By Dianne Anderson

Black students at Cal State University Fullerton looking for more free money, otherwise known as college scholarships, can submit their applications starting now to tap $1,500 – maybe more through the university’s several partnerships to help pay for their education.

Recruiting events are calling Black students to meet the application deadline of February 1, 2024, at 5:00 p.m.

Greg Saks said about three years ago after Orange County Community Foundation launched their African American Alliance Fund, the university reached out for support with scholarships specifically for their Black Titans.

But because of Prop. 209 restrictions, they had to approach the funding in a different way.

“We do a lot of other workarounds, but we can’t have something specifically for a particular race or gender. We partnered with OC-CF and was so excited about this idea. They provided the first donation of $25,000,” said Saks, vice president of University Advancement and executive director of CSUF’s Philanthropic Foundation.

In working with various partners, he said they raised additional dollars to give scholarships. The first year, they gave out scholarships of $1,500 each, and $1,750 last year.

“Depending on the number of applicants and how much money we have, we’ll be able to increase the amount of dollars getting into the hands of students. If we grow the funds, we can give out more than the $25,000,” he said.

Initially, the fund was created to be sustained at a $25,000 level for years to come, but he said they had to increase the amount of money for students because of inflation and the cost of living.

“Also there are tuition increases to go into effect across the entire CSU system so we want to be responsive to that and increase the amount of money in the hands of students,” he said.

Many students access financial aid at the campus. That money goes toward tuition, fees and books, and the scholarship also helps with those items, as well as additional funding available for lower income students to cover expenses.

“At CSUF about 55% will be the first in the family to graduate college, and north of 75% students are on financial aid, whether getting scholarships or Pell or Cal Grant. They are receiving some kind of support,” he said.

The scholarship program is also recruiting Black students outside of Orange County, including areas of the Western Inland Empire, Corona, and Norco. Last October, their numbers showed that Black students had increased.

“It hasn’t skyrocketed, but graduate rates have increased as well. In the last commencement, we graduated more Black students in our history,” he said.

Fraternities and sororities also offer different forms of scholarships and financial assistance. With networking and peer exposure, he said they try to get the information out as wide as possible,

He said the likelihood of getting the scholarship varies from year to year, but the appliation process is also not challenging, and most who applied last year received it. Students can access information about the application through Orange County Community Foundation’s website, and Scholarship America, which facilitates the scholarship.

“I think you have a good shot if you apply for this. Returning students also have the opportunity to apply again for the scholarship. Unless they’re in really bad shape academically, chances are they will get it.”

Ingrid Johnson, co-founder and president of the Council of African American Parents, said because African American families disproportionately struggle with affordable housing and high cost of living, it is vitally important to have access to funding.

About five years ago, her organization was operating at the CSUF campus, but the prior leadership felt the program was too costly to maintain. However, she just needed access to the building.

Back then, she said there were about 300 Black families coming to campus every week, and it would have been a great opportunity to recruit more Black students for funding and services.

Everybody is looking for something to offset living expenses, and the cost of college keeps rising.

“Information is powerful. If they decide to go to CSUF, it’s a great opportunity,” she said. “Any funding you can get is a blessing, but it’s a collaborative effort. It’s going to take more than one entity to get information out to our families.”

This past year, her program was funded again through the Orange County Community Foundation African American Alliance Fund, which she said has been a great help for the community.

“The monies are out there, and students have to be diligent about searching for the money,” she said. “I have seen so many people tell me that a lot of scholarships go unclaimed. How can it go unclaimed when there’s so much need?”

For more information, see

https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/csufscholarship

https://hss.fullerton.edu/scholarships/afam.aspx

For additional scholarships, see

Available Scholarships