Eligibility
- USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships are open to high school seniors, currently enrolled college or professional degree students or incoming college or professional degree students who:
- Plan to enroll or are enrolled in full- or half-time undergraduate or full-time graduate or professional degree coursework at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational/technical school.
- Have an annual adjusted gross family income of $35,000 or less, as documented on a 2009 federal 1040 income tax return on which the applicant is claimed as a federal tax exemption.
- Are U.S. citizens or eligible noncitizens. Students studying in the U.S. on an F1 visa are not eligible. Eligible noncitizens must be permanent U.S. resident aliens with a Green Card, or refugees with a Departure Record (Form I-94) from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services showing one of the following designations:
Refugee.
Asylum granted.
Alien paroled into the U.S. for at least one year.
Alien granted a stay of deportation due to fear of persecution on account of race, religion or political opinion.
Conditional entrant (if I-94 was issued before April 1980).• Are not currently in default on a federal education loan.
Up to 50 percent of the scholarship awards will be targeted to applicants who are members of an ethnic minority group or have a documented physical disability. Ethnic minority groups are defined as follows:
- Alaskan Native/American Indian.
- Asian.
- Black/African-American.
- Hispanic or Latino.
- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
Awards:
The program will award scholarships of $1,500. The scholarships are non-renewable, but students may reapply in subsequent years, as long as their cumulative awards under the program do not exceed $6,000.
Application Deadline: Feb. 15, 2010.
Additional Information and Online Application:
http://www.usafunds.org/planning/access_to_education_scholarship/index.htm
