Scholarship Program
Make a profound difference with scholarships
Any community member, organization or business can establish a scholarship through the Jefferson College Foundation to benefit the students at Jefferson College. This page details the criteria, considerations and process for setting up a new scholarship or donating to an existing fund. If you are a student seeking information about the many types of financial aid and scholarship support available, please visit the institutional scholarships homepage or the office of Financial Aid.
If you are interested in learning about the many established privately endowed scholarships through the Jefferson College Foundation, view our scholarship story pages here.
Establishing a Scholarship through the Foundation
To establish a new scholarship, a Scholarship Covenant Form should be filled out completely to establish your scholarship details. Scholarships can be funded through a variety of sources including private individual donations, company matching funds, IRA distributions, Donor Advised Funds, community fundraising events hosted by a family or group, and other sources. Regardless of how you choose to fund your scholarship, the impact you make is priceless.
Access the form to establish a new scholarship here.
Two Types of Scholarships:
There are two types of scholarships that you can establish: annual or endowed.
- An annual scholarship is funded each year with a new donation and does not generally aim to maintain a fund balance. Interest is not accrued on annual scholarships.
- Donors are billed each calendar year for the amount due to fund the following academic year’s scholarships. Payments must be received by March 1 to ensure that the scholarship is awarded in the fall semester.
- An endowed scholarship builds a balance to a minimum threshold (currently $20,000) and scholarships awards vary each year based on the interest earned on the scholarship account.
- All interest earned (100%) is kept in the endowment fund until the minimum of $20,000 is reached.
- Scholarships from an endowed fund are awarded at the rate of 90% of interest earned and rounded down to the nearest $50 increment, with the remaining interest reinvested into the fund for growth as a hedge against inflation.
- A minimum gift of $5,000 is required to begin an endowed scholarship account. The fund balance must reach $20,000 in three years to become endowed.
Determining Scholarship Criteria:
Contact: Every scholarship needs a contact person who is primarily responsible for the ongoing communication regarding scholarship maintenance and intent. Please provide a primary and secondary contact and review this information annually to ensure it is up to date.
Scholarship Amount: The amount is the set award for each scholarship multiplied by the number of scholarships available. For example, a $1,000 annual scholarship fund could award one $1,000 annual scholarship, or two $500 annual scholarships.
Renewability: If your scholarship is renewable, previous recipients will have priority in awarding funds for a second year. You can set additional criteria for renewal, such as a minimum GPA, or allow Financial Aid to renew awards for any student in good standing.
Direct vs. Indirect Costs: We encourage you to allow your scholarship to meet indirect costs, which are the most common barriers to education. Many federal and state programs provide tuition assistance for deserving students, but a large population of students struggle to attend because of lack of funds to help with housing, transportation and childcare. These barriers to education often mean the difference in the decision to enroll versus the necessity of working full time and postponing college, especially for adult learners and single parents.
Scholarship Criteria: To maximize the impact of your gift, we recommend broad eligibility criteria. Fewer restrictions ensure that Financial Aid can consistently identify qualified students and put your generous investment to work immediately. Providing maximum flexibility also allows Financial Aid to award scholarships that fit within the overall context of other types of aid available to students from federal, state and local sources, and ultimately impact the greatest number of students.
Department or Faculty Selection of Students: While it is understandable to wish that a faculty member or department have a role in selecting scholarship recipients, this often places an additional administrative burden on faculty and staff, which can delay the award. Rather than having a department or faculty member “select” recipients for awards, our process allows for faculty and department “input” but keeps the final award selection within Financial Aid, where there is a broader view of a student’s full financial package including other awards received.
Third Party Selection of Recipients: Due to student privacy regulations that govern our federal and state funding, Financial Aid cannot share student information with third parties (external to the College, including organizations and individuals). Accordingly, scholarship selection and communication must be exclusively administered through the Jefferson College Foundation and the Jefferson College Financial Aid Office. Therefore, scholarship donors cannot choose recipients of scholarship awards.
Selection Process:
To ensure your scholarship reaches the right student, Jefferson College Financial Aid utilizes AwardSpring, a scholarship platform that matches students with the awards they are most qualified for. This platform uses a single, comprehensive scholarship application, and ensures that all candidates are evaluated objectively against your specific criteria. This guarantees that your gift supports the students who best fit your vision. The application window opens October 1 and closes March 31 for awards beginning in the fall semester of the next academic year. A second round of applications are accepted during the summer, generally in the month of July, with the aim of awarding all available funds before the fall semester.
