Who We Are 

The Terry Foundation is the largest private source of scholarships in the state of Texas. Founded by Howard and Nancy Terry in 1986, the goal is to produce educated leaders for Texas, focusing on the program’s four pillars: Leadership, Scholarship, Service, and Community.  

 The scholarship is awarded to students graduating from Texas high schools. Awarded recipients receive full-ride scholarships renewable for up to four years. To date, The Terry Foundation has awarded more than $370 million dollars to over 6,800 incoming college students, in partnership with 11 of Texas’ most prominent public universities (see our full list of partnership institutions HERE).  

 

Recipient Benefits  

Terry Foundation scholarship recipients: 

• graduate debt free,  

• participate in a four-year cohort experience providing mentoring and networking,  

• qualify for an optional study abroad stipend,  

• and take advantage of additional experiential learning opportunities intended to maximize the recipient’s undergraduate experience.  

In short, the Foundation strives to be more than just a check in the mail, and once selected, recipients are afforded meaningful opportunities to engage with the Foundation for many years. 

 

How to Get Started  

Terry Scholars are selected from a highly competitive applicant pool of incoming undergraduate freshmen who demonstrate exceptional leadership, character, and scholastic ability, and who need some help in paying for college. Interested students must apply during their senior year of high school through one of our 11 affiliated public university partners. If the university decides the student should advance in the scholarship competition, they are nominated for a Terry Foundation Scholarship interview where the applicant meets with six panelists, former recipients of the award, for a formative 30-minute interview. 

To get started on the application process, students should visit www.terryfoundation.org to learn about the Foundation’s Terry-affiliated universities, and applicant criteria. The website also provides direct links to the applicant portals at all 11 partner universities. And we have a special FAQ section just about preparing for the Terry interview.  

The Terry website also features a Counselor page, a one-stop shop with concise summaries of our eligibility criteria, application processes, and partner universities. Each university has different deadlines and requirements, so students should pay careful attention to the information provided on each individual university’s website.  

Some students will begin researching the Terry Scholarship in the spring of their junior year. Applications for all universities open between August and early October. When completing the application, students should just be themselves! And as much as possible, emphasize how they exemplify the selection criteria of demonstrated leadership and strong academics, along with information about their family’s financial circumstances.    

And here is the best part: when students are selected for an interview, they will meet me or one of our 6 other Terry Scholar Alumni who work at the Terry Foundation. Our singular goal is to enthusiastically support future Texas leaders for generations to come, and we are grateful to have so many college access professionals working alongside us in this goal! 

 

Franco’s Story 

I am especially passionate to spread the word about the Terry Scholarship because I not only work at the Foundation, but I was a recipient of the scholarship myself. What is more, I was lucky that I even found the application to apply.  

As a first-generation student, ranked 3rd in my high school class, a leader in multiple service organizations, and a student athlete, I met the criteria, but I had never heard of The Terry Foundation. Most of the kids at my high school did not know much about applying to college, and our counselor never talked to us about scholarships. One day, when I finally asked, knowing that I could never pay for college myself, the counselor simply pointed me to a closet with stacks of promotional flyers and applications to dig through myself. I searched for hours, pulling out any scholarship that I might qualify for, and I eventually found the one that would change my life: The Terry Foundation Scholarship. It had a cover letter and three paper applications with directions on how to apply. I took one application for myself and handed the other two to the top ranked students in my school. All three of us advanced to the interview stage, and two of us ultimately received the scholarship. 

Thinking back on that experience just makes me more excited when I see college access professionals today being proactive in spreading the word about this life-changing opportunity.  

My dream is that one day counselors at every high school in Texas will have had one of their students apply and be selected as a Terry Scholar! 

 

Guest Author: Franco Santiago Martinez, Associate Scholarship Program Director at the Terry Foundation. 

Franco is a Terry Scholar Alumni who now serves as the Associate Scholarship Program Director at the Terry Foundation. He joined the Terry Foundation in 2016 after amassing professional Higher Education experience as a Terry Campus Partner, Academic Advisor, Mentorship Program Director, First-Year Experience Coordinator, and Student Development Specialist. He also received the Terry Scholarship as an undergraduate, served on the Terry Scholar Alumni Advisory Board, and has reviewed hundreds of scholarship applications for various organizations. His work is deeply informed by his passion for education and his own personal experiences. Franco was a first-generation college student who received full scholarships for both a B.S. in Math Education and an M.Ed. in Higher Education Policy & Supervision. He achieved this while navigating academic life as an undocumented student and thus strives to always center marginalized groups in his efforts to increase opportunities for all.