Scholarships

The Valero Alamo Bowl started a scholarship program in 2000 with 26 San Antonio high school students splitting $52,000 in scholarships.

The success of the game allowed the Bowl to add a college scholarship program in 2016 with matching support from each San Antonio area four-year university.  These two programs now combine to award $1+ million to 180+ deserving students each year. This amount is the largest local scholarship total among the 40+ bowl games.

Thanks to a record setting 2022 season the Valero Alamo Bowl has awarded over $9.4 million in scholarships split between 1,580 area winners through two programs.

Valero Alamo Bowl Student-Athlete Scholarship Program (High School Seniors):

Each December there are 85+ high schools scholarship winners of a $7,500 Valero Alamo Bowl Student-Athlete Scholarship. The students include at least one winner from every participating San Antonio area public and private high school.

The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, teacher recommendations, involvement in extracurricular activities, and varsity sports as well as honors received and a personal narrative. It is mandatory that each applicant have at least one varsity athletic letter.

In addition to the scholarship, the winners are annually recognized at the H-E-B Scholarship Awards Luncheon and on-field during the Valero Alamo Bowl courtesy of game tickets provided by Frost and the Valero Alamo Bowl.

In 2022, there were 91 winners representing 72 different San Antonio area high schools.

Interested in the 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl Scholar-Athlete Program?

Seniors from Bexar County public schools and long-established private schools who have can obtain their Bexar County Scholarship Clearing House application from their school’s College and Career coordinator. Each school that turns in applicants that meet all the scholarship criteria will receive at least one winner.

Outer market public high schools (those outside of Bexar County but within 25 miles of the Alamodome) with an enrollment of 400+ students can request an application to share with their top student-athletes for consideration. While these schools don’t have guaranteed winners, these applicants are reviewed annually and multiple outer market school winners are chosen each year.

2023 Key Dates (tentative):

September 7-8: Bexar county schools receive allotment of applications and booklets of San Antonio / Bexar County Scholarship Opportunities for High School Seniors from the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. Outer market public schools can email info@alamobowl.com to receive an application.
November 1: Deadline for schools to submit their allotted student applications to the Foundation (each school’s internal deadlines vary so check with your school’s Counseling Office).
December 2: Winners notified and invited to the Valero Alamo Bowl.
December 13: Winners recognized at the H-E-B Scholarship Awards Luncheon.
December 28: Winners recognized on the field during the first quarter of the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Each high school will have the opportunity to submit up to six applicants, so interested students should check with their guidance departments to inquire about the status of their Valero Alamo Bowl submissions.

Applicants must have at least one varsity letter from participating in a sport and be ranked in the top 20% of their class. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, teacher recommendations, evaluation of the applicant’s personal narrative and involvement in extra-curricular activities including awards, honors received, leadership/awards, and number of varsity letters earned while playing their sport.

Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners Scholarship (College Juniors and Seniors):

The  Bowl’s college program is called the Valero Alamo Bowl Community Partners Scholarship and is funded by the Bowl and matching programs at all six of San Antonio’s four-year universities. The scholarship total and number of winners is announced at the start of each college football season.

On August 31, 2022, a record 97 winners from University of the Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Mary’s University, Texas A&M–San Antonio, Trinity University, and UTSA sharing $610,000 in awards were recognized at the Rudy’s PNC Pigskin Preview Luncheon. To view these winners, please click here. 

While each San Antonio university determines its own criteria for selecting the winners, the program’s focus is junior and seniors with a high propensity to stay and work in San Antonio. 

Valero Alamo Bowl scholarship programs are funded through Bowl partners and ticket buyers as well as direct contributions from Frost Bank, H-E-B, NuStar Energy, Valero, and the six San Antonio four-year universities.

For information on how you support the Bowl scholarship programs, please call 210-704-6388 or email here.