How to Apply for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund – There are various kinds of scholarships that are available for the students. The only thing is that you have to qualify for a scholarship and for that, you need to make an application that is a winning application. Because there are more than 1000 of students, who apply for the scholarship and out of that only 7% are selected based on their application, which is competitive and winning. So, if you also want to be one such or among the 7% then you have to make an application that is winning application. Apart from other kinds of scholarship, there is also Hispanic scholarship that is available. In this guide, you will get to know everything about Hispanic scholarship and what are the criteria to get that scholarship. Continue reading to know more.
One of the best resources of scholarship is the Hispanic scholarship, which is available for students those who want to reduce the expenses of education and become successful. Hispanic scholarship is the one that offers a very generous scholarship and they aid the students in various kinds of add-on services. This guide will specifically cover the following topics –
- How much scholarship money you can win as an HSF Scholar
- The Hispanic Scholarship Fund eligibility requirements
- How to apply for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund
- The HSF application timeline
- 6 tips to improve your chances of winning an HSF scholarship
Contents
What Is the Hispanic Scholarship Fund?
Hispanic scholarship fund is mainly a scholarship program that has been started by non-profit organization mainly for the Hispanic and latino students. These students who have the knowledge and skills to excel in their higher education can apply for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. (HSF)
There are amazing benefits for the HSF scholars and apart from that every year there are around 10,000 students who are chosen for this scholarship. The various types of benefits that you can get from an HSF scholarship are services, internships, job chances with the corporate partners of HSF, mentorship chances, etc. You can also attend various kinds of leadership programs, wellness programs, and conferences including scholarship chances that are exclusive.
HSF Scholarship Opportunities –
More than $30 million scholarship is awarded annually for the scholars in the merit-based scholarships – ranging from $500-$5,000 per student! The scholars can use this scholarship for paying various expenses incurring during their study in colleges. They can pay tuition fee, study materials expenses, room, transportation charges related to colleges or school etc.
It is also pivotal for you to know that all the HSF scholars do not receive the scholarships. Therefore, it is important for you to make a winning application that gets selected, so that you can receive scholarships. But there is a eligibility criteria, lets check that first. Apart from that are various kinds of students loans also that you can apply for. To know how much you can borrow from a federal students loan you will have to fill up Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Hispanic Scholarship Fund Eligibility Requirements
No matter what level of education you are into, you can receive the HSF and that too in the following cases –
- If you are a graduating high school senior
- If you are a undergraduate student
- If you are a community college student transferring to a four-year university
- If you are a graduate student (law school, medical school, MBA, and all other full-time masters or PhD programs)
The above-mentioned requirements are not enough. To become a Hispanic scholarship fund scholar and to get scholarship you must have the following eligibility –
- You should be of a Hispanic heritage
- You should be a US citizen, DACA or permanent legal resident
- You should have a minimum of 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale for high school.
- You should have minimum 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale for college and graduate students
- You should have planned to enroll full-time in an accredited, public or not-for-profit, four-year university, or graduate school, in the US, for the upcoming academic year
- You should submit the FAFSA or state-based financial aid forms (if applicable)
How to Apply for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund
It is very simple and easy to apply for a Hispanic scholarship fund and for that you will need many documents and fill up an online application. You will need the following –
- You will need the latest college transcript of high school or college. (You can get the transcript online also, for that; you may need to speak to your high school counselor or registrar.)
- You will also need to fill up the FAFSA and if you have not done that before then you can check the guide on how to apply for FAFSA!
- You will have to submit student aid report (SAR) copy. After you submit your FAFSA, you will get SAR.
- You will also have to submit financial aid award letter that you will get from your college or university (it is mostly given by the financial aid department.)
- A passport size photo of yours.
- You will also have to submit a enrollment verification from college or university.
- A personal summary about your goals, strengths, education values, etc. at the time of application for Hispanic scholarship fund.
- One academic recommendation letter. (you can get this letter from a teacher or a counselor or guide of your school/college, a person who has influenced your academic development. Apart from that you can also include recommendation letter from outside of your academic environment e.g. a sports teacher or a boss etc. )
- You will also have to submit Employment Authorization Document (EAD). This requirement only applies to you if you are a DACA recipient.
Hispanic Scholarship Fund Application Timeline
Here is the HSF application timeline and all that you need to know about the schedules.
