Featured Scholarships: January/February 2025

Scholarship season is in full swing, and Scholarship America is proud to feature a wide variety of opportunities from our sponsors that are available right now. Current opportunities include the Scholarship America Essential Visionaries award, providing up to 100 students with up to $40,000 over four years to pursue careers in education, nursing or mental health.

In addition, we’re featuring programs for students and families impacted by cystic fibrosis and COVID, and a unique award for those pursuing a career in hydroelectric engineering. Learn more about all these opportunities below, and visit our Browse Scholarships page to see all current and upcoming programs.

Scholarship America Essential Visionaries

Are You a Future Nurse, Educator, or Mental Health Professional?

If you are pursuing a career as a nurse, K-12 teacher, school-based psychologist, counselor, or social worker, Scholarship America’s Essential Visionaries Fund is designed to support your journey.

About the Scholarship

The Essential Visionaries Fund provides financial assistance to students working toward a degree or certificate in education, counseling, social work, psychology, or pre-nursing/nursing.

Awards Available: Approximately 100 scholarships
Funding Amount: Up to $10,000 per year, renewable for up to four years (totaling up to $40,000).
Eligibility: Recipients attending vocation, technical, or two-year institutions will receive up to $5,000 annually, while those attending four-year institutions are eligible for up to $10,000 annually.

Who Can Apply?

You are eligible if you meet the following criteria:

Rising high school senior, high school graduate GED recipient, or current college undergraduate.
Planning to enroll part-time or full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school in the United States for the entire upcoming academic year.
Pursuing a certificate or degree in education, counseling, psychology or nursing-related fields
Maintaining a minimum grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent).
Individuals granted deferred action status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) are eligible and strongly encouraged to apply.

Selection Criteria: Applicants with the greatest financial need will be prioritized. Scholarships are renewable for up to four years or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first, provided recipients maintain satisfactory academic performance and part-time or full-time enrollment in an eligible field of study.

Applications are open through March 6. Apply Now >

Vertex Foundation Scholarship Program

The Vertex Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation, seeks to improve the lives of people with serious diseases and contribute to the communities where Vertex Pharmaceuticals is located through education, innovation and health. Established in 2017, the Foundation is a long-term source of charitable giving and is an extension of Vertex’s corporate giving commitment.

To help families and caregivers who have been impacted by cystic fibrosis (CF), the Vertex Foundation Scholarship Program offers awards of $5,000 to eligible students who are pursuing two-year, three-year, four-year undergraduate and graduate degrees. Since 2017, the program has awarded over 630 scholarships to members of the CF community.

Recent recipients include Elizabeth, whose daughter was diagnosed with CF at birth and who is now pursuing a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP) at Yorkville University in New Brunswick, Canada; and Makenzie, a nursing student at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut who credits her mom, who has CF, with shaping the person she is today.

Marcelo Salazar-Barragan, who lives with CF and received a 2023 Vertex Foundation Scholarship, is a student at the University of Texas Medical Branch John Sealy School of Medicine.

“The life experience that guided me down the path to choosing medicine as a career was the neurosurgery I underwent in 2018. Although I feared for my life and was unsure how successful the surgery would be, the way my neurosurgeon cared for me, spoke to me and listened to me brought me a sense of calm and peace.” Marcelo hopes to be that voice of calm for his future patients. “I will measure my success as a doctor not based on how I perform on standardized tests, but based on how many patients’ lives I improve,” he says.

Applications to the Vertex Foundation Scholarship Program are open to high school seniors, college and technical school undergrads and graduate students in the U.S. and Canada. Applicants must either be diagnosed with CF or be an immediate family member (sibling, child, spouse or caregiver) of someone diagnosed with CF. The scholarship awards can be used for part-time or full-time undergraduate or graduate study in any field at an accredited U.S. or Canadian college, university or technical school.

Applications are open until February 24. Apply Now >

Frontline Families Scholarship Program

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation partnered with world-renowned epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm to establish the Frontline Families Scholarship Fund in November 2020. The program provides educational assistance to the surviving family members of those frontline healthcare workers and volunteers in the United States who lost their lives in the fight against COVID-19.

“COVID-19 has taken a major toll on our frontline healthcare workers and has created a disproportionate burden on Black, Indigenous and People of Color,” said Osterholm at the time of the Fund’s establishment. “Through the Frontline Families Scholarship Fund, we can all help make a difference for the families whose loved ones served on the frontline during the pandemic and were lost due to COVID-19.”

The Frontline Families Scholarship Program, administered by Scholarship America is not a competitive award; all eligible applicants receive scholarships for post-secondary education, and can reapply up to three times while pursuing their degree or certificate.

This scholarship program is part of the broader initiative supported by the Frontline Families Fund developed by Dr. Osterholm and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. In addition to scholarships, money raised will go to the Brave of Heart Fund to provide relief grants to affected families.

Applications are open through February 17. Apply Now >

The National Hydropower Association Past Chairs’ Legacy Scholarship

The National Hydropower Association (NHA) is a nonprofit association dedicated exclusively to promoting the growth of clean, renewable hydropower and marine energy. The organization’s mission is to champion waterpower as America’s premier carbon-free renewable energy resource—and they are working to support the next generation of leaders in this forward-thinking field.

To do so, NHA has established the National Hydropower Association Past Chairs’ Legacy Scholarship, a $2,500 award for a college student pursuing a field of study related to the hydropower industry. To apply, you must be a college sophomore or junior pursuing an undergraduate program approved by NHA, or a senior going on to NHA-approved graduate studies. A list of eligible programs is available on the application website.

You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale). Students at accredited four-year colleges/universities or vocational/technical schools may apply; high school seniors are NOT eligible.

Applications are open through February 13. Apply Now >

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