The Interfraternity Council, the governing body of University fraternities, is offering seven merit-based scholarships this fall for first-year male students.

With a total award of $3,000, the top scholarship is $1,000, two are worth $500 and four are for $250.

“We want to reward people for their academic achievements and involvement in school,” IFC President Paul Horner, who is an employee of The Minnesota Daily, said.

Aimed at furthering fraternity ideals, the applicants do not need to join or be involved with a fraternity to be eligible, Horner said.

“We’re just hoping to increase the awareness of greek communities and what they do,” he said.

The council said it wants to honor students who value service, leadership, academic achievement and community involvement.

Council officer Dustin Anderson said the group is also offering the scholarships to promote the positive aspects of fraternities.

“We hope that through the scholarships, people will have a better perception of what fraternities are really about,” he said.

“We value scholastic achievements, community involvement and service, leadership and brotherhood.”

Based on these fraternity ideals, Anderson said, the council wanted to give back to the community.

Funding for the scholarships came from the many fraternities on campus, he said.

Some individual fraternity chapters offer scholarships too, Anderson said, which are available for both members and nonmembers.

More than $13,000 in scholarships has been available to nonmember students from individual fraternities this year, Anderson said.

He also said $20,000 has been awarded to members of greek organizations, from academic scholarships, to gifts for leadership opportunities around the country.

Still, Anderson said he thinks the $3,000 in scholarships might be the largest amount offered of all the awards.

Sororities also have scholarships available for new female students, he said.

Although the scholarships raise awareness of Greek groups, Horner said, they are not for recruitment.

“We’re just really excited to award a scholarship of this size,” he said.

The Interfraternity Council represents 22 fraternities on campus.

Applications are available on www.begreek.org.