No doubt, your seniors have started the countdown to the end of their high school career and start of what’s next. If what’s next includes higher education, there is one more thing you can do to help your students – let them know about local scholarship opportunities now.

Businesses big and small offer scholarships to give back to the communities where they operate and where their employees live. Numerous family foundations also offer scholarships and grants. Since the pool of candidates for these awards is often limited, students may stand a better chance of receiving this form of financial assistance than larger, national scholarships.

As an educator, you benefit from satisfying the innate desire to help educate the up-and-coming generation, fostering good will in the community (right before budget voting season), and having another valuable metric to show the value your school and its counselors deliver. (There are other reasons for promoting local scholarships – like the tremendous cost of higher education and the burden student loans put on families and students. See more in one of our previous thought leadership articles.)

Following is a list of digital platforms where you – and your students – can learn about scholarship opportunities. For platforms covering a smaller geographic area, become acquainted with the scholarships available and share a summary with your graduating seniors and their families. Think about whether you know students who match the criteria for a local scholarship; then, let them know about it via a personalized message.

For larger platforms, share the URLS with students and parents. Go a step further by holding weekly office hours dedicated to helping students search and apply for scholarships. You could also consider conducting a virtual training session via ZOOM.

Finally, engage your teachers by sharing information about local scholarships and scholarship platforms. Many have written reference letters for their students and probably know some who would benefit.

Here are some of our top picks for digital scholarship platforms covering our area:

• The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valleyfeatures almost 70 scholarships and grants for students in Orange, Dutchess, Putnam, Sullivan, and Ulster counties. What’s more, each week there’s a free virtual scholarship support workshop to help students, teachers, guidance counselors and parents/guardians learn about the universal application, receive tips, and get answers to questions (click here to register.) The deadline to apply appears to be April 1 for most scholarships – review individual guidelines on the site to confirm.
• The Chamber Foundationhas proudly awarded over a half-million dollars in scholarship funds to students from Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, and Ulster counties since 2001. The deadline to apply is April 1.
• Rockland Community Foundationlists more than 30 scholarships for local students. Apply through the Foundation’s new online portal. There are varying deadlines, and some have already passed so be sure to take a look ASAP.
• Mid-Hudson Scholarship Fund has a few scholarships, including ones for students planning to attend SUNY New Paltz. Deadline to apply is March 31.
• comis a statewide platform listing more than 2.7 million scholarships. An applicant creates a profile, and the site narrows down which scholarships and grants they may be interested in.

Also remind students who are considering attending college locally to check out prospective school’s websites, which include information and links to scholarships and grants. For example, click on each school’s name to see the resources on its website: SUNY Dutchess, SUNY New Paltz, and SUNY Ulster.

While helping your students, there’s something you can do to help yourself — connect with one of our dedicated RBT professionals and let us handle your tax and accounting needs so you’re free to focus on what you do best – educating up-and-coming generations. Contact us today.