Scholarships For:
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The Common Application for the Middletown Community Foundation Scholarship program will be open from December 14, 2022 to February 14, 2023.
All scholarships administered by the Middletown Community Foundation have a common application. These pages contain a lot of information, which we have attempted to break up into manageable sections. Please read all that pertain to your situation; many of your questions will be answered here.
We have scholarships for (1) High School Seniors who will be graduating in the spring and attending college in the fall, or students who graduated this past spring and who are taking a “gap year” before college (2) College Upperclassmen (Sophomores through Seniors) who are 24 years old or under and who currently do not receive a renewable scholarship through the Foundation, and (3) Non-Traditional Adult (Students who are 25 and above). We have scholarships for adult students seeking a certificate for technical knowledge for a particular job or profession.
You may register at any time by following this link: https://mcfoundation.awardspring.com/. However, you should be aware that access to site information is not available until the application opens for a cycle. The link for AwardSpring is below in the green bubble.
The online initial application serves as a filter, which will automatically apply you to all scholarships/certificate for which you may be eligible, based on your answers.
A list of essay questions which may pertain to you is on the age-specific area of our website. You may begin working on them at any time. We STRONGLY suggest that you write all essays in MS Word or similar program. Take full advantage of spell check capabilities, and have someone proofread your essays. After all editing on your essays is complete, you can cut and paste them into the space provided in the application. For a turtorial of essay writing, please click on the blue bubble below with our YouTube video.
Honor Statement: We require backup documentation uploads for all self-reported academic and financial information. Your reported unweighted GPA will be compared to your transcript. Your FAFSA EFC, should you qualify for a need based scholarship, will be compared with your FAFSA SAR EFC. We ask questions to certify eligibility for specific scholarship requirements (First in family to attend college? Appalachian descent? Participation in Big Brothers/Big Sisters program as a LITTLE brother or sister?), which we then verify before awarding. Students who misrepresent data or falsify supporting documentation will not be considered for any scholarship.
The upcoming application cycles are below:
High School Seniors: Application opens December 14, 2022 and closes February 14, 2023 promptly at 11:59 pm.
Upperclassmen and Non-Traditional Adults: June 30 at 11:59 pm.
We have compiled FAQs here as well as for each scholarship category which can be accessed on the pertinent pages. Please read all that may apply to you. If you have any additional questions regarding deadlines, scholarship requirements or attachments, please contact the Middletown Community Foundation at 513-424-7369 or email info@mcfoundation.org. For technical support with the application please use the “Support” button within the AwardSpring program to contact an AwardSpring technician.
FAQ:
How much will I receive? Scholarship awards range from one-time awards of $100 up to renewable awards worth $20,000+ over four years. If you win, it is important for your financial planning purposes to know whether you have received a one-time award or whether you have received a renewable award.
- All upperclass and non-traditional adult scholarships are one-time awards.
- For High School Seniors: All renewable award amounts are shown in 4-year totals, so a renewable scholarship might show up as a $20,000 award and would be paid out at $5,000 per year over 4 years. If you are awarded a scholarship “follow-up items” will appear on your Dashboard in AwardSpring. Please complete those or we cannot issue you the award. Information given within those follow-up items will tell you whether it is a one-time award or renewable.
What are my chances of winning a scholarship? The criteria for each of our almost 100 scholarships were set by the donor of that scholarship. It is the committee’s responsibility to award each scholarship to the candidate that best fits the criteria outlined by the original donor. No one can predict the how any one individual will do in the process. Every year we turn great applicants away because we have a better fit for each scholarship. Merit is the ultimate determination when there are multiple applicants for a scholarship and everything else is equal.
I am not sure if I will attend school. Can I decide after I receive a scholarship? Please don’t enter this process unless you are already enrolled or have already determined that you will be entering college. There are two reasons for this. First, our scholarships are not given in amounts that will have a significant impact on what you or your family are willing and able to afford. The first part of your college search should be an open and realistic conversation with your family about the cost of college and how that burden will be carried. Our scholarships are not designed to enable you to completely afford your education, only to help ease the burden a small bit. You should have at least narrowed your selection of schools down to one or two schools and know how you are going to pay for them, without the benefit of a scholarship. Second, if you are awarded a scholarship and decide not to attend school, it is too late for us to award that scholarship to another student-- you have essentially blocked another student in need from receiving a scholarship. Please, in fairness to all, do not apply if you are still in the “exploring my options” phase of your college search.
I am having trouble uploading documents. Can I just drop off copies or mail them in? Do not mail or drop off any information to the Middletown Community Foundation. It must all be contained in your online application for the program to work. The best formats for document uploads are PDF or Word. Do not attempt to upload documents (FAFSA SAR) directly from another site… it DOES NOT work. Often it gives the appearance of working, but the link is broken when we try to access the document from our offices. Save the document to your computer or a flash drive as a PDF then upload that document from your computer. Pictures can be uploaded as Jpeg or PDF files. If one of your scholarships requires a video or audio file please leave yourself sufficient time—don’t start uploading a video or large file at 11pm on February 14th!
I am having trouble saving my application. The application should automatically save your answers as you go along. The website often gets “glitchy” when experiencing high traffic, for example, answers or uploads may not show as complete when they have actually been saved. First, we highly suggest that you compose all your essay answers in a word processing program, then cut and paste them into the available space. This will save you some frustration should the site act up. If you experience a problem, simply try closing out of your browser, then logging back into the site. All notification and communication will come via email. Please be sure to use an email address which you check regularly and in which you have room to receive messages. Be sure to keep your email up to date!