Scholarships

Helping blue families reach college

LEO Only awards college scholarships to the children of active, retired and fallen sworn law enforcement officers.

About the scholarship

The LEO Only scholarship is open to high school seniors whose parent is an active, retired or fallen sworn law enforcement officer. Any student in the graduating class of a high school, or its equivalent, within the jurisdiction of LEO Only may file an application.

The Preliminary Application must be filed with the Chairperson of the Scholarship Committee no later than May 1. Only one application may be filed per student.

We require a Social Security number for our records. If you do not have one, you can apply at your nearest Social Security office. There is no charge to obtain this number.

Financial need, leadership and scholarship, as well as citizenship, personality, perseverance and resourcefulness, are the criteria by which applicants are judged. Students of outstanding merit have the best chance to win our award. Experience shows that students with high scholarship ratings, excellent leadership qualities and a well-rounded personality generally reach the group given final consideration. Financial need is a very important part of the formula.

Scholarship guidelines

Our scholarship programs are for undergraduate study only. A student may not receive more than one LEO Only scholarship award or grant in any one academic year.

Scholarship awards are evidenced by a Certificate of Award issued by LEO Only. All checks are paid directly to the school; under no circumstance can we make payment directly to the student.

Scholarship awards may be used for cost-of-attendance expenses. To receive payment, a student must have the school send the completed Verification of Enrollment form to our Lock Haven, Pennsylvania office. After receiving the student’s grades each semester, we will issue a check payable to the school and mail it directly to the school. We will notify the student when the check is mailed.

Because checks are prepared after grades are received, please allow approximately four weeks for payment. It is the student’s responsibility to tell our office the school address where the check should be mailed.

If a student ends his or her courses for any reason, the student must notify our office in writing as soon as possible. The award may not be transferred to another school without LEO Only approval, and it may not be paid to the student personally.

It is the student’s responsibility to follow up on all matters relating to his or her scholarship award. In all correspondence about a student who has been awarded a scholarship, we must have the student’s full name.

The information on this page should not be given to publishers or to anyone who wants to include it in a scholarship listing. We receive many requests from students who paid for scholarship information only to find they are not eligible or that the information is years out of date.

LEO Only has no loan programs, vocational grants or assistance for graduate study, and it does not maintain a mailing list. If a student would like to use scholarship funds for a study-abroad program, it must be billed through an accredited, U.S. degree-granting institution; we cannot issue funds to a third-party program or vendor.

LEO Only reserves the right to cancel an award in total if requirements are not met.

Maintaining the scholarship

Payment is made after grades are received at the end of each semester. If a student ends his or her courses for any reason, the undisbursed balance of the award will be terminated. It may not be transferred to another school without permission of LEO Only, and it may not be paid to the student personally.

The recipient must:

Maintain a 2.50 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale the first year, and a 2.75 cumulative GPA in later years.
Complete and earn at least 30 credit hours in each 12-month period when receiving a two-semester award in an academic year, or at least 15 credit hours when receiving a single-semester award.
Remain continuously enrolled as a full-time student. Scholars are not required to be full time or meet renewal requirements during their final year of scholarship eligibility.

Scholars may use later summer sessions, at their own expense, to meet the requirements for renewal. Eligibility for renewal is determined by LEO Only. The academic year for calculating renewal begins with the fall semester and ends with the summer semester. If you lose the scholarship, you cannot regain it at a later time.

Eligibility details & FAQs

Credits included in and excluded from the cumulative GPA

All college credit hours and grades must be counted in determining scholarship eligibility, whether or not the college accepts the credits. College credit hours earned before the first fall or spring semester of enrollment may not be counted toward the credit-hour requirement for renewal.

Credit for a course taken again during the same award year, including the summer, to improve a grade or for any other purpose, will only be counted once toward the hours requirement.

Summer credits

Scholars may use later summer sessions, at their own expense, to meet the requirements for renewal. A student who enrolls in summer school to reach the minimum credit hours or GPA will not receive a scholarship award for that summer enrollment. Summer courses must be completed before the start of a regular semester at the student’s school.

Maintaining eligibility

Each scholarship program requires that you meet basic cumulative GPA and credit-hour requirements. As a scholarship recipient, you must be enrolled full time (12 hours) for your scholarship to pay toward your account each fall and spring semester.

You must also have 30 cumulative earned hours by the end of your first academic year, 60 by the end of your second and 90 by the end of your third. An academic year includes the fall, spring and summer terms. Hours earned through transfer credit, dual credit and AP/IB testing may count toward this requirement. Transfer credit taken outside your university must have an official transcript reported before the 12th class day of the fall semester.

Probation and suspension

GPA review. Each scholarship recipient’s cumulative GPA is reviewed at the end of each semester.

GPA probation. If you do not meet the GPA requirement for the first time, you will be placed on probation for one semester while continuing to receive payment. You must meet the requirement by the end of the probation to keep receiving payment.

GPA suspension. If you still do not meet the GPA requirement after probation, your scholarship will be suspended. No payment is made during suspension, future terms are cancelled, and payments lost during suspension are forfeited.

Automatic suspension. If your cumulative GPA is below 2.0 at the end of a semester, your scholarship is suspended automatically without a probation semester. Payments lost during the suspension are forfeited.

30-60-90 review. Cumulative earned hours are reviewed at the end of each academic year. If you miss the requirement for the first time, you will be placed on probation for one year while continuing to receive payment. If you still miss it after probation, your scholarship will be suspended, future terms are cancelled and lost payments are forfeited.

Reinstatement

Once you meet the minimum requirements again, including required hours and cumulative GPA, you may ask to be reviewed for reinstatement of remaining payments by filing a scholarship reinstatement form.

Not all scholarships are eligible for reinstatement. Reinstatement depends on available funding and on whether the terms of the scholarship allow it. A reinstated scholarship does not include payments forfeited during suspension.

May I submit an appeal if my scholarship is suspended?

When you are notified of a suspension you will receive instructions for the appeal process. The appeal process begins immediately after notification, so check your email regularly.

May I drop a class?

Yes, but a dropped class is not counted as complete and will not count toward the cumulative earned hours you need for your scholarship: 30 by the end of your first academic year, 60 by the end of your second and 90 by the end of your third.

What happens if I have to withdraw from the university?

Scholarship funds already disbursed to your student account remain applied even if you withdraw, and that semester counts against your multi-year scholarship. After the semester you withdraw, you will be on probation or suspension if you did not complete the required hours.

Will my mid-term grades be monitored?

Yes, for first-year recipients. After mid-term grades post in the fall and spring, first-year recipients who are below their scholarship requirements must complete mid-term advising and tutoring. Students in later years do not have their mid-term grades monitored.

Conduct probation policy

A student is not eligible to receive a scholarship when a conduct probation or deferred suspension is longer than one semester. Ineligibility may also result from a shorter probation or deferred suspension. These sanctions imply a serious offense and must be applied uniformly.

If the probation or deferred suspension begins before funds are disbursed for the semester, you are not eligible for the funds and the scholarship will be cancelled. If it begins after funds are disbursed, you may keep the funds as long as the period is not longer than one semester.

For a multi-year scholarship, a written request for reinstatement must be submitted to LEO Only Scholarships once you become eligible again. Reinstatement is not guaranteed and depends on available funds, the terms of the scholarship, and your meeting all eligibility criteria, including hours completed and cumulative GPA.

The LEO Only Scholarships Board reviews all conduct probation cases in coordination with the guidelines of the academic colleges and departments.

The LEO Only Board has the final say in all scholarship-related matters.