My Scholarship Central Awards $11.4 Million in 2020–2021 Cycle
My Scholarship Central, a regional resource of private scholarship programs, awarded over $11.4 million in scholarships and interest-free student loans in the 2020–2021 awards cycle. These awards benefitted over 2,800 students and averaged $4,086 per student.
My Scholarship Central increases access to higher education by helping students close the funding gap for college with private scholarships and interest-free loans. Its regional scholarship search and application website connects students to funds offered by vetted organizations in Missouri and the surrounding areas. The free, secure website makes it easy for students to access and apply for hundreds of scholarships in one place.
My Scholarship Central is a unique, collaborative scholarship application site. Opportunities come from more than 60 different organizations including foundations, professional organizations, fraternities and sororities, and cultural groups that use the site to collect applications.
The St. Louis Community Foundation hosts 75 scholarship applications on the portal. These programs impacted 600 students last year with awards totaling $1.6 million. To learn more about the scholarship providers who use My Scholarship Central, click here.
There are opportunities for diverse types of students available at My Scholarship Central. Most scholarships are for high school seniors, but current college students and adult students can also find opportunities.
The application process is easy: students complete a general application and are matched to the scholarships they qualify for. They can then apply for these scholarships, answering questions specific to that opportunity. Over 9,000 students use the site annually.
My Scholarship Central also offers resources such as a student FAQ and searchable map of scholarship providers.
While the pandemic presented many challenges to both students and scholarship providers, a record number of students received awards through My Scholarship Central over the past two years. Students were able to access applications through laptops and smart phones even when schools were closed.
In 2011, My Scholarship Central was developed by the St. Louis Community Foundation and The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, in partnership with St. Louis Graduates (then the College Access Pipeline Project). Since its inception, more than $60 million in scholarships and interest free loans have been awarded to students through My Scholarship Central.
“Everyone I talk to wishes this resource existed when they were in high school or college. Applying for college is hard, finding enough money to be able to attend is even harder,” said Kaitlyn Venta, My Scholarship Central Manager. “We don’t want lack of funding to be the reason a student doesn’t attend college. My Scholarship Central seeks to solve that problem.”
The site continues to grow, adding new scholarships and attracting more applicants every year. Organizations that offer a scholarship are welcome to contact My Scholarship Central to learn more about partnering.