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Essential Visionaries Scholarship Fund
Deadline to apply: March 6, 2025 3:00 pm CT

The Essential Visionaries Scholarship Fund offers renewable scholarships to students pursuing degrees or certificates in education, counseling, psychology, or nursing through college or vocational school programs. This program is dedicated to empowering future professionals committed to making a meaningful impact, particularly within K-12 school systems and healthcare fields.

This program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarships and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Eligibility for individual programs is determined at the sole discretion of the sponsor, and eligible applications are reviewed by Scholarship America’s evaluation team

Applicants to the Essential Visionaries Scholarship Fund must meet the following criteria:

  • Be high school seniors, high school graduates, GED graduates, or current college undergraduates residing in the United States (U.S.).
  • Attend a college or institution that:
    • Is not on warning or probationary status with the federal government.
    • Is not in litigation with the federal or a state government.
  • Be pursuing a degree or certificate* with a major in Education, Counseling, Social Work, Psychology, or Pre-Nursing/Nursing.
    • Applicants pursuing education, counseling, social work, or psychology must demonstrate a commitment to working within the K-12 system.
    • Nursing applicants are not required to demonstrate K-12 system involvement.
  • Have a minimum grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent).

Additional Notes:

  • *Certification programs must be through an accredited institution, follow a standard academic semester calendar, and be a minimum of one semester/term in length.
  • If you change your course of study from education, counseling, social work, psychology, or nursing/pre-nursing, you may become ineligible for this scholarship program.
  • Applicants must be enrolled in an eligible program at the time awards are disbursed in August.

Individuals granted deferred action status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) are eligible and are encouraged to apply.

 

Awards

If selected as a recipient, students attending vocational-technical or two-year institutions will receive an award of up to $5,000; students attending four-year institutions will receive an award of up to $10,000. If a recipient transfers schools, the award will be adjusted accordingly based upon the new school type.

Awards may be renewed for up to four additional years or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first.

Renewal is contingent upon satisfactory academic performance (maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale) and continued enrollment in an eligible field of study.

Awards are for undergraduate study only.

Notification

All applicants will be notified in April.

Payment of Scholarships

Scholarship America processes scholarship payments. Payment is made in August.

Selection of Recipients

Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:

  • Academic record
  • Demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities
  • Work experience
  • Three 1,000 character essays; essay topics are as follows:
    1. Statement about your educational and career goals, emphasizing how they align with your aspirations to work in a K-12 setting as an educator, counselor, social worker, psychologist, or in the nursing field.
    2. Statement describing any personal challenges that may have been barriers to your achievements in school, work, or participation in school and community activities.
    3. Statement on how you plan to use your degree or field of study to make a meaningful impact in the K-12 school system as an educator, counselor, social worker, psychologist, or in the healthcare field as a nurse, describing your vision for contributing to your community and what success means to you five years after graduation.

Financial need, as calculated by Scholarship America, must be demonstrated for the student to receive an award.

Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America.

Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. Students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements.

All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.


As part of your application, you must upload the following:

  • A current, complete transcript of grades. Grade reports are not accepted. Transcripts must display:
    • Student name
    • School name
    • Grades
    • Credit hours for each course and term in which each course was taken.
  • Copy of the first two pages of the most recently filed IRS Form 1040 used for the Financial Information section of the application. Please black out all social security numbers and bank account information.

Your application is not complete unless all required materials are submitted electronically.

Selecting the button below will redirect you to the Scholarship America Student Hub!

Please make sure to add studentsupport@scholarshipamerica.org as well as the program email address provided below in the footer as safe senders in your email contact list.