Apply for a Scholarship
Application Deadline: May 31, 2023
We will not consider any new applications after this date.
Applicants only need to complete one application for scholarship consideration.
It is the applicants’ responsibility to carefully read these instructions before creating an account and starting an application.
All new applicants must reside in the Greater Cincinnati area* and be pursuing an undergraduate degree at an accredited, non-proprietary college or university.
Correspondence between the CSF and applicants/awardees will occur by way of email, using the student’s primary email address* entered on the application. It is the applicants’/awardees’ responsibility to regularly check their emails throughout the application process. Not checking email accounts (including junk/spam folders) is not a valid reason for not following through with deadlines, needed documents, etc.
*Please do not use your high school email address since that will most likely expire upon or soon after graduation.
Information for creating and submitting the CSF application and required documents:
The following documents are required to submit your initial application by the May 31, 2023 deadline:
- Transcript up to the first semester of the current academic year.
- Student resume reflecting extracurricular activities, employment and community service.
- 2023-2024 Student Aid Report (SAR).
- 2023-2024 Financial Aid Notification from the school you are planning to attend.
- A 500-word essay on the topic, “How a Scholarship Would Help Me to Achieve My Goals”.
CSF will only accept documents in the following formats:
- Microsoft Word
- JPEG
If documents are not submitted in these formats, applications will not be considered for scholarship awards. We will not accept HTML, PNG, HEIC, Webarchive, GIF, and TXT.
CSF understands that the SAR and the Financial Aid Notification may not be available by May 31st. Applicants may submit the on-line application without these documents by the deadline and are responsible for uploading the required documents upon receiving them to complete the application process. No application will be reviewed until it is complete.
When making changes in or uploading documents to your application, applicants must electronically “sign” the application each time or changes will not be saved.
Please contact CSF by email at info@cincinnatischolarshipfoundation.org or by phone at (513)345-6701 with any questions or concerns.
The CSF scholarship award process
Because obtaining the required documents can take time (i.e., filing taxes, submitting the FAFSA, waiting for the schools to “package” a student’s financial aid), the awarding of scholarships takes place during mid- to late summer, and sometimes after the academic year begins.
Once CSF has received the completed applications with the required documentation, CSF will seek to match applicants with specific scholarships, based on the scholarships’ eligibility criteria (May-July).
Applications are then forwarded to either the CSF Scholarship Selection Committee or to the scholarship-specific selection committees, as determined by the scholarship donors’ requirements. (June—August).
Once a recipient has been selected, CSF will send a notification packet to the awardee that includes the Scholarship Award Letter with the amount of the award, a Student Information Verification form, and an FAQ sheet. The Scholarship Award Letter and the Student Information Verification form must be read, signed, and returned to the CSF office. Upon receipt, the CSF will notify the school of the award. A check for the fall semester will be sent to the school shortly thereafter.
If a renewable scholarship is awarded, criteria must continue to be met each year to renew. If criteria such as enrollment status, financial need, a change of major or school are not met, the scholarship will be redistributed.
