2018 City Scholarship applications now available to Boston residents
The City of Boston Scholarship fund is a need-based scholarship that provides up to $10,000 over four years towards tuition.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced applications are now available for the 2018 City of Boston Scholarships. The City of Boston Scholarship program is designed to support higher education, and is available to Boston residents interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree or continuing education in Massachusetts.
"The City of Boston Scholarship Fund helps turn our residents' dreams of completing their post-secondary education into reality," said Mayor Walsh. "Giving our residents a helping hand in pursuing their degree is a wonderful investment in Boston's future. I look forward to receiving many applications from talented students throughout Boston's neighborhoods, and providing scholarships to our new class of Boston scholars."
The City of Boston Scholarship fund is a need-based scholarship that provides up to $10,000 over four years towards tuition, and relies primarily on generous contributions from individuals, organizations and corporations to further the goal of having more Boston residents complete a post-secondary education.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, the scholarship program awarded a total of $275,000 to over 100 students representing almost every neighborhood of Boston, over 25 local high schools and 30 local colleges and universities.
This year, the Scholarship Committee worked to simplify and strengthen the application process. Highlights include a new recommendation form that assesses college and career readiness, three short-answer questions in place of a longer essay, an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculator for students not eligible for FAFSA, and a clear recognition of financial need among continuing education students.
The City of Boston Scholarship program is part of Mayor Walsh's commitment to ensuring access to higher education is available for all in Boston. In 2016, Mayor Walsh launched tuition-free community college for Boston Public Schools graduates, providing a cost-effective entry point into higher education for Boston's young people. Participating colleges include Bunker Hill Community College, MassBay Community College, and Roxbury Community College.
The City of Boston offers many other resources for residents pursuing higher education. On the Mayor's Education Cabinet's Higher Education Resource page, residents can now find the resources most appropriate for their educational goals in one place, including the Tuition-Free Community College program, The Boston Bridge and an inventory of local scholarships.
"The cost of college tuition has increased by 45 percent in the last decade -- a price rising faster than nearly any other good or service in America," said Boston Chief of Education Turahn Dorsey. "Over the coming year, the Mayor's Education Cabinet and the City's Scholarship Committee will work with local students, educators, higher education officials, and college access experts to identify ways to to ensure that all Boston students find an affordable way to access, and complete, a postsecondary education."
Candidates for City of Boston scholarships must be Boston residents who have graduated from high school or have completed G.E.D. programming by the time the awards are made. Additionally, candidates must be planning to attend, or currently attending, a two- or four-year accredited post-secondary institution in Massachusetts.
Residents who meet these eligibility requirements are encouraged to apply here. The deadline to submit applications for incoming freshmen is April 13, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. For applicants who are renewing their scholarship from a previous year, please email COBscholarship@boston.gov.
