The San Diego Foundation (SDF) stepped up its Community Scholarship Program with the most money it has ever awarded to local students.
SDF announced July 10 that more than 1,000 local students will share in scholarships from a $4 million pool raised for the program. The record-breaking $4 million in scholarships tops last year’s record of $3.5 million in funding to 989 local students for the 2022-23 academic year.
The Community Scholarship Program is supported by 146 unique charitable funds at San Diego Foundation. It is the largest in the region outside of the university system and the largest scholarship program in California operated by a community foundation. Since 1997, the program has awarded more than $49 million to more than 13,000 college students from San Diego.
President & CEO
San Diego Foundation
“San Diego Foundation is supporting more local college students than ever in pursuing their dreams of higher education,” said Mark Stuart, president and CEO, San Diego Foundation. “Most of the students in our Community Scholarship Program are from low-income and under-resourced communities. Scholarships provide the support they need to successfully obtain their degrees and diversify our local workforce.”
The SDF Community Scholarship Program enables a diverse cohort of local students to attend college. Black/African American and Latino/a students represented 16% and 40% of the 2023 – 2024 scholarship recipients, respectively. Among the 2023 – 2024 scholarship recipients, 70% are first-generation college students, or the first in their immediate families to pursue higher education, and 92% of students are considered low-middle income, according to their Earned Family Contribution data.
Applications for the scholarships were submitted by more than 3,000 local high school, community college, graduate and adult re-entry students studying a variety of subjects, including science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); health sciences; business; and arts and education, among others. Of those who received scholarships, 60% were affiliated with a college access and readiness program such as AVID, Reality Changers and TRIO/Upward Bound.