JOHNSTOWN — The Community Foundation for the Alleghenies (CFA) announced the start of its 2025 scholarship application season.
Scholarships are available for students enrolled in or headed to a college, university or trade school. The foundation’s 2025 “Easy Apply” online application, available on CFA’s website, houses 96 scholarship opportunities for students in Bedford, Cambria, Indiana and Somerset counties. Easy Apply uses a logic model to match students with the scholarship opportunities available to them based on their answers to the eligibility quiz.
The deadline to apply for the scholarships within the Easy Apply application is March 7.
“What’s great about our scholarships is that there are opportunities for all kinds of students, not just those at the top of the class academically,” said Director of Donor Services Katrina Perkosky in an email. “There are awards for students who perform community service, have participated in extracurricular activities like sports or the arts, or are planning to attend a trade or technical school.”
Additionally, there are more than 250 school-selected scholarship opportunities that students can browse by county on the foundation’s website. Students are encouraged to talk to their guidance counselors to find out how to apply for school-selected scholarships.
“Our donors come to us with all kinds of ideas on how to provide educational opportunities to local students, which is how we’re able to provide such variety,” Perkosky said. “Because post-secondary education is often incredibly costly, we also have a broad view of financial need. If you or your child will need to borrow money to go to school, they should be applying for Community Foundation scholarships.”
Both the Easy Apply application and a list of scholarships by county and by school district are available at cfalleghenies.org/scholarships.
“We are pleased to help students find scholarships that align with their aspirations, while also helping our donors support a cause that they are passionate about,” said CFA President and Executive Director Mike Kane. “It is a priority for us, and for our donors, to ensure that all available scholarship funds are utilized, which is why our team works hard to inform students about the opportunities that are available.”
In addition to the announcement of a new scholarship season, the foundation also hit a milestone for the amount awarded in scholarships. In the fiscal year 2024, CFA awarded $892,780 in scholarships, causing it to exceed $10 million in cumulative scholarships awarded since the foundation’s inception.
“We are excited to have surpassed this significant milestone for our scholarship program,” said Kane. “This achievement is made possible thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors, who are dedicated to enhancing education and empowering students in our region.”
CFA is also an approved PATH Partner through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). Students who receive scholarships from approved PATH partners, such as the Community Foundation, and will attend college in Pennsylvania may be eligible to receive additional scholarship funds from the PATH program. The high school class of 2023 received a total of $145,986 in a match from PHEAA on their CFA awards.Contact Donor Services Administrator Hannah Ernest at hernest@cfalleghenies.org or 814-399-4583 with any questions. More information including answers to frequently asked questions is available at cfalleghenies.org/scholarships.
Madolin Edwards has been a journalist at the Daily American for 38 years, covering school boards, borough councils, sports and new stories. Contact the Daily American reporters at news@dailyamerican.com.
