The Gordon Hall III Family Foundation Scholarship

All applicants from Lynn and Marblehead will complete a specific application for the Gordon Hall III Family Foundation Scholarship (GH3 Scholarship). GH3 Scholarship Applications for 2027-2028 school year will open in December. Please read below for more information.

Applying from outside of Lynn or Marblehead, MA? Click here for the Stephen Phillips Memorial Scholarship.

Qualifications

Applicants must:

Be a resident of Lynn or Marblehead, MA.

Be an entering or returning student at an accredited undergraduate institution in the United States and must be enrolled full-time (at least 12 credit hours)

Be pursuing a first bachelor's degree (BA, BS, BFA, BSN for example) for the first time at a four-year college in the 2027-2028 academic year. Students in one-year or two-year certificate or associate's degree programs do not qualify. Students in five-plus year programs ending in a master's degree or beyond may apply for the first four (undergraduate) years of their programs.

Have a GPA of 3.0 or higher on a scale of 4.0 to be considered.

Demonstrate financial need to be considered for the Hall Scholarship. Students with an unmet need of $5,000 or more will qualify. To help determine financial eligibility use the Hall Financial Eligibility Calculator.

Please note, this scholarship is intended to reduce the gap for students, but not to fully cover awardee's unmet need. Students should anticipate having a balance after the scholarship is applied, to be covered by loans and/or earnings.

Have an SAI (Student Aid Index) of 13,000 or below.

Families with unique financial circumstances are encouraged to call or email us to discuss whether they may still be eligible.

Be a United States citizen OR a noncitizen who EITHER a) has a current lawful presence in the United States and employment authorization OR b) files (or is the dependent of a parent who files) a US income tax return.

Steps to Apply

The 2026-2027 Applications are closed. 2027-2028 New High School and New College applications will open in December and will be due Monday, May 3rd at 12pm, noon.

High School applicants are welcome to apply using our Early Response deadline of 12pm, noon on April 2, 2027. These applicants complete the application early in order to receive a response in late April, which may impact their college choice. (Applicants using the Early Response deadline are either awarded, deferred to the regular applicant pool, or not awarded. Students are only able to complete one application per year.) For any applicant who misses the early deadline, they can continue to work on the application and submit by 12pm, noon on May 3rd.

To complete your application, you will need to upload:

One formal essay and a few short responses

Financial Aid Award information from the college or university you plan to attend

The name and contact details of at least one recommender

Your 2027-2028 FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS)

For more information about completing the FAFSA and how to access your FSS visit the FAFSA information page.

Recommenders

Thank you for guiding students through the process of applying to and paying for college! Please review the resources below for how to navigate our scholarship application process and submit your recommendation materials.

Partner Organizations, please click here to access the Applicant List Form.

Reaching out to Students

Please use this poster in your office to share this opportunity with students!

Navigating the Process

Below are useful links for you to help students successfully apply for the Gordon Hall III Family Foundation Scholarship.

How to Apply 2026-2027
Details about how to apply for the scholarship as a new student for Fall 2026. You can print this for your scholarship files or online listings.

How to Apply 2026-2027 in other languages:
Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish

Submitting a Recommendation

We greatly value the context your recommendations provide for your students! Whether you are a school counselor, general recommender, or a partner organization sponsoring a student, we ask that you use our online platform to share your support. An email invitation with a personalized link to the recommendation form will be generated once a student enters your information into their application. Please read on for information on what is required based on the type of applicant you are recommending.

New Applicant

Current High School Senior

The high school guidance counselor or school counselor must provide a recommendation by the deadline for the application to be considered complete. This includes:

School Counselor Form

High school transcript

Letter of recommendation (one used for college admission is fine)

High school profile, if available

Students may also designate another adult as a general recommender, which is optional but encouraged. This should be an adult who knows the applicant well, such as a teacher, community service advisor, religious leader, coach or employer. They should not be a relative or school counselor. General recommenders only need to complete the questions on the recommendation form and/or submit a letter of recommendation via the designated space on the recommendation form.

Recommendations are due by April 5, 2027 for seniors applying by the early response deadline, or May 5, 2027 for seniors applying for the regular deadline.

New Applicant

Current College Student

Current college students may designate the following to be their recommender: college professor, teaching assistant, academic advisor, community service advisor, religious leader, coach or employer. College recommenders only need to complete the recommendation form and/or submit the letter of recommendation.

Recommendations for all current college students are due by May 5, 2027.

Troubleshooting

For help accessing or using our online recommendation form, please call our office at 978-744-2111 or email us at hall.gh3@spscholars.org so we can help troubleshoot.