Background
The BYU-Idaho Thomas E. Ricks Grant is named after the founder of Ricks Academy (which eventually became BYU-Idaho) and is intended to assist students at BYU-Idaho who show financial need and/or academic merit. The Thomas E. Ricks Grant replaces the former BYU-Idaho General and Academic Scholarships.
Application
To be evaluated for the BYU-Idaho Thomas E. Ricks Grant, students must complete the following by March 1st
- BYU-Idaho Thomas E. Ricks Grant Application
- Corresponding FAFSA (To be considered for maximum eligibility)
- International and DACA students are not required to submit the FAFSA
Eligibility
- Student must be admitted as a campus student
- Students must have less than 140 cumulative credits earned at the time of evaluation. All credits appearing on the student’s official transcript are counted including Advanced Placement, language exam credits, transfer credits, etc.
Evaluation
Students will receive one award that is determined by a combination of the following criteria:
- Financial need:
- Based on information taken from the BYU-Idaho Thomas E. Ricks Grant Application and the FAFSA
- Academic achievement:
- For freshman students: high school GPA and ACT/SAT score (see Tables 2 and 3 below)
- For continuing students: BYU-Idaho GPA based on cumulative data from the end of the previous Fall semester (see Table 4 below)
- For transfer students: transfer GPA (see Table 4 below)
Students who submit their BYU-Idaho Thomas E. Ricks Grant Application after the March 1st priority deadline will be evaluated for financial need only and awarded based on university fund availability.
Recently Returned Missionaries must complete the required applications before the Financial Aid Determination Date of their first semester back in order to be evaluated for the maximum eligible awards
Academic Achievement Evaluation Tables
Table 1: Student Definition Table
All BYU-Idaho Thomas E. Ricks Grants are evaluated for academic achievement. These evaluations are based on whether the student is a freshman, transfer, or continuing student at BYU-Idaho. Listed in Table 1 are the definitions of each type of student.
| Student | Defined | Evaluation |
| Freshman | Less than 14 BYU-Idaho credits and less than 24 transfer college credits | Evaluated based upon high school GPA and ACT or SAT score (see Table 2 below) at the time of evaluation. Award amounts found in Table 3. |
| Transfer | Less than 14 BYU-Idaho credits and more than 24 transfer college credits earned post-high school graduation | Evaluated based upon student's cumulative transfer GPA from prior university (see Table 4 below) at the time of evaluation. |
| Continuing | 14 BYU-Idaho credits or more | Evaluated based upon the completion of 14 BYUI credits and the student's cumulative BYU-Idaho GPA (see Table 4 below) at the time of evaluation. |
Table 2: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Freshman Academic Achievement Scale
Freshmen are evaluated for the academic achievement portion of the Thomas E. Ricks Grant based on their high school GPA as well as their SAT or ACT score that is on record with BYU-Idaho at the time of evaluation. Test scores submitted after the evaluation of the student's Ricks Grant are not taken into consideration.
Table 3: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Freshman Academic Achievement Award Amounts
Award amounts are in reference to tuition costs for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
| Tuition Amount | 2019-2020 Grant Award | 2020-2021 Grant Award |
| Full Tuition | $2,104 | $2,150 |
| Half Tuition | $1,052 | $1,075 |
| Quarter Tuition | $526 | $538 |
Table 4: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Transfer/Continuing Academic Achievement Award Amounts
Academic achievement evaluations for continuing students are pulled from the cumulative GPA at the end of the most recent Fall semester for the following year’s awards. (Example: Academic evaluations for the 2020/2021 academic year are pulled from the cumulative GPA after Fall 2019)
| Cumulative GPA | 2019-2020 Grant Award | 2020-2021 Grant Award |
| 3.950-4.000 | $2,104 | $2,150 |
| 3.900-3.949 | $1,052 | $1,075 |
| 3.750-3.899 | $526 | $538 |
Awarding
- Grants will not typically disburse until the first week of the semester.
- The Thomas E. Ricks Grant will be awarded for all three semesters but will not exceed full LDS tuition amounts per semester.
- Students must be enrolled in 12 or more credits to receive the full amount. A student may take 6-11.5 credits and still receive a prorated portion of the grant. Students do not need to contact the financial aid office to have this grant prorated. This grant may not be disbursed to a student enrolled in less than 6 credits.
Proration
Table 5: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Prorated Award Amounts
Thomas E. Ricks Grants may be prorated down to 6 enrolled credits as of the semester's FADD. The prorated award amount can be determined by finding the student's original award amount on the 12+ credit row and then following that column down to the number of current enrolled credits. This is an automatic process, students do not need to contact the Financial Aid Office to get their grant prorated.
| Credit Level | 2019-2020 Award Amount | 2020-2021 Award Amount | ||||||
| 12+ | $2,104 | $1,578 | $1,052 | $526 | $2,150 | $1,613 | $1,075 | $538 |
| 9-11.5 | $1,578 | $1,184 | $789 | $395 | $1,613 | $1,210 | $807 | $404 |
| 6-8.5 | $1,052 | $789 | $526 | $258 | $1,075 | $807 | $538 | $269 |
| Below 6 | No Award | |||||||