The truth still remains that lots of students face the challenge of financing their higher education, and most of them don’t want to accumulate lots of loans because it might be very hard to pay them off once they graduate. Middle-class White Females also face this similar issue, with other sets of circumstances they face too.
Fortunately, similar to financial aid to first-gen students and women in STEM there are a handful of scholarships for middle-class white females, that can help reduce or even go further to waive off your entire tuition fees. Ph.D. scholarships for women do the same thing too, if not better.
In this blog, we’ll explore these scholarships designed to help relieve you from some financial burden. And the best part is most of them are available annually, which means you can still apply for them if you miss their deadlines.
Before we list them, we would love to point out that you shouldn’t limit your search to just middle-class white women, you can explore other options like computer science scholarships for females or even graduate scholarships for women.
Let’s get started
Table of Contents
Scholarships for Middle-class White Females
1. AAUW Scholarships for Middle-class Women
- Worth: $2,000
American Association of University Women provides different scholarships for Middle-class White Women which my favorite is the AAUW-Lew Williams & Joan Odud Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to help women who are 25 years of age or older pursuing their undergraduate or graduate programs.
There are still other scholarships like;
- AAUW-Leila Sulkes Memorial Scholarship
- AAUW-Rose Fishkin Memorial Award for Academic Excellence
- The Betty Hurlbert Scholarship
2. MPOWER Women in STEM Scholarship
Worth: $1,000 to $6,000
MPOWER has been in the business of empowering high-potential global citizens to realize their educational aspirations — and become tomorrow’s leading scientists and innovators. Their commitment made them create scholarships for middle-class white females program which focuses on women who will use their STEM degree to benefit society and the planet and who have the potential to serve as role models and advocates for women in STEM.
3. AIAA Lockheed Martin Marillyn Hewson Scholarship
Worth: $10,000
This scholarship is basically meant for middle-class white female students who need financial help, priority is given to high school seniors that have been accepted into a college or university to pursue a degree in; Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics.
4. Marie Tharp Visiting Fellowship for Women
This fellowship is named after Marie Tharp, who was the first person to map details of the ocean floor on a global scale. This is among the scholarships for middle-class white women that aim to provide an opportunity for women scientists and engineers to conduct research at Columbia University.
Awardees will receive $30,000 for 3 months and will have an opportunity to work with faculty, research staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students during their fellowship.
5. Zonta International – Amelia Earhart Fellowship
Zonta International awards an annual Amelia Earhart Fellowship worth US$10,000 to 30 women of any nationality including Whites pursuing Ph.D./doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering and space sciences. One of the good things about these scholarships for middle-class white females is that you can use them at any university or college offering accredited post-graduate courses and degrees in these fields.
6. Live Your Dream Awards
The Live Your Dream Awards is provided by Soroptimist and it’s exclusively for women who are the primary financial support for their families. Most importantly, Soroptimist provides several scholarships to about 1,700 women all over the world worth over $2.8 million.
Since they established these scholarships lots of women are returning to school, including more than half who are survivors of domestic violence, trafficking, or sexual assault, and so many others who have overcome enormous obstacles.
7. The Jeannette Rankin Foundation
The Jeannette Rankin Foundation was created to help women aged 35 and older who are returning to school to successfully finish their college degrees and transform the next chapter of their lives. So far, their scholarship has made 87% of their scholars including middle-class females either graduate or even continue their educational path toward achieving their degrees.
Also, they have awarded $4 million to over 1,300 women across the country to pursue their educational aspirations.
8. P.E.O. Program for Continuing Education Grant
- Amount: Maximum grant is $3,000
This is among the grants for middle-class white females that were established in 1973 to provide need-based grants to women in the U.S. or Canada, whose education has been interrupted and who find it necessary to return to school to support themselves and/or their families.
Just like other scholarships for middle-class white females we’ve listed, the funds received can be used for any educational cost you wish whether it’s tuition, books, supplies, testing & graduation fees, transportation, childcare, uniforms required by the educational program, etc.
9. ANSWER Scholarship – Sending Moms to College
- Amount: Range from $2500 per year for a two-year associate degree to $5000 per year for a four-year bachelor’s degree
The ANSWER Scholarship is awarded to moms in Mecklenburg and eight surrounding counties in the Carolinas who intend to return to college. And the good thing is that more than 60% of those interviewed are awarded this scholarship.
Applicants need to be “nontraditional” female students who are at least age 25 or older, and can either be married or single. Also, recipients need to be the primary caregiver to at least one school-age child and must be U.S. citizens, including foreign-born U.S. citizens.
10. EFWA Undergraduate Scholarships
The Educational Foundational for Women in Accounting provides several scholarships for middle-class white women pursuing careers in Accounting. These scholarships include;
- Women In Transition
- Women In Need
- Institute of Management Accountants IMA®
- EFWA Undergraduate
- American Dream
Conclusion
One of the mistakes people make while applying for scholarships is that they usually focus only on the scholarships related to their demographic. Even though doing this reduces competition, there are still other scholarships that you can apply for that don’t mention women, whites, etc.
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