The Dayton Foundation uses a questionnaire, ScholarshipConnect, to match students with possible scholarship opportunities. Some of the scholarships available can be very specific, applying to students interested in niche careers or those who participated in certain sports or clubs or had jobs.
Scholarships available range from a one-time, $750 scholarship, to up to $5,000 for all four years of school, according to Michelle Brown, the director of scholarships for The Dayton Foundation. They are available for community college, four-year degrees and trade schools.
Brown said scholarships are available for a variety of people. For example, one might take only students who have below a 2.5 GPA but are hard workers.
“There’s a wide range where students can apply throughout several counties,” Brown said.
The Dayton Daily News sponsors two scholarships from The Dayton Foundation, the Si Burick Scholarship Award and the Dayton Daily News Community Solutions Scholarship.
Students can access the questionnaire for all scholarships by visiting www.daytonfoundation.org/scholars.
To apply, students will need to have filled out a FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and have a Student Aid Report, school transcripts, references and a resume.
If you need help filling out a FAFSA — which qualifies a student for financial aid — contact your high school counselor or your college or university’s financial aid office. Another resource is the Ohio College Access Information Hotline at 1-877-I-ATTAIN (1-877-428-8246) or the Federal Student Aid Information Center hotline, 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243).
The Ohio Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, a nonprofit for people working in financial aid, has free sessions available to help families.
The Dayton Foundation said students and parents also can help plan and pay for college by accessing links to online financial aid, scholarship and loan resources, and tools, such as a college debt calculator.
Last year, the foundation and the Dayton-Montgomery County Scholarship program, which is part of the funding for the Dayton Foundation, awarded nearly $2.3 million in scholarships to 1,048 local students.
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