We list 9 fully Funded Masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in the United States, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 5 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
Written from the 9 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 9 fully funded masters scholarships in the United States that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is tagged fully funded, and every award is tagged at masters level, so the nine entries are the same nine whichever way you sort them. The country facet is the United States throughout.
The providers behind these awards include Stanford University, the University of Minnesota, Penn State Great Valley, the ACI Foundation, the American Association of University Women, and USA universities and academic institutions generally. That mix matters when you are planning: some of these are university awards tied to one campus, and some are run by foundations or national programmes that place you at a university after you win.
Nigeria is not a small presence in American graduate classrooms. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics recorded 16,632 Nigerian students in the United States in 2023, the second-largest national group from Africa. You are applying into a well-worn path, not an experiment.
Fully funded is a label the award itself uses, and the details differ from one entry to the next. Of the nine, 5 name tuition in their own text, 4 name living costs, 4 name travel, 2 name health insurance, and 2 name research or training costs. Read that as what the award says in writing, not as a promise that every line of your budget is covered. Where an award names tuition and living costs but says nothing about insurance, budget for insurance yourself until the university tells you otherwise.
None of the nine leaves funding unstated, so you will not find an entry here that is silent on whether money is involved. What you will find is variation in what the money is for.
Of the nine awards, 5 are open to Nigerian applicants. Within that group, none names Nigeria or the region as a restriction, and 5 carry no nationality restriction at all. The remaining 4 do not state eligibility on the award page, which means the question is unanswered rather than closed. For those four, write to the provider or check the full award page before you spend money on a transcript courier.
The qualification you bring is a first degree or HND: B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND. These are taught and research masters, and awards that state a class of degree usually ask for an upper second, which corresponds to Second Class Upper (2:1) on a Nigerian transcript. Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by this page, so treat that as a question for the admissions office of the specific school.
The requirements the awards state in writing are consistent enough to plan around. 7 ask for an English test score, IELTS or TOEFL. 5 ask for letters of recommendation. 3 state a minimum degree class. 1 asks for work experience.
Two practical notes for a Nigerian applicant. First, an English test is the single most common requirement on this list, so book early; test slots in Lagos and Abuja fill months ahead, and the score has to reach the university before the deadline, not after. Second, a waiver is sometimes possible if your degree was taught in English, but a waiver is granted by the university, not by this page, and it is never automatic. If the award text asks for a score, assume you need one until the school tells you otherwise.
Letters of recommendation take longer than people expect. Give your referees at least three weeks, and give them your CV, your transcript and the award name so they are not writing in the dark.
5 of the nine have a date and 5 are still open at the time of writing. 4 are undated, and 5 recur, meaning the cycle returns and a missed year is not the end of the road. The busiest months are October, November and December, one deadline in each.
The awards closing soonest are:
One more award sits on the page without a fixed date: Fulbright Scholarship 2026-2027 USA (Fully Funded), listed as deadline see details. Fulbright is a name most Nigerian applicants already know, and it is worth opening the entry to see what the current cycle says.
The nine are spread thin across fields, one award each in Arts & Humanities, Business & Management, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine & Health Sciences, and Social Sciences. That spread is useful: whichever broad subject you are coming from, there is likely one entry here written for it. It also means you cannot afford to ignore a deadline because you assume the award is for someone else.
On level, all nine are masters, but the same awards also carry other tags: 4 are tagged fellowship, 4 PhD, 3 bachelors, 2 postdoctoral, and 1 high school. A single award can carry more than one tag, so a masters award may also admit PhD applicants, or sit inside a programme that runs from undergraduate through postdoctoral. Read the individual entry rather than assuming the tag limits you.
Start with the two awards closing soonest — Stanford on 8 October and the ACI Foundation on 1 November. Both are within reach of a Nigerian applicant with a completed first degree, and both will force you to assemble transcripts, referees and a test score on a clock.
Then work through the rest in deadline order, and open the four undated entries separately so you know whether they are waiting on a cycle or simply not yet published. For each award, check three things before you commit money: whether Nigerian applicants are eligible, whether your degree class meets the stated minimum, and whether an English test is required or waivable.
Two years is the stated duration on two of these awards, so plan for a two-year absence from work, not a single academic session. Transcripts, courier fees and test registration are real costs, and they are yours whether or not you win. Spend them in deadline order, on the awards where you clearly qualify, and leave the unanswered ones until you have written to the provider and heard back.
Studying in the United States is a dream for many international students due to its world-class universities, cutting-edge research opportunities, and global recognition. However, the high cost of tuition, living expenses, and travel can be a significant hurdle. Fortunately, a wide range of fully funded and partially funded scholarships are available specifically for international students, offered by US universities, government initiatives, and private organizations. These programs can cover tuition fees, living stipends, health insurance, and even airfare, depending on the scholarship type. Below is a comprehensive list of the top 10 scholarships in the USA for international students for 2026–2027, including opportunities for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs. By applying to these scholarships, you can access world-class education while minimizing financial burdens and focusing on academic and professional growth.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2023.
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