The AG Bell 2016 College Scholarship Program recognizes that families who have a child who is deaf or hard of hearing may have additional financial pressures. AG Bell offers several scholarships for full-time students who have a pre-lingual bilateral hearing loss in the moderately-severe to profound range, use listening and spoken language, and who are pursuing a bachelors, masters or doctorate (not law or public policy) degree at an accredited mainstream college or university. This is a merit-based scholarship program and award selection is extremely competitive.

Eligibility:
In order to be eligible for this program, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

• Listening and Spoken Language must be the applicant's primary mode of communication.
• Hearing loss must have been diagnosed before the applicant’s fourth birthday (pre-lingual hearing loss).
• Hearing loss must be bilateral and in the moderate to profound range. Applicants must have an unaided Pure-Tone Average (PTA) of 60dB or greater in the better-hearing ear in the speech frequencies of 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz. Applicants with cochlear implants meet this eligibility requirement. Unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss does not qualify.
• Formula for calculating the PTA: On the unaided audiogram, look at the results for the better hearing ear at 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz and add those three numbers together, then divide that total by three. The result is the Pure Tone Average. To be eligible for this program, the applicant’s PTA must be 60 or greater.
• Applicant must be enrolled in or have applied to a mainstream and accredited college or university as a full-time student working to complete a bachelor’s or graduate degree. This means that, for the 2016-2017 academic year, the applicant must be a fulltime undergraduate or graduate student pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree at a mainstream college or university.
• Applicants in the United States must have a minimum cumulative un-weighted GPA of 3.25 on a 4.0 scale (equivalent minimums: 4.06 on a 5.0 scale or 81.25 on a scale of 100). For high school seniors, this is a cumulative GPA for grades 9-11 and the first semester of grade 12. For college freshman, this is cumulative GPA for grades 9-12 and the first semester of college. For college sophomores or higher including graduate students, it is the cumulative GPA on college transcripts for all semesters completed.
• Non-U.S. Applicants: Applicants must have a minimum 80% cumulative on their high school or secondary school transcripts. For colleges outside of the United States, applicants must have a ranking equivalent to a minimum 3.25 GPA; for example, for students in the UK, Australia and India, a minimum of an Upper Second Class ranking is required.
• Applicants may receive a total of two awards through the AG Bell College Scholarship program.