Who Can Apply
College Access Foundation of California welcomes grant applications from community-based, school-based and campus-based programs and organizations in California that help high school students with financial need reach college, persist and graduate. Our grants primarily support college scholarships, but applicants may also request support for modest, scholarship-related program expenses. Most Foundation grants are for one year, but we will consider multi-year grant requests (up to four years) from highly qualified applicants with a demonstrated capacity to maintain ongoing relationships with students and to track student progress through college.
College Access Foundation does NOT award scholarships directly to individual students.
Grant applications will be accepted from:
- California-based non-profit organizations that are classified as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or have a fiscal sponsor with tax-exempt status; or
- California state, county or local public agencies or government entities.
To be eligible for consideration, a grant applicant must:
- Primarily serve low-income students and/or students who are in the first generation of their family to attend college.
- Currently manage a college scholarship program or demonstrate its capacity to develop and administer a scholarship program.
- Serve students who currently attend or have graduated from high school in California. (Please note: scholarship recipients may attend college anywhere in the U.S.)
- Serve students who plan to attend or currently attend accredited, degree-granting, 2-year or 4-year post-secondary institutions.
- Serve students who plan to attend or currently attend college full-time in pursuit of an Associates or Bachelors degree.
- Help all eligible students to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and ensure that all students meet college application and financial aid deadlines.
- Promote persistence and graduation by identifying on-campus student support programs and connecting its students to those programs.
- Demonstrate its capacity to effectively collect student data and use it to inform and improve its program practices. The Foundation requires grantees to produce annual data reports on all students who receive scholarships, including the amounts, post-secondary institutions the students attend, and other demographic and financial aid data.
In addition, the Foundation requires all grant applicants to agree in advance to a set of General Grant Terms and Conditions and a Best Practices Agreement.
The Foundation does NOT award grants for the following:
- Scholarships for graduate students.
- Scholarships for students attending vocational or trade schools.
- Scholarships awarded to students before their senior year of high school.
- Scholarship endowments or scholarship programs at individual colleges and universities that support students attending just that institution.
- Policy research or advocacy.
Grant size:
Last year, the Foundation awarded scholarship grants ranging from $50,000 to $440,000. Our average grant was approximately $180,000. For a list of our current and recent grantees, click here.
Application Review Schedule
The Foundation will offer one more opportunity in 2010 for programs and organizations statewide to submit grant applications:
| Application Deadline | Grant Decision | Scholarship Funds Awarded |
| October 18, 2010 | February 2011 | Spring 2011 |
Completed applications must be received by 5:00 PM on the deadline date to be considered for the corresponding decision date. Incomplete or partial applications will not be considered. Once an application has been accepted for consideration, Foundation staff will contact applicants to obtain further information. The Foundation will notify applicants of our funding decisions by the end of the month in which decisions are made.
How to Apply
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