The North Dakota Academic scholarship and the North Dakota Career & Technical Education (CTE) scholarship were created during the 2009 legislative session. These scholarships are worth $6,000 and are aimed at increasing high school rigor and retaining college students in North Dakota. Students can apply online during their senior year of high school.

The new North Dakota scholarship was created during the 2021 Legislative Session through the approval of SB 2289. It will gradually replace the current Academic and CTE Scholarships. Students graduating in 2023 or 2024 can use either the old (Academic/CTE Scholarship) requirements, or the new North Dakota Scholarship requirements. Starting with the graduating class of 2025, students can only use the new North Dakota Scholarship requirements. Students cannot earn more than one of the three scholarships (Academic, CTE, or North Dakota). The purpose of the new North Dakota Scholarship is to align scholarship requirements to the Choice Ready initiative. The new requirements align to Choice Ready, but will be more rigorous than what is required for Choice Ready.

Killdeer Area Dollars for Scholars® is an affiliate chapter of Scholarship America®.   Each year our board of directors is able to award seniors with scholarships due to past and current donors supporting our organization. Scholarships are based on the students academic achievements, school activities participation, awards received,  ACT scores, student rank as well as an essay of their future plans.  Our current donors include:

• The estate of Florence Kukla Wilkinson(class of 55) in memory of her brother Clarence Kukla(class of 52). Clarence supported all school activities and gave a lifetime of service to the Killdeer community. 2 seniors will be awarded $5,000 dollars.

• The Carlson Family Memorial. They have supported our organization for close to 20 years now. They believe in education and have always looked to help our community in any way they can. 1 senior will receive $1,000

• Alan Pennington family in memory of Vicki’s parents Vic and Faye Solheim. They were both lifelong educators from Bismarck who believed that “to teach is to touch a life forever.”  They became very familiar with the Killdeer School System as they watched their grandchildren grow up and were so pleased with the quality of their education. The intent of this scholarship is to help a student along the path to become an educator or in the pursuit of another career through education. 1 senior will be award $500

• Hill Top Home of Comfort Foundation. The foundation has been supporting our organization for several years as well. They wish to assist a graduating senior in pursuit of a degree in healthcare. 1 senior will be awarded $250. 

• An additional $10,000 will be distributed at various amounts from Dollars for Scholars interest and dividends from our endowment fund.  We would like to thank all the business, families and organizations who have donated over the years to allows us to invest the money and continues to award such scholarships.