In today’s increasingly diverse world, the importance of providing equal opportunities for underrepresented groups cannot be overemphasized. Minority scholarships play a pivotal role in empowering individuals from marginalized communities. They help to break down barriers and promote access to higher education for everyone.
This article will explore information about minority scholarships, the types of minority scholarships available, and how to get a minority scholarship.
What is a Minority scholarship?
A Minority scholarship, as the name suggests, is a kind of scholarship for students from underrepresented groups. Some students come from minority groups or find themselves in disadvantaged positions that threaten their access to getting a quality education.
These disadvantages might be as a result of gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, country of origin, or financial situation. The major goal of minority scholarships is to promote equality and diversity in education. Every student is given an opportunity to reach their educational goals and achieve their career aspirations.
Types of Minority Scholarship
There are different types of minority scholarships available:
- Ethnic or racial minority scholarships: These scholarships are designed to support students from specific ethnic or racial backgrounds. Examples include scholarships for Hispanic, African American, Asian American, or Native American students.
- LGBTQIA+ scholarships: These scholarships cater to the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ students (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, or asexual). It offers financial assistance and resources to support their educational pursuits and promote inclusivity.
- First-generation college student scholarships: These scholarships focus on empowering students who will be the first in their families to attend college. They provide financial aid, mentorship, and guidance to navigate the challenges of higher education.
- Disability scholarships: These scholarships assist students with disabilities, aiming to remove financial barriers and provide the necessary support for their educational journey. They recognize the achievements and potential of students with disabilities and offer resources to enhance their academic success.
- Women Scholarships: These types of scholarships aim to address the gender gap and disparities that women face in pursuing higher education. It empowers women to be the best they can be and excel in their educational endeavors.
20 Minority Scholarships Available
Target Audience: Minority high school seniors about to graduate
Eligibility: Applicants must
- Be a United States citizen
- Demonstrate financial need
- Demonstrate a record of stellar academic performance
- Demonstrate leadership potential and a dedication to community service
- Plan to attend an accredited and approved 4-year college within the United States or be affiliated with a United States-based college or university
- Not accumulate over 25% of credits needed to graduate from college.
Award amount: $35,000
Application Timeline: September 2023 – January 10, 2024
Target Audience: African Americans, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander Americans, and Hispanic American students.
Eligibility: Applicants must
- Be a U.S citizen or permanent resident
- Show exceptional academic and leadership potential
- Demonstrate financial need as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
- Be pell-eligible
- Be a high school senior graduating with a minimum cumulative weighted GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent)
- Plan to attend an accredited and approved 4-year college within the United States or be affiliated with a United States-based college or university.
Award amount: Varies
Application Timeline: Currently closed
Target Audience: High school juniors who come from challenging backgrounds and have overcome significant personal and/or family hardships.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be a U.S. citizen
- Demonstrate critical financial need
- Intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree at an accredited nonprofit private or public college or university
- Maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0.
- Be in good academic and moral standing, fully involved in extracurricular and community service activities
- Have parents who have neither completed more than two years of after-high school education nor got a post-secondary degree.
Award amount: $25,000
Application Timeline: Application opens December 1, 2023, to March 15, 2024
Target Audience: Students who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community
Eligibility: Applicants must be a BIPOC high school, undergraduate, or trade school student who is majoring in, or interested in majoring in cosmetology or barbering.
Award amount: $2500
Application Timeline: Application deadline is Nov 22, 2023.
Target Audience: Women in typically male-dominated career paths like science, technology, engineering, finance, law, and others.
Eligibility: Applicants must reside in or plan to pursue an undergraduate or graduate program for the upcoming academic school year. Eligible schools must be in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine.
Amount: Varies
Timeline: The application deadline is April 1, 2023
Target Audience: Students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, especially Hispanic, Native American, and Black/African American students.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be U.S. citizens or hold permanent resident
- Be entering their freshman year of college in the fall of 2023 at the time of application
- Plan to pursue careers in the atmospheric or related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.
- Have a GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
Award amount: $6000
Application Timeline: Application deadline is Feb, 4, 2023.
Target Audience: Latino students
Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled in an undergraduate program at a college or university in New York State or have a primary address in New York but study in another state.
Award amount: $500 to $2000
Application Timeline: February 15 to March 31, 2023.
Target Audience: Immigrants and refugees to the United States.
Eligibility: Applicants must be a New American who is 30 or younger as of the application deadline, and who is planning on starting or continuing an eligible graduate degree program full-time in the United States in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Award amount: $500 to $2000
Application Timeline: Application deadline is October 26, 2023
Target Audience: American Indian and Alaska Native college students
Eligibility: Applicants must be:
- An enrolled member (or a descendant of one) of a federal or state-recognized tribe
- Demonstrate a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.00 and maintain full-time enrollment.
- Enrolled in certificate, undergraduate, or graduate programs at tribal colleges and other nonprofit, accredited schools.
Award amount: Varies
Application Timeline: Application opens from February 1st, 2023 to May 31st, 2023
Target Audience: Asian and Pacific Islander American students
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States.
