Western Union Scholarships
Western Union scholarships come in only a few forms and, while Western Union’s philanthropic giving spans many different categories, are only available to people based on very specific criteria. Though in the past Western Union Scholarships have been offered for many different purposes both nationally in the United States and around the world, their giving with regards to educational financial aid has decreased since 2006. Despite this there are still Western Union scholarships which students should be able to gain access to depending on what their lives are like and where exactly they fit in.
Three Western Union scholarships exist in the United States – their family scholarship, the Greater Washington Urban Leage scholarship, and a program offered through a company called HyVee. Each of these programs is fairly limited in who can apply whether it be targeted at immigrant families, employees of a company or restricted to a specific metro region. However those students who may find themselves eligible for the program are certainly encouraged to apply. Previous Western Union scholarships have existed with other organizations, but, in part because of the push into their family scholarship, many of these programs are now indefinitely closed.
The main, directly offered scholarship at Western Union is a family oriented program which targets immigrants and migrants in the United States. This program offers scholarships to two members of a single family either to help with tuition at school or other education related expenses. Western Union family scholarships do not exceed $5,000 per family winning an award, and the amount is divided between the two awardees, though not in equal amounts. Disbursed amounts are given depending on financial need. For instance if a family member is attending school full time and their brother or sister is simply taking English as a Second Language courses, the largest sum of the award will be given to the full time student. In order to be eligible for this program applicants will need to have resided in the US for at least seven years, have been born outside of the country and currently living in certain cities in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Washing DC or Florida. Citizenship is not required. All applicants will need to demonstrate financial need and submit the applications for both family members applying before April 21, 2011.
The Greater Washington Urban League offers Western Union scholarships in collaboration with Safeway Inc. Unfortunately the information on the Greater Washington Urban League website is out of date, but awards were given out in Washington DC as recently as March 17, 2011 so students will hopefully be reassured that the program is still on track. Every year the GWUL holds a gala event to raise money to ensure the program is available and, in 2011, the 39th annual gala was indeed held. This Western Union scholarship awards up to $3,000 to on average six different applicants. In order to be eligible applicants must have families who make less than $35,000 a year, maintain a 2.5 grade point average, be very active as a volunteer in the community and provide high school transcripts. Though the 2011 awards have been given out, interested applicants should contact Audrey Epperson in October 2011 to see if the program will be available again in 2012 and if the deadline will still be February 12.
In 2011 the HyVee Company partnered with Western Union to provide 80 $1,000 Western Union scholarships to high school seniors preparing to enroll in college. While there are no promises that the program will be available in 2012, interested applicants should stay tuned. In order to be eligible for this Western Union Scholarship a student will need to be a high school senior working for HyVee or be a child of a HyVee employee. All applicants must be enrolling in college for the first time. Under the same banner this scholarship from Western Union is also available for college students who are already enrolled in a university attending full time with at least sophomore standing. The annual deadline for this program is February 10.
Comments are closed.