High Need Scholarships for Native American Students

Any parent with children at home on winter break can attest that “back to school” is just as important of a phrase in January as it is in August or September. For students seeking post-secondary education opportunities, January is also a critical time with college applications getting down to the wire, as well as financial assistance and scholarships.

As a group that is underrepresented in post-secondary education, Native Americans face a number of challenges, including the ability to gather the resources to pay for tuition. Contrary to what many believe, college is not free for Native Americans; these students need to obtain acceptance and the financial means to attend college just like everyone else.

Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA) seeks to minimize these challenges by providing scholarships for Native American students and recently connected with MoneyGeek.com to provide tips and best practices for increasing Native American students’ chances at securing scholarships. Topics included what information to include in scholarship essays, making scholarship applications stand out from the crowd, whether to apply for multiple scholarships, when to start applying for scholarships, the importance of volunteer work for winning scholarships and other valuable advice.

PWNA’s 2016 scholarship applications are available online, with a deadline of April 4:

• Download Undergraduate Scholarship Application
• Download Graduate Scholarship Application

Vaughn V.

An important element of the scholarships PWNA awards is the focus on selecting students who are more in the middle range in terms of academic ranking, but who demonstrate a dedication to furthering their education while overcoming obstacles — students such as Vaughn V. Vaughn suffered grief and extreme depression after losing his first son. His perseverance and desire, however, to pursue a career as a government-to-government mediator focused on environmental threats to tribal land and communities made him a PWNA scholarship recipient.

If you’re a Native American student or know of a deserving applicant, we encourage you to learn more by reviewing our scholarship applications. Want to help? Contribute to our scholarships program by donating today.