Kansas Board of Regents Scholarships: Types, Eligibility, and How to Apply

The Kansas Board of Regents scholarships are a set of roughly ten state-funded awards for Kansas residents attending college in the state, ranging from a few hundred dollars a year up to more than $10,000. Some reward academic performance, some are driven by financial need, and several pay the most but require you to live and work in Kansas after graduation. Picking the right one starts with knowing what each program pays and what it demands in return.

What Every KBOR Scholarship Requires

Kansas residency is the baseline for every program. Under state law, you qualify as a resident for tuition purposes if you (or your parents, if you are a minor) have been domiciled in Kansas for at least 12 months before enrolling.¹

Nearly every program also requires the FAFSA, even those that are not strictly need-based, because KBOR uses that data to verify income and allocate funds. Most require full-time enrollment of at least 12 credit hours per semester, though a few accept part-time students taking as few as 6 hours. Each scholarship then layers on its own academic, financial, or career-specific rules.

Need-Based Scholarships and Grants

Three programs are built primarily around financial need as measured by the FAFSA.

Kansas Comprehensive Grant

This is the largest need-based award KBOR offers. It is available to Kansas residents enrolled full-time at any of the six state universities, Washburn University, or 18 participating private colleges.² For 2026–2027, awards run from $100 to $4,500 at public institutions and $200 to $10,500 at private institutions.³ Eligibility is entirely need-based. Funding is limited and distributed on a priority basis, so filing the FAFSA early matters here more than almost anywhere else.

Kansas State Scholarship

The Kansas State Scholarship blends merit and need. You must first earn designation as a State Scholar during your senior year of high school, based on an index that combines your ACT composite with your seventh-semester GPA.⁴ You must take the ACT between April of your sophomore year and December of your senior year, and your high school counselor must certify your curriculum and GPA on the official roster.⁵

Being named a State Scholar does not guarantee funding. The actual award depends on your financial need and the state money available. Designated scholars receive up to $1,000 per year ($500 per semester) and can renew for up to four years of undergraduate study.³ Scholars must take at least 12 credit hours per semester and keep a 3.0 cumulative GPA.⁴ If you are not financially eligible in a given year, you can reapply the next year.

Kansas Education Opportunity Scholarship

This one targets first-generation college students and dependents of Kansas teachers or paraprofessionals. Either neither of your parents holds a bachelor’s degree, or a parent is actively working as a licensed teacher or paraprofessional in a Kansas pre-K through 12th grade school. You must enroll full-time at an eligible Kansas college, including state universities, Washburn, private colleges, and community and technical colleges. Awards run up to $1,850 per year ($925 per semester), based on need and available funding, and renew for up to four years.⁶ Priority goes to graduating high school seniors entering college for the first time.

Service Scholarships

Service scholarships pay significantly more than the need-based programs, but recipients sign a promissory note agreeing to work in a specific profession in Kansas after graduation. Break the commitment and the scholarship converts to a loan.

Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship

This scholarship addresses shortages of licensed teachers in hard-to-fill subjects and underserved areas. For 2026–2027, the hard-to-fill disciplines are elementary education, English language arts, mathematics, science, and special education.⁷ Underserved areas include the Topeka, Kansas City, and Wichita school districts along with several state Board of Education districts.⁸

Full-time recipients taking 12 or more credit hours receive up to $6,860 per academic year. Part-time awards scale down by credit hours:⁷

12+ hours: $3,430 per semester
9–11 hours: $2,747 per semester
6–8 hours: $2,058 per semester
3–5 hours: $1,373 per semester

Recipients must teach full-time in a hard-to-fill discipline or underserved area in Kansas for one year for each year of funding. Teaching must begin within six months of getting your license and take place at a state-accredited public or private school.⁸

Kansas Nursing Service Scholarship

The Nursing Service Scholarship supports students accepted into a Kansas nursing program pursuing either an LPN or RN credential, enrolled in at least 12 credit hours per semester. For 2026–2027, annual awards are:⁹

LPN without sponsor: $4,000
RN without sponsor: $5,000
LPN with sponsor: $5,000
RN with sponsor: $6,250

A sponsor is a qualifying healthcare facility that agrees to employ you after graduation. Sponsorship is optional, but it raises your award. Eligible sponsors include adult care homes, psychiatric hospitals, mental health facilities, medical care facilities, home health agencies, and local health departments. Sponsors cannot be located in the state’s 10 most populated counties (including Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Douglas), which steers nurses toward rural and underserved areas.⁹ The service obligation is one year of full-time nursing for each year of funding.

