Searching for Scholarships
First things first! Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)!
If you have not completed it, please do so.
Because:
- The application is quicker and easier than a scholarship search
- The grants are far larger than most scholarships
- It is required for a lot of State and private scholarships
For information on Federal financial aid, please visit Santa Fe College's Financial Aid Office.
For assistance in completing the FAFSA, you may visit the Records and Registration Computer Lab in Building R, Room 226.
The Bad News
- It's not easy - You should expect to spend several hours doing research, on the phone, on the web, writing letters, filling out applications, writing essays...
- It's not quick - It usually takes 4 to 6 months to receive any scholarship money
- There are No Guarantees - You could do a lot of work and end up with no scholarship money.
- There are a lot of scams on the web using "Scholarship!" as the bait. Beware!
Good News
- There is many scholarships available, and if you do a good search, one or more of them might be yours!
- The Career Exploration Center offers personalized assistance to you in your scholarship search.
- This page provides links to a number of legitimate sources of scholarship information.
Scam Warning
The links below are legitimate to the best of our knowledge. Please let us know if you find out otherwise!
Watch out for the words "Quick," "Easy" and "Guaranteed" - These words are clues that the link might be a scam. FinAid.org has a good page on the topic of scholarship scams.
Scholarship Websites
Recommended Starting Point
College Board Scholarship Search
- A good way to "get your feet wet" with scholarship searching.
- You answer the questions, and the program will show a list of scholarship leads for which you might qualify.
A Good Second Step
Search the Peterson's Scholarship Database.
The Santa Fe College Library has licensed a database which includes scholarship leads. It is open to students through eSantaFe.
Follow these steps:
- Go to the Santa Fe College Library Databases
- Borrower ID is your 8-digit Student ID number, without the dash ( - )
- PIN/Password is the last 4 digits of your student ID
- Select: College Prep
- Select: College and Scholarship Search
- Select: Undergraduate Scholarship Search (scroll down a bit to find it)
- Register for an account (be sure to save your user name and password)
- Select "Get Started" and follow the instructions.
Specifically for Santa Fe College
When a local business, family, or individual wishes to offer a scholarship for SF students, they are channeled through the Endowment Office.
The application is currently open, to apply for scholarships for Spring 2020
SF International Education Scholarships
- For SF students who wish to do one of our Study Abroad programs in another country.
- These scholarships are intended to help students afford the costs of the trip.
- The student must apply to the Study Abroad program before accessing the scholarship application.
For students majoring in
- Dance
- Music
- Theater, or
- Visual Arts
SF Career and Technical Education Scholarships
For students in:
- Associate in Science Degree programs
- Associate in Applied Science programs
- Certificate Programs
- Bachelor's Degree programs
(To see the occupations for which these programs train, check out Career Coach)
SF Bachelor's Degree Scholarship
Specifically for students completing a Bachelor's degree program at Santa Fe College
Our Financial Aid Handbook lists a number of scholarships available to Santa Fe students. These are automatically applied-for when you submit the Santa Fe College application and FAFSA. Further descriptions of these scholarships are available in the College Rules Manual, sections 7.14 and 7.14P.
The Santa Fe College Financial Aid Office maintains a "Ways to Pay" page which contains a few scholarship links not listed elsewhere.
Student Life maintains a list of private scholarship opportunities that are sent to us by various businesses and other organizations.
Santa Fe College Tuition Waivers and Exemptions - A small number of students do not have to pay tuition. Check the list to see if you are one of them.Back to Work 50+ Primary for women 50 and older, although men may also qualify. For short-term technical training only, funded by AARP
End of list for Santa Fe specific scholarships
Other legitimate scholarship resources
- Fastweb Scholarship Search is e-mail based. It will send lots of scholarship notices to your e-mail, possibly too much. So we suggest creating a separate e-mail account through Gmail, Yahoo! or the like, and give Fastweb that address. This way it does not fill up your personal in-box with piles of scholarship leads.
- U.S. News Scholarship America blog
- Free-4U Scholarship News
- FinAid - the Smart Student's Guide to Financial Aid
- Plato Scholarship Search (requires free registration)
- Hispanic Scholarship Fund
- National Merit Scholarships
- Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education
- CollegeDegree.com - links to many financial aid websites.
- CollegeScholarships.com
- Guaranteed Scholarships (Hint: watch out for the "G" word! It's often a sign of a scam. In this instance it's OK, but NONE of the scholarships listed are for specifically for Santa Fe or UF.)
Scholarships for International Students
- Funding for United States Study - Electronic "flip-book" This resource is primarily for international students intending to study in the United States.
- International Education Financial Aid - A search engine to assist international students to find scholarships and grants for U.S. Study.
State of Florida Scholarships
- Bright Futures Scholarship
- Other State of Florida Scholarships
Financial Aid TV at Santa Fe College offers videos describing many of the State scholarship programs.
Transferring to a State University?
Most Financial Aid Offices at Florida Universities include lists of scholarships available at their school.
Here are links to their Financial Aid Offices/Scholarship pages:
- Florida A & M University, Tallahassee
- Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
- Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers
- Florida International University, Miami
- Florida Polytechnic University, Lakeland
- Florida State University, Tallahassee
- New College of Florida, Sarasota
- University of Central Florida, Orlando
- University of Florida, Gainesville Scholarship Search at UF
- University of North Florida, Jacksonville
- University of South Florida, Tampa
- University of West Florida, Pensacola
Interested in transferring to other colleges?
Find your school's website, navigate to their Financial Aid pages, and look for a listing of their scholarships.
If you have difficulty finding a school's website, try College Navigator. This program can also be useful in searching for colleges that offer your major in your desired location.
More scholarship search engines
This is the State of Florida's official career guidance program, which contains a scholarship search program. This program uses the same database as College Board, so may be redundant if the College Board search worked well for you.
To use MyCareerShines, you must create an account. Here are the steps:
- MyCareerShines Website.
- Scroll down to MyCareerShines and select Register or Log In.
- Be sure to specify Santa Fe College as your school.
- Home page... in menu to right select "[ ] Find Financial Aid"
- Then: "Find and Apply for Scholarships and Grants"
- Then: "Search a National Database of Scholarships and Grants."
- Enable Filter Options, and fill in all the blanks that are relevant to you.
- Read each scholarship description. If you qualify and would want it, visit the website and read whatever else they provide.
- If you STILL want it and believe you qualify, call or write and request an "Application Package"
For personal assistance in your scholarship search, please call the Career Exploration Center at Santa Fe College, 352-395-4121 or write us a note to make an appointment.
rev. 9/27/19, JY