Category: Recent News

Scholarship Foundation to Mark Founders’ Day on May 29

The Scholarship Foundation’s beginnings can be traced to a meeting of local education advocates on May 29, 1962. Their goal: to help area students attend college or vocational school. The Foundation has since harnessed more than $150 million in community contributions to help over 60,000 students countywide. The organization will mark that momentous first meeting… Read more »

Beloved Foundation Benefactor Remains Young at Heart

While Lorna Hedges’ many friends and admirers will readily tell you she is a true community treasure, Lorna herself is hardly convinced. “I don’t think I’m anything special,” she insisted with characteristic directness on a recent sunny afternoon. It’s a rare point of disagreement about one of the local nonprofit world’s most popular mainstays. One… Read more »

Foundation Partners with Law Firm to Boost Local Hiring

The Scholarship Foundation has forged a partnership with Mullen & Henzell L.L.P. to provide area law school students and graduates with career development opportunities in the law firm’s Santa Barbara office. Under the partnership, the Foundation will inform current and former scholarship recipients of available law clerk and attorney employment opportunities at Mullen & Henzell…. Read more »

Scholarship Foundation Announces Application Increase

The Scholarship Foundation has received 3,594 applications for financial aid in the 2024-25 academic year – an increase of 3.3 percent or 117 applicants over 2023’s total. The applications are currently under review, and awardees will be announced in April and May. Last year the Scholarship Foundation awarded nearly $7.2 million to 1,864 students throughout… Read more »

Attention, Scholarship Foundation Applicants

You are encouraged to continue completing your 2024-2025 General Scholarship application. After you submit your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act Application (CADAA), using PDF format, please attach one of the following documents to your Scholarship Foundation application: The confirmation email you receive once your financial aid application is considered… Read more »

Scholarship Foundation Honors Student Artists

The Scholarship Foundation honored 20 student artists during a presentation and reception at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on January 25. Chosen as winners of the Foundation’s 2024 Art Scholarship Competition, the students addressed family members and supporters in the museum’s Mary Craig Auditorium. Each will receive a scholarship, and their selected art submissions… Read more »

Scholarship Application Deadline Extended!

In response to ongoing technical challenges associated with the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Scholarship Foundation has extended the application deadline for its General and Employer-Sponsored Scholarship Programs from Wednesday, January 31, to Sunday, February 18, at 11:59 p.m. PST. We highly recommend that you submit your FAFSA as soon as… Read more »

Scholarship Foundation Holds Annual Luncheon

More than 300 people attended the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara’s 2023 Community Leaders Luncheon at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort on Friday, December 8. The annual event recognizes Scholarship Foundation supporters, volunteers, and community partners. Featured speakers this year included Dr. Richard Yao, president of California State University Channel Islands, and longtime community… Read more »

From the Desk of Melinda Cabrera

Tuition hikes at colleges and universities tend to provoke backlashes from students, parents, and education advocates, as one would expect. Among others likely to suffer their own economic fallout downstream of such policy decisions, however, the reaction is often muted. In today’s increasingly interconnected economy, though, hardship in one sector seldom fails to darken others…. Read more »

Scholarship Foundation Commercial Airs Locally

This 30-second PSA featuring student recipients at the Scholarship Foundation’s 2023 South County Awards Ceremony has been airing on local Cox channels throughout the month of October.