Utah Valley University has created a scholarship whose only entry requirement is something a large share of Utah high school graduates already do: take college classes before they finish high school.
The Freshman Concurrent Enrollment Merit Scholarship, launched August 25, offers first-year UVU students who earned credit through the university's own concurrent enrollment program $3,500 or $5,000 a year, in two tiers set by how many UVU credits they completed in high school. Both tiers are renewable for up to four years, which puts the ceiling at $20,000 toward a degree. The Daily Herald reported the launch on August 30; UVU's own release went out the week before.
The pitch, in the words of Senior Director of Concurrent Enrollment Spencer Childs, is that concurrent students arrive on campus already proven, and that UVU had never had an award that reflected it. He called it the first UVU scholarship built specifically to reward that effort.
What is stated
- Who: first-year UVU students who participated in UVU's Concurrent Enrollment Program in high school and earned college credit.
- How much: two tiers, $3,500 and $5,000 per year.
- How long: renewable for up to four years.
- What sets the tier: the number of UVU concurrent enrollment credits completed.
- How to get in: UVU concurrent enrollment students are automatically admitted as freshmen; the stated step is an official high school transcript submitted during senior year by February 1.
- Scale of the program: KSL reported that 64 high schools across Utah participate in UVU's concurrent program.
What is not stated
The announcement leaves several things unsaid that a family will need before counting on the money.
The credit thresholds. Every report says the tier depends on credits completed; none gives the number. Whether five credits qualifies for the lower tier or fifteen for the upper is the single most important detail, and it is on the program page, not in the press release. Read uvu.edu/concurrent/merit-scholarship before planning a senior-year schedule around it.
A GPA or grade floor. Concurrent credit requires passing the course, but whether the scholarship requires a particular grade in those courses, or a particular high school GPA, is not published.
Renewal conditions. "Renewable for up to four years" almost always means renewable if something — a GPA, a credit load, continuous enrollment. The something is not stated.
Whether fall 2026 freshmen qualify. The February 1 deadline reads as the class entering in fall 2027. A student who started UVU last week with UVU concurrent credit should ask.
Stacking. Whether this sits on top of UVU's other merit awards or replaces them is not addressed.
None of these gaps is unusual for a launch announcement. They are listed so that nobody reads "$20,000" and stops there.
Why the timing matters in Utah County
Concurrent enrollment in Utah is unusually cheap — the state subsidizes it heavily — and Utah County's districts run it at scale through both UVU and other institutions. The practical effect of this scholarship is to put a dollar figure on a choice that juniors make in the next few months: which institution's concurrent courses to load up on.
A student at an Alpine, Provo or Nebo district high school choosing between two sections of the same subject, one carrying UVU credit and one carrying credit from a different university, now has a reason to pick the UVU section if UVU is a plausible destination. That is the incentive the university is openly buying. Childs said as much: the award is meant not only for students already in concurrent courses but for those who now have a reason to start.
Two cautions follow. First, concurrent credit is transferable in ways a scholarship is not — the credit is good at other Utah institutions, the scholarship is good only at UVU — so a student unsure where they will land should not let the award decide the course. Second, the tier structure rewards more UVU credits, and a schedule packed with concurrent courses is a college schedule in a high school building. It suits some sixteen-year-olds and not others.
Where this fits
UVU has long marketed affordability; this is another lever on the same message, aimed at the pipeline rather than the enrolled. For a family weighing the two schools, our BYU vs. UVU comparison is the fuller picture, and the UVU student guide covers what the first year on the Orem campus actually looks like. Residency matters too: the award is on top of in-state tuition, not a substitute for qualifying for it, and Utah residency rules trip up more incoming students than any scholarship deadline.
We will update this page when UVU publishes the credit thresholds and renewal terms.
Sources: Utah Valley University news release, August 25–26, 2026; KSL, "'A reason to start': Utah Valley University launches scholarship for concurrent enrollment students," August 26, 2026; Daily Herald, "Rewarding high achievers: UVU launches new scholarship for high school students taking concurrent enrollment class," August 30, 2026. Dollar figures and the February 1 deadline are as stated by UVU; credit thresholds were not published in any source reviewed.
Related Guides
- UVU Student Guide — the first year on the Orem campus
- The UVU Hub — everything on the site about Utah Valley University
- BYU vs. UVU — the comparison families actually make
- Utah Residency and In-State Tuition — the rule this award sits on top of
- Orem High Schools Explained — the schools feeding UVU's concurrent program
- Lehi High vs. Skyridge High — the north-county pair