Hispanic Scholarships Help Hispanic Americans Earn College Degrees

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) is a US-based non-profit organization that sponsors Hispanic Scholarships. This helps students of Hispanic American background to complete their higher education. HSF's mission is to double the number of Hispanic Americans earning their first college degrees to 18 per cent by 2010.

HSF Scholarships are available to undergraduate and graduate students of Hispanic background on a competitive basis. These Hispanic Scholarships are available in all fields of higher education.

The eligibility for applying for these scholarships is as follows.

Students must be of Hispanic origin. They must be US citizens or legal permanent residents or those whose unexpired passport is stamped I-551. Students, who have a valid I94 card at the time of submission of their application, are also eligible. The I94 card must be stamped as: Asylum Status, Refugee, Parolee, Cuban Haitian Entrant, or Conditional Entrant.

Students must be enrolled at a US-accredited institution in a degree-seeking course in the US or in Puerto Rico, Guam, or in the US Virgin Islands. They must have made an application for Federal Financial Aid. They must have secured a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale. In case of Gates Millennium Scholar applicants, the minimum GPA requirement is 3.30.

The Hispanic Scholarships are available to college students, community college transfer students, high school students, and to Gates Millennium Scholars. A high school student, who is a graduating senior, is considered eligible, provided other eligibility criteria are satisfied by him/her. Such students can apply in the winter of their senior year.

Home-schooled students or those who have a General Education Diploma are also eligible to apply, provided they submit a copy of their official results of their SAT I or ACT tests. SAT is the short form of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. ACT now has no full form. Earlier, its full form was American College Test. It is an entrance test for admission to US colleges.

Hispanic American students pursuing their 2nd Bachelor's, 2nd Associate's, or 2nd Masters Degree are not eligible to apply. This is because the vision of HCF is to provide scholarships to solely 1st college degree earning students.

Age is not at all a criterion for eligibility to the Hispanic Scholarships. Students of any age can apply for a Hispanic Scholarship, provided they meet all requisite eligibility criteria.

The applications for Hispanic Scholarships are evaluated on the basis of academic record, academic plans, career goals, financial need, essay responses of a high quality, and a recommendation letter. The selection for the award of Hispanic Scholarships is then made on merit based on the above criteria.

The Hispanic Scholarship amount awarded annually ranges between $1,000 and $5,000. The application period for the Hispanic Scholarships is between 1st August and 15th October of each year for the academic year that follows.

By sponsoring Hispanic Scholarships, HSF is doing yeoman's service to the cause of higher education of Hispanic Americans in the US.