We list 6 high School 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. 3 of them are fully funded. 2 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
Written from the 6 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 6 high school scholarships in the United States open to Nigerian students. Every entry is a pre-university or secondary-level award, or a programme that admits students before they begin a degree. The list is short because American high school funding for international students is genuinely thin, and most of what exists is attached to a named school, a foundation, or a summer programme rather than to a national scheme.
If you are searching on behalf of a younger sibling, a child, or yourself after WAEC, read the six entries before you read anything else. Some are not scholarships in the sense you may expect. One is a pre-university programme at Yale University. Another is a college scholarship programme that sits at the boundary between secondary school and undergraduate study. Knowing which is which saves you a wasted application fee and a wasted courier.
Of the six awards, 3 are labelled fully funded and 2 are labelled partially funded. One award does not label its funding either way, and this page makes no claim about what it covers.
Where the awards state benefits in their own text, the counts are modest and specific:
Treat these as what the award documents say in writing, not as a promise that every cost you will face is covered. Airfare, SEVIS fees, visa appointment costs, health insurance and the day-to-day cost of living in an American town are rarely listed in a scholarship headline. Before you build a budget around any award on this page, open the award page and read its own funding section line by line.
This is the part most students get wrong, so the numbers are worth stating plainly. Of the six awards, 2 state that Nigerians may apply. Within those two, 0 name Nigeria or the West African region specifically, and 2 carry no nationality restriction at all. The remaining 4 do not state their eligibility on the award page.
That last figure matters. It does not mean those four are closed to Nigerians. It means the award page as we hold it does not say. Your next step for those four is to open the award, find its official eligibility wording, and read whether it restricts by citizenship, residency, or school location. American high school awards frequently restrict by state of residence or by attendance at a US school, and that restriction is often buried below the headline.
Two of the six awards are administered by named American universities or colleges, and one by a named foundation. Where an award is tied to a specific institution, the eligibility rule usually follows the institution's own admissions policy for international students, which you should check directly.
The requirements stated on these awards are lighter than what you would meet at masters or PhD level, but they are not nothing:
For a Nigerian applicant, the recommendation letters are the practical bottleneck. Ask a subject teacher or your principal early, give them a written summary of what you have done, and give them a deadline at least two weeks before the real one. If a school in Nigeria is writing on your behalf, confirm whether the award accepts a scanned letter on school letterhead or insists on a sealed envelope sent by post. That single detail has ended more applications than a weak personal statement.
The degree class requirement on one award is a reminder that some entries on this page sit at the transition point into undergraduate study, where a completed qualification may be referenced. Read the award's own wording rather than assuming which certificate it wants.
Of the six awards, 4 carry a stated date and 4 are still open at the time of writing. 2 are undated, and 4 recur annually, which means a missed cycle is not necessarily the end of the road.
The busiest month is November, with 3 deadlines, followed by February with 1. If you are planning a single application push, November is the month that decides your year.
These are the awards closing soonest:
The Yale Young Global Scholars Program (YYGS) 2027 runs on a different rhythm, with a deadline typically in January for Early Action. Read the award page for the exact wording, because that programme's own dates govern.
The six awards on this page are not only high school awards. The same entries also appear under other study levels, which tells you something useful about how they are structured. 3 of them also carry a Bachelors level, 3 a Fellowship level, 3 a PhD level, 2 a Postdoctoral level, and 1 a Masters level. In other words, several of these are broad foundation programmes that fund a student across more than one stage, not single-purpose school scholarships.
By subject, the entries touch Business & Management, Engineering, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, one award each. If your intended field is not among those four, the awards on this page may still be open to you, but the subject labelling suggests where each programme's stated interest lies.
One duration is stated explicitly: 3 academic years. Another entry describes student fellowship recipients as eligible to apply. Read both in context on the award page before you plan around them.
Start with the two awards that state Nigerians may apply, because those are the ones where your eligibility is not in question. Open each, confirm the deadline, and check whether the application is submitted online or by post.
Then take the four awards that do not state eligibility and read their official pages for the words "citizen", "resident", "national" and "eligible". If you find a restriction that excludes you, close the tab and move on. If you find nothing, email the provider and ask directly. A short, polite email costs nothing and settles the question.
For the two undated awards, note them and check back. For the four recurring awards, a missed cycle is survivable, but the November cluster is not something to leave until October.
Finally, budget for the paperwork. Transcripts, courier fees, test registration and any translation costs are yours to carry, and they add up faster than most families expect. Decide what you can afford before you decide how many awards to chase.
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.
A browser notification when a scholarship you can apply for is added or about to close. No account needed.
