial-aid package when you win an outside scholarship — sometimes dollar-for-dollar — so the money can end up saving the school instead of you. It's called scholarship displacement. Two free tools tell you where you actually stand:

Run the stack-math calculator →Check your school's policy →

General guidance, not financial advice — your school's financial aid office is the only authority on how they treat outside awards. Always confirm with them before deciding.

Short essay~2 hours

Best fit for

Pell-eligible HS seniors planning to major in CS who haven't done a ton of programming yet but are committed to learning.

What they actually look for

Easier than it sounds. They're trying to BUILD the pipeline, so the bar is 'have you done any coding' rather than 'are you already a hacker.' Hour of Code completion is enough to demonstrate interest.

What you'll need

Pell Grant eligibility
Plan to major in CS / Computer Engineering at a partner 4-year college
Demonstrated interest in CS (anything — Hour of Code, Codecademy, AP CSP, a project)
1 essay about your interest in tech
Transcript

When to start

October of senior year. Deadline late January. Comes with a paid Amazon internship opportunity after freshman year.

Watch out for

You must attend one of the partner colleges (large list but check yours is on it). If you change majors out of CS, the scholarship can be revoked.