Grants for African American Students

The rising costs of higher education have historically represented a significant barrier to African Americans with dreams of college. However, after a decades-long push for minority education, students of color pursuing degrees now have an unprecedented number opportunities for financial aid. Of these options, grants are particularly popular because they can be used more flexibly than most scholarships and do not have to be paid back.

A simple web search on sites like collegescholarships.org or collegedegrees.com will turn up literally dozens of education grants. Bookstores meanwhile carry updated financial aid guidebooks full of grant opportunities for African-American students, broken down by state, gender, and interest group. High school guidance counselors often have access to these references and are sometimes privy to hidden gems like local grants for particular communities.

Institutions in both the private and public sectors offer grants to students with specialized athletic or career ambitions. The Helen T. Carr Fellowship, for example, which provides stipends for African American students pursuing doctoral degrees in engineering, is sponsored by The American Society of Engineer Education. Similarly, The Frederick Douglass Scholars Program at Howard University offers full scholarships and $15,000 grants to students planning on PhDs and careers in academia. Grant awards of this kind are also available at Spelman, Morehouse, and several other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

College students often find help in the form of federal PELL grants or state money allocated for minority education. There are some who even set their sights on corporations like Coca-Cola, Xerox, and AT&T that have now become well known for their large annual contributions to minority scholarship. For some, however, the search for financial aid begins and ends with The United Negro College Fund. As one of the oldest, largest supporters of minority education in the country, UNCF awards 65,000 grants and scholarships annually to African Americans entering college.

The level of competition for these grant opportunities can be high, in some cases even rivaling that of college admission. Some donors target very specific groups: students from a certain income level, candidates committed to community service, or those with have proven leadership potential. The vast majority of grants have GPA requirements. The most successful applicants start their searches early, targeting the grants best tailored to their backgrounds and goals.

African Americans entering higher education have more access to financial aid than ever before. Those who do the research, plan ahead, and exploit these opportunities will make the dream of college success an achievable reality.