The Presidential Scholarship is Villanova's largest merit award and goes to 25 incoming students a year. It covers undergraduate tuition for the autumn and spring semesters, on-campus housing, a meal plan of up to 21 meals a week, the general fee and the Textbook Access Programme fee, for up to eight semesters or until the first degree is finished.
International applicants are eligible. Villanova's own scholarship FAQ answers the question directly and says the award is open to all applicants who apply by 15 January and meet the criteria. It also requires no financial aid forms at all, so the FAFSA barrier that blocks F-1 students from many US merit awards does not apply here.
Getting it is hard. There is no published GPA or test score cutoff, and Villanova says the students chosen are usually in the top 1 to 2 per cent of its first-year applicant pool, with leadership roles and a demonstrated record of community service. Everyone who applies for admission by 15 January is screened automatically. A selected group is then invited, alongside the admission offer, to submit a supplemental application, and roughly 60 finalists attend a required multi-day interview programme on campus before the 25 awards are settled.
One thing to plan around: first-year international admission at Villanova is need-aware, so a family's ability to pay can influence the admission decision and eligibility to apply for this award. Finalists who miss out but are admitted receive Villanova's highest partial scholarship of $16,000 a year, and scholars are expected to participate in the Honours Programme.