Achieve your Higher Education Dreams

In just one application, our Common Scholarship Application provides students access to more than 140 scholarship opportunities with awards ranging from $1,000 to more than $5,000. Some scholarships can be renewed for multiple years to help offset the financial burden for a student’s entire undergraduate career.

In 2023, San Diego Foundation (SDF) awarded more than $4 million in scholarships to over 1,000 students.

The deadline to submit an application has passed.

Who is Eligible to Apply?

Scholarships are available for:

  • Graduating high school seniors
  • Current college students (undergraduate or graduate)
  • Adult re-entry students
  • Students with financial needs (includes middle-income families)
  • Students attending four-year universities, community colleges or career/technical schools

Even if you’re not a straight-A, star athlete or student body president, we have scholarship opportunities if you have:

  • Commitment to your education
  • Potential for success in college
  • Minimum GPA of 2.0
  • Participation in community service, extracurricular activities and/or work experience
  • Current residence in San Diego County (for at least one year)
  • Need of help to pay for school (including middle-income families)
  • In lieu of the FSS please complete a FAFSA estimator to upload a completed FAFSA or CA Dream Act and Student Aid Report (SAR). This is necessary for all applicants. The 2024-2025 academic year for FAFSA opens in December 2023. Please check the FAFSA website for updates. Please start ASAP, as this information is needed to complete the application. You may create an account on the website.

FAFSA Changes

To streamline the financial aid application process and ensure timely assistance to students, we urge you not to delay your submission this year. The Department of Education has implemented significant improvements to the FAFSA, shortening the form and updating the SAI tables to better reflect need, especially for low-income students. However, despite these enhancements, some families still face challenges in successfully completing the application.

To address these concerns and prioritize students with the most need, we are offering an alternative option this year. Instead of waiting, we encourage you to promptly utilize the FAFSA estimator form in place of a full FAFSA or CA Dream Act application. This will provide us with the necessary information to assess your financial need efficiently.

Connect with Our Team

If you have a question regarding the any of our Common Scholarship Application, please contact scholarships@sdfoundation.org or submit a contact form.

Telephone Email Submit a Contact Form