By Janaysha Brown/reporter
The TCC Foundation is accepting scholarship applications now through April 20 for the 2018 academic year.
Scholarships provide students with more academic opportunities and options for funding their education, and the TCC Foundation offers scholarships for students from different sources, including general foundation scholarships and others created through community and school district partnerships.
Scholarships can help students avoid taking out loans and stay out of debt, said JoLynn Sprole, South financial aid director.
“Some students receive a small amount of aid, so applying for scholarships can subsidize the cost of college,” she said.
Most scholarships require a well-researched essay or a variety of supporting materials as well as the application, so it can take a little longer for students to complete than they think, Sprole said. Students should also know that most places offering scholarships won’t accept late applications, she said.
“They live to give funds to students who are responsible,” Sprole said. “Meeting the deadline dates show that you are on top of things.”
TCC Foundation senior donor relations officer Liz Sisk said students need to make time to collect supporting materials like letters of recommendation and transcripts and solicit appropriate feedback.
“Each scholarship requires you to submit a narrative essay covering a prompt,” Sisk said. “In the process, pay a visit to an English professor or the writing lab to make edits to your paper to make sure it is compelling.”
At the TCC Foundation scholarship dinner last fall, Daniel Almazan said he was grateful for his scholarship.
Almazan, a Dreamer who was born in Mexico, came to the U.S. at 8 and didn’t speak English, he said.
“Ever since then, it has always been an uphill battle,” he said.
Everyone knows the financial benefit of receiving a scholarship, Almazan said.
“But what a lot of people don’t see is the emotional part of a scholarship, knowing that somebody is rooting toward our success,” he said.
