He applied for three scholarships to cover his college tuition.

scholarships 是 scholarship 的复数形式。scholar 意思是"学者"，后缀 -ship 表示"身份、资格或状态"，所以 scholarship 字面意思是"学者的身份"，引申为"奖学金"，指提供给优秀学生用于支付教育费用的资金。