A senior who wins a Hagan Scholarship next spring will owe the foundation a stretch of labor before any college sends her a bill. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1, 2027, she has to log 240 hours of paid, supervised work at a job outside her family. The foundation's application page ties her first fall disbursement to finishing them.

The Hagan Scholarship Foundation, based in Columbia, Mo., is taking applications for the 2027-28 academic year until Dec. 1, 2026, and it can make up to 1,500 awards in this cycle. Seniors at any U.S. high school qualify with a 3.50 cumulative GPA and parents whose 2025 adjusted gross household income did not exceed $125,000. The foundation also states that eligible students "can apply regardless of citizenship." Its 2027-28 brochure sets the undergraduate award at up to $7,500 a semester for as many as eight consecutive semesters, a ceiling of $60,000.

Hagan was not part of last week's roundup of five scholarship deadlines facing New York seniors, and its window shuts two weeks ahead of the Dec. 15 dates on that list. Public, private, charter, magnet and STEM high schools all count, so the eligible pool reaches from Buffalo to Montauk, although homeschooled students are shut out under the foundation's own question and answer page.

Hours must come from regularly scheduled employment, performed under a supervisor and paid, and the brochure excludes work for family, which removes the uncle's deli and the parents' landscaping crew from the count. The foundation's Q&A does allow federal and campus work-study hours, along with any other supervised job that pays.

Spread across the eight months the rule allows, 240 hours works out to roughly seven hours a week, a shift or two at a grocery store or a Saturday at a pharmacy counter. Seniors who are 16 or 17 also need New York working papers, issued through their school district, before most employers will put them on a schedule. That paperwork is easier to finish in December than in a crowded June, when every junior in the building wants the same summer job.

Recipients must put in another 240 hours between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1 before each academic year. They also have to hold a 3.25 cumulative GPA, earn 14 credits every fall and finish 30 credits across each academic year without counting summer school. The rule traces to the grantor, Dan Hagan, who attended four small rural public schools in Missouri and worked his way through high school and the University of Missouri without taking on debt. The foundation's stated reason for the requirement is that he believes each recipient benefits from contributing to the cost of his or her own education.

Asked on its own site what a recipient's chances are of finishing college inside the program, the foundation answers "About Fifty Percent." It attributes most losses to students who fell short on credit hours, missed the GPA floor or failed to complete the work requirement. On conflicts with jobs, sports or family obligations, its Q&A says there are no exceptions and that the recipient "must decide which is more important the scholarship or conflict."

The dollar amount is set each semester by a formula rather than handed over as a flat grant. The foundation starts with a school's total cost of attendance, which covers tuition, fees, room, board, books, supplies, personal costs and transportation. It then subtracts every other scholarship, grant, waiver and work-study award, along with half of the family's Student Aid Index from the FAFSA. Parents are not asked to pay that index; the brochure says it is used only to size the check.

For New York students, that formula means state and federal aid gets applied before Hagan money does. A senior at a SUNY campus whose Pell Grant and Tuition Assistance Program award cover most of tuition would see Hagan fill whatever cost of attendance remains, up to the $7,500 semester cap. Recipients who live at home or with family are not eligible for room and board disbursements, a rule that trims the award for commuters. The foundation also warns that turning down other aid to enlarge the Hagan payment costs a recipient the scholarship.

The financial package extends beyond tuition. First-year recipients open a personal Schwab brokerage account and receive $1,000 for a computer, bedding and other college essentials, and in later years they manage foundation-funded accounts of $10,000, $15,000 and then $20,000. Graduates keep the gains from those managed accounts up to $10,000, which the foundation notes are taxed as ordinary income. Third-year scholars with a 3.50 GPA qualify for a study or travel abroad trip worth up to $8,000.

Recipients may attend any traditional four-year, not-for-profit college accredited by a recognized regional body, while community colleges, junior colleges and online institutions are excluded. The foundation's list of 745 schools that Hagan scholars have attended includes Binghamton, Stony Brook, the University at Buffalo and the University at Albany, along with SUNY campuses from Fredonia to Plattsburgh. Hofstra and LIU appear from Long Island, and the College of Staten Island is the only CUNY school on it, although the rules do not limit recipients to the schools listed.

The citizenship language opens the door for immigrant families who have watched other national awards close it. The Elks Most Valuable Student contest, for one, is limited to U.S. citizens. Hagan's paperwork splits at the finalist stage. Citizens submit the first two pages of their FAFSA Summary showing the Student Aid Index, while non-citizens submit a copy of a foreign passport or a green card.

Applicants must apply for federal and state grants if eligible. In New York, the state aid route for undocumented students runs through the Dream Act, the law at the center of the Justice Department's August lawsuit over resident tuition and state aid. The 240-hour rule also requires paid employment, and federal law requires employers to verify a new hire's eligibility to work, a point the foundation's published materials do not address.

Students in that position should get an answer in writing before Dec. 1. The student has to be the one who asks, because the application page states that the foundation communicates with applicants only. The same rule applies to a household income question that the materials leave unsettled. The application measures parents' adjusted gross income from 2025 federal tax returns, while the Q&A defines household income as the total gross income of everyone living under one roof, excluding the applicant.

The process leaves little room for second attempts. Each student may apply only once, so a senior who submits by Dec. 1 cannot reapply in the spring window that opens Jan. 15 and closes March 15, 2027. Everything has to arrive with the application, including a current transcript and an unsealed letter of recommendation, because the foundation will not accept additional material after submission. There is no application fee.

Finalists supply supplemental information over the winter, and the brochure says scholarships will be awarded by May 1, 2027. By then, half of the work window will already have closed. A senior who waits for the award letter before looking for a job will have four months to log 240 hours, which comes to about 14 hours a week through the end of August.