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The San Diego Foundation has announced the opening of two 2025 scholarship opportunities for high school and college students — one making its debut and another that has a longstanding history in San Diego.
The National Rainbow College Fund will be the first of its kind, offering a total of $500,000 in scholarships, exclusively for LGBTQ+ students living in California, regardless of the public nature of their sexual identity. A $2,500 award will be gifted to 200 students and can be applied toward any educational expense.
To Mark Stuart, the foundation’s president and CEO, the mission behind the fund is to lessen the financial burden of students whether or not they’ve come out publicly as part of the LGBTQ+ community. It will be up to applicants to choose how openly to express their sexual identities.
“With that commitment in mind, we will make student privacy the highest priority during the application process,” Mark Stuart said. “Together, we will break barriers, transform lives and build futures.”
As for the Community Scholarship Program, it will continue its legacy of providing financial support for low to middle-income students. As of July, the program, according to its website, has granted more than $53 million to over 14,000 college students and has become “the largest non-university scholarship provider in San Diego County.”
This year, $5 million in scholarships will be offered in varied amounts to local high school seniors, incoming and current college students and adult re-entry students.
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Danielle Valenciano, the program’s director, says it does more than just provide scholarships, it “creates pathways to success for generations of San Diego students who will strengthen our workforce and shape the future of our region.”
Both scholarship applications will close at 2 p.m. PST March 5, giving students roughly a two-month window to apply online.
To be eligible for the rainbow fund, applicants must identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community and have lived in California for at least one year. To be considered for the community program, all applicants must be local students either registering, attending or returning to a university.
Both programs also require students to demonstrate financial need through FAFSA, the California DREAM Act Application or by using the Federal Student Aid Estimator Tool.
For more information on how to apply online as a student or how to become involved as a volunteer visit the official foundation website here.
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