Scholarships for Those Who’ve Overcome Adversity, Including Single Parents
College costs can cause many potential students to think twice about pursuing a college education. Scholarships are a great and often overlooked, way to get financial assistance to attend the school of your dreams. Most students know about the standard scholarship opportunities that their high school offers, as well as the merit and honors scholarships that most colleges offer to newly accepted students. However, there are a ton of outside scholarships from organizations that many people don’t consider.
Many of these lesser-known scholarships cover specific populations or have very specific criteria to meet. If you’ve had struggles in your life, such as being raised by a single parent, coming from a low-income family, had a parent pass away, or struggled with a serious illness during your schooling years, you may benefit from scholarships that are specifically for individuals that have overcome adversity.
Here are a few examples to get you started along with some other places to look.
Scholarships for Overcoming Adversity
For those with an environmentally conscious interest, the Ted Rollins Eco Scholars program is a must see. This scholarship is for any students majoring in business, sustainability, or any related fields. Designed to help drive businesses towards becoming greener and increasing their return on investment for environmental projects, this rewards the recipient a $1000 scholarship twice yearly.
The Nigel Blythe – Tinker Scholarship is for students that have had hardships in their life, but have still achieved success. It’s designed to reward their efforts and provide further financial support. An essay is required, and the grand prize is a $10,000 scholarship.
The Courage to Grow Scholarship is designed to help students that might not otherwise be able to afford a college education a small hand-up to help offset their expenses. This is a $750 scholarship that is awarded based on a 250-word essay. You can apply for this directly at the link.
The Kristina Flores Overcoming all Odds Scholarship is for high school students that have faced extremely adverse conditions, making it difficult to complete high school or pursue secondary education. It also provides scholarships for trade schools, as well as traditional colleges and universities.
The Kopfler-Hermann Overcoming Adversity Scholarship is sponsored by Kopfler-Hermann law firm in Louisiana. As personal injury attorneys, they see firsthand the effect that accidents can have on someone’s life and want to give back by providing a $1000 scholarship for a student has overcome adversity.
Other websites with scholarship opportunities
Some websites offer lists of scholarships available for anyone that has experienced hardships and overcome adversity. Some of the more popular and known sites include FastWeb, Peterson’s, and Cappex. These sites are devoted to finding scholarship opportunities.
Other sites that have lists of scholarships available include the following:
Time.com has a list of the biggest and best scholarships for each school year and includes a specific page dedicated to those students that have struggled.
PocketSense has a blog post on scholarship opportunities for students with disabilities, those facing hardships, and those struggling financially. Details are provided on each scholarship.
CollegeScholarships.org is another website that has a page devoted specifically to students that face a medical condition. There are links to various organizations depending on the diagnosis that you or your family members have.
FinancialAidFinder.com has a page with scholarships available for those that have experience hardships, as well, and includes scholarships for those that are relatives of victims of 9/11.
There are many opportunities available for those that need financial assistance for college, regardless of your situation.