The Hispanic scholarship fund application opens on January 1. Then, in the month of February, the application is due and the deadline is 14 February. Therefore, you can plan at that time next year. In the month, of March and April the finalist for the HSF are announced and they will be asked to submit SAR, transcripts, reference letter, and personal essay. Then, in the month of May to June, the HSF team will evaluate the applications and choose the scholars who later receive the scholarship (funded). If they are in the waiting list, they will be notified. And in the meanwhile, they can have access to support services till the time they have to submit the remaining documents.
Then, in the month of June, to September, all the scholars should submit their financial aid award letter. In the month of October to November, the scholars should submit their verification form. From October to December, the HSF scholarship is awarded to chosen scholars of HSF.
Six Tips to Improve Your Chances of Winning a Scholarship from the HSF
Surprisingly, there are 1000 of students who apply for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund every year. However, the fact is that not all the students are selected, only few of them are chosen. Therefore, it is very important for the students to make a winning application. Here are few tips on the same –
1. Start Your HSF Application As Soon As Possible
If you start preparing your application early, you will get the chance to collect the documents timely and submit full documents. You will be able to submit the documents before deadline. Apart from that, you will be able to follow up with people regarding your transcripts, reference letter, financial aid award letter etc. In addition, you will be able to review the application and make correction with the help of the teachers or counselors.
2. Submit the FAFSA Early
In order to get a better financial aid packages you should submit your FAFSA as early as possible. Plus, you should check early what all information is needed to complete the FAFSA. You will also need to submit the student’s aid report, so that you can complete the HSF application. If you wait for too long to start your FAFSA, then your applications can be incomplete also. If you do not know how to fill up the FAFSA, then you can look at the guide on how to apply for FAFSA.
3. Strive for a Strong Academic Record
The minimum GPA for high school students and college students are 3.0 and 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, which is already mentioned above. However, you should know one thing these scholarships are competitive. If you have time, then make sure that you enhance your GPA and take help from teachers and you can use resources like Khan Academy to know more.
4. Write a Remarkable Personal Essay
Your personal summary or essay that you will write will reflect your outer personality and many more things. It is only through a personal essay the scholarship committee will get to know about yourself and your true self. So, make sure to make a unique essay. You essay should reflect that you are strongly connected with scholarship foundation and you are the ideal person to get awarded. If you don’t know how to write an essay then check the guides and similar posts on how to write a scholarship essay and how to write a personal statement.
5. Seek Out Leadership Opportunities
It is not only good grades that gets a person scholarship apart from that if the student shows his leadership qualities in certain areas where they are passionate about for instance, sports, or social work etc. then even that is counted as merit. Though, there is no section in the HSF application that mainly has column for leadership, but you can show that in your application. You can mention about your passionate leadership qualities in personal essay and recommendation letter about your volunteer work or job or social work etc.
6. Make Sure You Get a Stellar Recommendation Letter
It is similar to personal essay, but the only difference is that someone else writes it for you. Your recommendation letter will give the HSF more clarity about you and your academic potential. So, for giving the best recommendation letter choose the recommender wisely. He/She should know you well and they should write good things like positive things about you. They should know what all-important things about you, your academic life and other leadership qualities they should highlight. If your recommender is novice then you can get them to read similar posts on how to write a scholarship letter of recommendation, where you can get all the information.
Where to Find More Scholarships
For Hispanic and Latino students one of the most beneficial scholarships is the HSF. Hopefully, this information was useful for the students. There are many add-on advantages of the HSF and even while you are making application you can get support services benefit, etc. To know more about different kinds of scholarship, you can check buchananreform, which is the no.1 app in the world. You can also check similar blogs to know about how to graduate debt free, and you can get to learn about options for college fiscal aid and win scholarships like the Fulbright Scholarship.
Conclusion
There are many different types of scholarships that is available if you check in buchananreform One of the most popular scholarships is the Fulbright scholarship for which there are many applicants from US. But the Hispanic scholarship fund has made it easy and simple for the Hispanic and Latino students to apply. Apart from that, its simple and easy but again its competitive as there are 1000s of students applying for the HSF, so it is pretty competitive. The candidates should be able to make a winning application if they want to get selected. Apart from that it will be good if the candidates make an early application, as early application for the scholarship can save time and you can get to review the application.