Kansas Promise Act Scholarship

The Promise Act works differently from the other KBOR programs. It is a “last dollar” award that covers whatever tuition, fees, and required materials remain after all other gift aid (like Pell Grants) has been applied. It is available at Kansas community colleges, technical colleges, Washburn Institute of Technology, and certain private postsecondary institutions, but only for programs in designated high-demand fields.¹⁰

The qualifying fields for 2026–2027 are information technology and security, mental and physical health care, advanced manufacturing and building trades, and early childhood education and development. Each institution can designate one additional field from a list that includes agriculture, education and training, logistics, and public safety.¹⁰

Income limits apply. For a household of one or two, total family income cannot exceed $100,000. For a household of three, the cap is $150,000, with an additional $4,800 added per person beyond three.¹⁰ You must complete your program within 36 months of first receiving the scholarship and then live and work in Kansas for at least two consecutive years. Military service at any point after receiving the scholarship also satisfies the work requirement.³

Military Service Scholarship

This scholarship covers tuition and fees at any Kansas public postsecondary institution for veterans who served on foreign soil or in international waters after September 11, 2001, for at least 90 days (or fewer if injured during service). You must have received an honorable or general discharge, or still be in active service, and you must provide a DD-214 or active duty orders confirming hostile fire pay.¹¹ Unlike the teacher and nursing programs, this scholarship carries no post-graduation service obligation. It covers up to four years of undergraduate study (five for designated five-year programs), and recipients need only 6 credit hours per semester to stay eligible.

Adult Learner Grant

The Adult Learner Grant serves students pursuing degrees in high-demand fields at four-year universities, Washburn, and eligible private institutions. Awards scale by credit hours, up to $3,000 per semester for students taking 12 or more hours.¹² Eligible fields include healthcare and nursing, information technology, advanced manufacturing, education, and business. This is a service grant: recipients must live and work in Kansas after graduation. If you continue your education in Kansas, the two-year work requirement is deferred until you finish or leave the subsequent program.³

How and When to Apply

Applying is a two-step process that trips up students who assume the FAFSA alone is enough. You need both.

The FAFSA opens on October 1 each year.¹³ File it as early as you can. Several KBOR programs distribute limited funds on a priority basis, and late filers can miss out even when they qualify. List at least one eligible Kansas institution.²

After the FAFSA, submit the State of Kansas Student Aid Application through the online portal at sfa.kansasregents.gov. Use a personal email address when you create the account, because the Board will contact you through the email you provide.² This single portal handles the Teacher Service, Nursing Service, Promise Act, State Scholarship, Education Opportunity, Military Service, and Adult Learner programs.

Priority deadlines for 2026–2027 include:²

Kansas Education Opportunity Scholarship: May 1
Kansas Military Service Scholarship: May 1 (priority)
Kansas Nursing Service Scholarship: May 1 (priority)
Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship: June 1 (priority)
Kansas State Scholarship: August 1 (priority)

Several programs accept applications past the priority date if funding remains, so applying late is still worth trying. Deadlines shift year to year, so verify them on the KBOR scholarships page before you file.

What Happens If You Break a Service Commitment

Service scholarships get expensive when the obligation is not met. If you received a Teacher Service, Nursing Service, Promise Act, or Adult Learner award and don’t fulfill the post-graduation work requirement, the scholarship converts to a loan that you must repay with interest.

As of July 1, 2025, Kansas law sets the interest rate for all KBOR scholarship repayment obligations at 5% per year.¹⁴ Before that law, the Nursing Service Scholarship carried an especially punishing rate pegged to the federal PLUS loan rate plus five percentage points.¹⁵

For the Nursing Service Scholarship, the consequences go further. If you leave nursing for another field, switch curricula, or move out of Kansas, you owe repayment to both the state and your sponsor, if you had one. Unpaid accounts go to a collection agency, which adds its own fees. The debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy.¹⁵

The Promise Act and Adult Learner Grant offer a limited escape valve. If you continue your education at a Kansas institution and enroll in at least six credit hours per semester, the two-year live-and-work requirement is deferred until you finish or leave the program.³ The current published guidelines for the Teacher and Nursing Service Scholarships do not describe a similar deferment.

1
Justia Law. Kansas Code 76-729 – Residence Status for Fee Purposes
2
Kansas Board of Regents. Scholarships and Grants
3
Kansas Board of Regents. State of Kansas Scholarships and Grants 2026-2027
4
Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas State Scholarship
5
Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Scholars Curriculum and State Scholar Quick Facts
6
Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Education Opportunity Scholarship 2025-2026
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Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship 2026-2027
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Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship 2025-2026
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Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Nursing Service Scholarship 2026-2027
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Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Promise Act Scholarship 2026-2027
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Kansas Board of Regents. Kansas Military Service Scholarship 2025-2026
12
Kansas Board of Regents. Adult Learner Grant
13
U.S. Department of Education. U.S. Department of Education Announces Earliest FAFSA Form Launch in Program History
14
Kansas Secretary of State. 2025 Session Laws of Kansas Chapter 86 – Senate Bill 50
15
Kansas Board of Regents. Nursing Service Scholarship Program Guide