Early Bird Admission Program expands, awards nearly $30M in scholarships

Lamar University's Early Bird Admission Program saw major growth in its second year, expanding to more high schools, reviewing more transcripts and awarding nearly $30 million in scholarships to prospective students.

The program, designed to simplify the admissions and scholarship process for high school seniors, partnered with 17 high schools in 2026, up from 10 schools the previous year. Admissions staff reviewed 1,324 transcripts this year, compared to 873 in 2025, and identified 1,168 eligible students for scholarships totaling $29.7 million.

In 2025, the program reviewed 873 transcripts from 10 high schools and offered scholarships totaling more than $20.8 million to 791 eligible students.

"This year we focused heavily on building stronger partnerships with school districts," Hanna Terro, director of admissions at Lamar University said. "The district-level agreements allowed us to streamline the process for students while also creating new opportunities for schools and counselors."

A key change this year was the implementation of memorandum of understanding agreements, or MOUs, with participating school districts. The agreements were led by Angela Fanette, director of the Welcome Center at Lamar University.

Under the agreements, all students in participating districts receive application fee waivers. Each district also receives five $1,000 scholarships annually for high school counselors to award to students of their choice during the three-year agreement period.

"The MOU also included a data-sharing agreement that helped expedite the award process and ensured accuracy of student information," Terro said.

Another major change eliminated the traditional admissions application requirement for participating students. Instead of applying through ApplyTexas or the Common App during their senior year, students now complete a short confirmation form to accept their offers.

"We've already received 229 confirmation form submissions within the first two weeks of offers going out," Terro said. "The response has been overwhelmingly positive and shows students appreciate having a simpler path to enrollment."