Interested in opening a scholarship fund?
You care about improving the community around you, and providing access to education for students that will have a lasting impact. We do too. We believe that our scholarship funds are a meaningful way to connect with individual local students, see the impact of your gift on their lives directly, and witness your long-term legacy from the beginning.
We envision a community where everyone who wishes to can obtain a degree, regardless of financial barriers, and access living-wage employment. We are committed to doing this work in partnership with generous donors and through community collaboration.
Best Practices of a Fund
- Support cost of attendance broadly, allowing funding to be allocated as needed
- Be flexible with enrollment hours and GPA to allow students to retain funding
- Consider the student as a whole person and barriers they face
- Have a broad focus, allowing eligibility for many students.
- Have an accessible, trust-based application
What should you know about today’s students and higher education?
- Nationally, up to 70% of students can be considered ‘non-traditional’1
- What makes an undergraduate student “non-traditional”? Students are considered ‘non-traditional’ if they are financially independent, have dependent(s) of their own, are single caregivers, don’t have a traditional high school diploma, didn’t go straight from high school to college, are attending school part-time and/or are employed full-time
- Tuition and fees make up only 39% of the cost of attending a public 4-year college and 20% of a public 2-year college 2
- Nationally, 1 in 3 college students are food and/or housing insecure 3
- 52% of today’s college students are the first in their families to complete college 4
- In NC, the average college debt per student is $25,562 5