Brief Description:

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County believes an investment in education is an investment in our community's future. And we believe that all who wish to further their education and increase future potential for success should have an equal chance to take advantage of the opportunities available to them. That's why we are proud to offer our Traditional Scholarship Program for students under 24 who are residents, graduating high school seniors, or college students who graduated from high schools in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto Counties.

Description:

This scholarship application has scholarship opportunities for a variety of post-secondary education opportunities including Professional Certification, Technical, Vocational, Trade, Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate. The institution you are attending must be accredited.

Please note: The SCBA Booker Law Academy Scholarship, Albert Ales III and Zachary Morris Memorial Scholarship, and the Performing Arts Scholarship are all awarded through this application.

Students 24 years of age and older must apply through our Adult Scholarship Program. Please click here to learn more.

Application Information:

Special Note: This application is only available to students who:

are residents, graduating high school seniors or current college students from Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, or DeSoto County
will not be receiving a renewable scholarship from the foundation for the upcoming school year
will be under the age of 24 as of December 31, 2024

*No other students should apply using this form as all ineligible applications will be automatically denied.

The Traditional Scholarship Application is connected to 70 different scholarship funds. Each fund has its own set of criteria. This application will ask you a variety of questions to determine your eligibility for these funds as well as to give the reviewers insight into you and your plans. Your application will be reviewed by committee members from our community.

Application Requirements: This application has required documents

Your transcript. Transcripts must include your name, grades for all courses taken including Fall 2023, and your overall cumulative GPA. Unofficial transcripts and screenshots of portals are accepted as long as they have all required information.
Your resume. Resumes should include work experience, extracurriculars, honors, leadership roles, etc.
Your 2024-2025 FAFSA Submission Summary, formerly known as Student Aid Report (SAR). FAFSA Submission Summary must be the full document length (about 9-11 pages). . If you are unable to complete your FAFSA prior to the application deadline or if you have other reasons for not submitting this document, then contact us at scholarships@cfsarasota.org to discuss an alternative source of financial documentation. All conversations on this matter will be kept confidential.
Your Essay. If you have completed the Common Application you may use that essay in place of our prompt. If not you must write an essay to address the following prompt: We all have a background, identity, interest, or talent so significant that it influences our educational and career aspirations. Write 250-650 words explaining the factors that have led to the educational and career aspirations you plan to pursue. You may be eligible for certain funds that have additional essays, these will become available to you in the essay section after you have filled out your entire application.

***Due to FAFSA delays, you can provide alternative FAFSA documents in order to submit your application by the deadline of March 1st.

Optional Documents:

One Letter of Recommendation is optional. Your Letter of Recommendation cannot be from a relative.
Additional Attachments are optional. If you have anything else you wish to share with the reviewers there is an Additional Attachment option. This can be a second Letter of Recommendation, an artwork, a writing sample, a project, etc.

After You Submit Your Application:

After you submit your application, you will receive an automatic email from admin@communityforce.com. Your uploaded documents will be checked in by Community Foundation of Sarasota County staff within two weeks of you submitting your application. If any document is incorrect or missing information you will be contacted via email from admin@communityforce.com or scholarships@cfsarasota.org. These emails and the time to correct issues are time sensitive so we recommend checking your email at least twice a week for two weeks after you submit it as it can take up to two weeks to check in application documents. If you do not hear about document issues from our staff by March 15th your application is complete.
One scholarship fund requires additional information after submission. Any contact for additional information for this scholarship fund will be via email and take place in late March. Email communications will come from scholarships@cfsarasota.org.
All scholarship determinations will be finalized at the end of May. You will be contacted via email by scholarships@cfsarasota.org at the end of May with scholarship determinations.

Contact Information:

For questions about this application, please contact the Community Foundation of Sarasota County Scholarships Team at Scholarships@cfsarasota.org

Begin Accepting Applications Date:

12/15/2023

Deadline Date (EST Time Zone) :

3/01/2024 11:59 PM