Minority women should look to cultural heritage organizations, sororities and corporations for scholarship assistance.
With the increasing cost of higher education, many minority students must rely on scholarships and grants to help them pay for college. While many of these students are eligible for the various financial aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education, they may also want to tap into special scholarships set aside for under-served students.
Cultural Heritage Grants
The first place minority women should look for grant funding is with cultural heritage organizations like the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Oftentimes these organizations provided grant funding which umbrellas to included students from every academic discipline. UNCF, for instance, is one of the largest suppliers of minority education grants and according to the organization's website, the UNCF administers over "400 scholarship and internship programs, so that even students from low- and moderate-income families can afford college tuition, books and room and board."
Sorority Grants
Students who belong to, or whose mother is a member of a historically black sorority, might want to look into scholarship opportunities with theses organizations. Alpha Kappa Alpha, for instance, offers its members several scholarship opportunities including the Merit, Financial Need and Youth Partners Accessing Capital (P.A.C.) scholarships. In addition to scholarships, the organization provides funding for graduate education and disperses fellowships and endowments as well.
Corporate Grants
Recognizing the need to encourage participation in higher education, many corporations such as Microsoft, Google, Target and Wal-Mart have developed scholarship and grant programs to assist students in paying for college.
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation, has provided over 13,000 students with financial assistance for higher education. Though the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Program, Bill and Melinda Gates provide grant funding to a number of male and female minority students from a variety of academic disciplines. Although the United Negro College Fund administers the GMS Program, all minority groups are eligible to apply for the award. According to the GMS website, "graduate school funding for continuing Gates Millennium Scholars [is available] in the areas of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health [and] science."
Heritage-Based Professional Organizations
Students should not forget to look into the number of grants offered to students by heritage-based professional organizations. Each year, organizations like the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), Black Coaches and Administrators (BCA) and the National Education Association (NEA), grant scholarships to minority students in their fields.
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