Scholarship Award Notification Letters

Students who qualify for the scholarship will receive award letters and further information in the fall or winter of their senior year.

Notification letters are provided to schools and districts electronically as described below, and they are responsible for distributing letters to students and their families. To view the current annual value of the Adams Scholarship at a specific college or university, please visit the MA Department of Higher Education John and Abigail Adams Scholarship webpage.

In order to receive the scholarship, students must notify the financial aid office of the Massachusetts public college or university to which they have been accepted and complete the online Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Questions about why a student did not receive a scholarship or other questions about eligibility should be directed to the Office of Student Assessment Services at mcas@mass.gov .

Class of 2026 Notification

The first round of scholarship award letters for students in the class of 2026 is now available in Edwin Analytics, in the Security Portal, based on students' prior MCAS scores. Eligibility requirements for the class of 2026 are available at MCAS Requirements for Scholarship Eligibility.

A zip file containing translated templates of the award notification letter is available in Edwin at Edwin Analytics > Content > Docs. The file name is "Adams Scholarship class of 2026 translated templates.zip." Users can also enter "Adams" in the keyword search box to locate the zip file.

A second round of scholarship award letters for students in the class of 2026 will be available in February 2026, when the results from the November 2025 retests became available.

The letters and list of students are only provided electronically, in Edwin Analytics, in the Adams Scholarship Letter report (PE621), on DESE's Security Portal. Users who don't have access can request it from their district-level directory administrator.

Last Updated: January 9, 2026