USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships

USA Funds® will award up to $1 million in scholarships to students with economic need through USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships®.

USA Funds is the nation’s leading education loan guarantor. A nonprofit organization, USA Funds works to enhance postsecondary education preparedness, access and success by providing and supporting financial and other valued services.

Eligibility
USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships are open to high school seniors, currently enrolled college or professional degree students or incoming college or professional degree students who:

* Plan to enroll or are enrolled in full- or half-time undergraduate or full-time graduate or professional degree coursework at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational/technical school. GED recipients also are eligible. Students must plan to enroll or be enrolled beginning with the fall 2010 term through Feb. 1, 2011.
* If studying abroad, are attending or planning to attend a postsecondary institution that is eligible to participate in student aid programs under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act.
* Have an annual adjusted gross family income of $35,000 or less, as documented on a 2009 federal 1040 income tax return on which the applicant is claimed as a federal tax exemption.
* Are U.S. citizens or eligible noncitizens. Students studying in the U.S. on an F1 visa are not eligible. Eligible noncitizens must be permanent U.S. resident aliens with a Green Card, or refugees with a Departure Record (Form I-94) from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services showing one of the following designations:
o Refugee.
o Asylum granted.
o Alien paroled into the U.S. for at least one year.
o Alien granted a stay of deportation due to fear of persecution on account of race, religion or political opinion.
o Conditional entrant (if I-94 was issued before April 1980).
• Are not currently in default on a federal education loan

Students attending postsecondary institutions, such as United States service academies, that do not charge tuition and room and board to the general student body are not eligible to receive awards under this scholarship program.

Applicants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all U.S. territories and commonwealths are eligible for USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships. Priority consideration for the awards will be given to applicants from Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada and Wyoming, states that USA Funds serves as the federally designated guarantor of federal student loans, and from Washington and Idaho, states that USA Funds’ affiliate Northwest Education Loan Association® serves as the federally designated guarantor of student loans.

Additionally, up to 50 percent of the scholarship awards will be targeted to applicants who are members of an ethnic minority group or have a documented physical disability. Ethnic minority groups are defined as follows:

* Alaskan Native/American Indian.
* Asian.
* Black/African-American.
* Hispanic or Latino.
* Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals are considered to have a disability if they have a physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, have a record of such an impairment or are regarded as having such an impairment. Applicants who are physically disabled must submit a doctor’s statement describing the disability, including the degree and limitation on their ability.

Awards
The program will award scholarships of $1,500. The scholarships are non-renewable, but students may reapply in subsequent years, as long as their cumulative awards under the program do not exceed $6,000.

Application
To be considered for a scholarship, an application must be submitted online by Feb. 15, 2010. We strongly encourage students to submit their application well before the application deadline.

By March 11, 2010, all applicants will be notified whether they have been selected as a finalist. Only finalists will be required to mail the following additional documentation to Scholarship Management Services, the administrator of this scholarship program:

* IRS 1040 tax forms for 2009 showing a combined household adjusted gross income of $35,000 or less.
* Current complete transcript(s) of grades (including grading scale and undergraduate transcript if attending graduate school) or GED test scores. Online transcripts must display student name, school name, grade and credit hours earned for each course and the term in which each course was taken. Scholarship Management Services reserves the right to verify all information on transcripts.
* Doctor’s statement (if physically disabled).
* Copy of Green Card or I-94 with the appropriate designation (if you are not a U.S. citizen).

To receive consideration for a scholarship, only applicants who are notified that they have been selected as finalists must mail the required documents postmarked by April 6, 2010, to:

USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships
Scholarship Management Services
One Scholarship Way
Saint Peter, MN 56082

Source: http://www.usafunds.org/planning/access_to_education_scholarship/index.htm