- Be enrolling or continuing as a degree-seeking undergraduate student in a U.S. accredited college or university in Fall 2023
- Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale (unweighted), or equivalent, or have earned a GED
- Apply for federal financial aid for the 2023-2024 academic year using the Free Application for the Federal Student Aid (FASFA) by early April 2023
Award amount: $2,500 to $20,000
Application Timeline: Application opens from September 7, 2022, until January 19, 2023
Target Audience: Latinx and Hispanic students
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States.
- ave an outstanding record of academic achievement, personal accomplishment, and leadership ability.
- Be graduates of Chicago public and charter high schools.
- Display financial need through the Federal Application for Financial Aid (FAFSA)
Award amount: Full cost of attendance
Application Timeline: Application deadline is January 11
Target Audience: African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian & Pacific Islander American, and/or Hispanic American
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States.
- Be a high school senior with outstanding academic and leadership potential
- Be Pell-eligible
- Be In good academic standing with a minimum cumulative weighted GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent)
- Must plan to enroll full-time, in a four-year degree STEM program, at a US accredited, not-for-profit, private or public college or university.
Award amount: Full cost of attendance
Application Timeline: Currently closed
Target Audience: Black and African American students
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be high school seniors applying or intending to pursue a business or technology undergraduate degree at any four-year accredited college or university in the U.S.
- Continue to meet expectations, remain in good standing, and maintain a minimum of 3.0 GPA will be eligible for annual renewals.
Award amount: $20,000
Application Timeline: Currently closed
13. American Chemical Society (ACS) Scholars Program
Target Audience: African descent or Black, Hispanic or Latina/Latino/Latinx, or Indigenous students (e.g. Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Alaskan Native)
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be graduating high school seniors or college freshmen, sophomores or juniors.
- Major or are already majoring in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, chemical technology, or another chemistry-related science
- Plan to pursue a career in a chemistry-related science
- Be enrolled full-time at a high school or an accredited college, university, or community college
- Demonstrate high academic achievement in chemistry or science and have a Grade Point Average of 3.0 or higher
Award amount: $1,000 to $5000
Application Timeline: Application opens Dec 1st to Mar 1st every year
Target Audience: First generation students in college
Eligibility: Applicants must be full-time college undergraduate students across any field of study. Must also demonstrates financial need
Award amount: $2,000
Application Timeline: Application opens May 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023.
Target Audience: Black/African American, Latinx, Native North American, and Pacific Islander students.
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Enroll as a full-time undergraduate student at a U.S. accredited educational institution.
- Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale
- Have a minimum ACT math score of 28 or SAT math score of 620
- Plan to pursue a career in the actuarial profession
Award amount: $1,000 to $4000
Application Timeline: Application opens May 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023.
Target Audience: Jewish Students
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be citizens of the U.S or permanent residents, or be eligible for the Minnesota Dream Act.
- Be an undergraduate of the University of Minnesota
- Be Pell-eligible. Must display a combination of academic merit, leadership potential, and community involvement.
Award amount: $24,000
Application Timeline: Application closes November 1, 2023.
Target Audience: Students struggling with a disability
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Citizens of the United States, permanent residents, or eligible for the Minnesota Dream Act.
- Recipients must be an undergraduate seeking a degree in any field of study in the University of Minnesota
- Have good academic standing
- Show financial need through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by March 1 of their senior year.
- Show commitment to volunteerism.
Award amount: $5000
Application Timeline: Application deadline is November 1, 2023
Target Audience: Traditionally under-represented in study abroad programs. This includes but is not limited to, students identifying by a certain race, sex, color, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression
Eligibility: Applicants must attend a college or university that is a Member or Associate Member of the IES Abroad Consortium. In addition, the recipient’s home school must have a policy of transferring at least 75% of institutional aid for study abroad.
Award amount: $5000
Application Timeline: Varies
Target Audience: Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander students
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
- Be either accepted into a PharmD program for the 2023 entering class or be enrolled as a P1 PharmD student for the 2022 entering class.
- Be a URM student.
- Demonstrate leadership, academic success, and a commitment to advancing the pharmacy profession and patient care.
- Maintain a GPA of 2.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale for the current degree program
Award amount: $8000
Application Timeline: Application deadline is June 1, 2023
Target Audience: Underrepresented minority students in their second or third year of law school
Eligibility: Applicants must:
- Exemplify excellence in intellectual property academic studies
- Plan to pursue a career in intellectual property law, and may have participated as a leader in intellectual property-related student activities for consideration.Award amount: $8000
Application Timeline: Application deadline is May 26, 2023
How to Get a Minority Scholarship
- Research available scholarships tailored to your minority category.
- Check eligibility criteria and ensure you meet the requirements.
- Gather necessary documents like transcripts, recommendations, personal statements et
- Complete applications accurately and meet deadlines.
- Craft a compelling personal statement or essay and request letters of recommendation from relevant individuals.
- Consult with financial aid offices and community organizations.
- Stay persistent, follow up when needed, and track applications
We wish you all the best in your endeavors. To your success!
At Scholarship Monitor, we are committed to providing you with up-to-date information on scholarship opportunities. Make sure to always check back for more updates and take advantage of the resources we have provided to help you achieve your academic and career goals.
