January
Community Foundation of Western North Carolina
CFWNC serves students in the western region of North Carolina, including Wilkes County. Many scholarships are listed, with deadlines falling between January and July. To view the deadlines, please go to this page. Scholarship amounts and requirements vary, so students will need to conduct their own search of this site.
DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Scholarships
This page offers a list of scholarship opportunities offered by the DAR Scholarship and American Indians Committees. Each scholarship has its own individual criteria and may require that specific documents be uploaded into your applications. The scholarship opportunities range from nursing, medicine, occupational or physical therapy, law, business administration, English, science, math, chemistry, music (voice and piano), history, government, American Studies, horticulture, and elementary and secondary education. Please review the criteria carefully as all applications are online entry only. Deadline for all scholarships is January 31.
E.R. & Lillian B. Dimmette Scholarship
$1,000 - $4,000 renewable scholarship available to students living in one of five counties: Wilkes, Gaston, Iredell, Mecklenberg, or Rowan. The scholarship was designed to assist students who "fall between the cracks" of traditional financial aid programs. Applications are submitted from each high school and each county selects two applicants to represent their county in this scholarship competition. School level applications are returned to the school counselor. Deadline is January 26, 2024.
While filing the FAFSA is not a scholarship, it is an essential part of seeking scholarships and financial aid for college. Many scholarship programs use FAFSA calculations to determine financial need. Additionally, colleges and universities award federal financial aid dollars based on a first-come, first-served basis, so you want to be sure you are considered for aid you may be eligible to receive. The FAFSA form is expected to be released in December 2023.
The Fidelity Scholars Program (FSP) combines a generous annual needs-based scholarship with robust wrap-around services that support students' persistence to degree or certificate attainment. FSP provides a last dollar scholarship opportunity to high school seniors and GED recipients, ages 16-24, who will be enrolling at a 4-year college/university for the first time in Fall 2024. If you meet these eligibility criteria, please apply: 2.5-3.5 unweighted GPA or GED; demonstrate financial need; enroll at a 4-year, not-for-profit college or university in NC; and come from underrepresented populations and historically underserved communities. Deadline to apply is January 11, 2024.
Harry W. Clarke Memorial Scholarship - Harry W. Clarke Award
One $2000 scholarship renewable for three more years. Selection criteria include financial need, academic ability/achievement, good moral character, and community service, extracurricular activities, and/or work experience. The Harry W. Clarke Scholarship Programs, established by longtime friends and associates to honor the life of Harry Wilson Clarke, commemorate his commitment to educational opportunities for young people in Western North Carolina. Harry Clarke died in an aircraft accident in 1987. At the time of his death, Mr. Clarke was in his twenty-fifth year as President and twenty-eighth year as a leader of Western Carolina Industries, Inc. Under his leadership, WCI grew from a six county area to twenty-nine with some 600 companies in membership. Mr. Clarke is noted for bringing the Western North Carolina region into the Modern Industrial Era. Harry Clarke in his quiet, effective way prodded both schools and employees to do a better job of serving the needs of students, and he helped companies to become involved in local education, all to the mutual benefit of schools and the business community. Deadline is January 22, 2024.
Harry W. Clarke Memorial Scholarship - William A. Hart Award
One $1000 scholarship renewable for one additional year. Selection criteria include financial need, academic ability/achievement, good moral character, and community service, extracurricular activities, and/or work experience. The Harry W. Clarke Scholarship Programs, established by longtime friends and associates to honor the life of Harry Wilson Clarke, commemorate his commitment to educational opportunities for young people in Western North Carolina. Harry Clarke died in an aircraft accident in 1987. At the time of his death, Mr. Clarke was in his twenty-fifth year as President and twenty-eighth year as a leader of Western Carolina Industries, Inc. Under his leadership, WCI grew from a six county area to twenty-nine with some 600 companies in membership. Mr. Clarke is noted for bringing the Western North Carolina region into the Modern Industrial Era. Harry Clarke in his quiet, effective way prodded both schools and employees to do a better job of serving the needs of students, and he helped companies to become involved in local education, all to the mutual benefit of schools and the business community. Deadline is January 22, 2024.
Kyle Byrd Memorial Scholarship
The NC JCI Senate awards two $500 Kyle Byrd Memorial Scholarships to graduating seniors in the state. State winners are entered in a national competition for additional scholarship funds. The website linked above provides full information on the scholarship. The application is located here and must be postmarked by January 13, 2023.
National Technical Honor Society Scholarships
There are several different scholarships available to members of the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS). The applications are available September - April each year. Check out their website for details and deadlines.
CFNC sponsored monthly $1000 scholarship drawing. Simply fill out the form and your name is entered into the drawing. A new winner is selected every month, but you have to re-apply every month for consideration.
NCHSAA Endowed Funds Scholarships
Thanks to the generosity of many donors, there are several scholarships offered to eligible student-athletes. Deadlines fall between November and April and require the submission of a form to the high school counselor to release transcripts to the scholarship committee. Please review all scholarships offered to determine your eligibility.
The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program is a competitive, merit-based forgivable loans for service program that provides up to $4,125 a semester for up to four years to highly-qualified students committed to teaching special education or a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) field in a North Carolina public school. The application is submitted online at www.ncteachingfellows.com. The deadline for applications is January 27, 2023.
The Next NC Scholarship is a financial aid program that helps most North Carolinians from households making $80,000 or less pursue a higher education, by fully covering tuition and fees at any community college in the state or more than half of, if not all, tuition and fees to attend any public university in North Carolina. Students attending a North Carolina community college will receive at least $3,000 - more than the cost of full-time tuition. Those attending a public university will receive a minimum of $5,000, which pays for more than half, if not all, of tuition and fees. All you need to do to apply is complete the FAFSA!
TheDream.US Opportunity Scholarship
The Opportunity Scholarship is for undocumented students who live in states where they effectively have no access to college --- either because they face paying out-of-state tuition or because their state will simply not admit them into its universities. The Opportunity Scholarship Award will cover your tuition, fees, and on-campus housing and meals at one of the Partner Colleges up to a maximum of $80,000 for a bachelor’s degree. You can renew the Award each year so long as you meet the continuing eligibility criteria. Deadline is January 31, 2024.
UNC-Greensboro Teacher Education Fellows Program
The UNCG Teacher Education Fellows Program awards a $20,000.00 scholarship distributed incrementally over four years of study at UNCG. In addition to scholarships, the UNCG Teacher Education Fellows Program includes a variety of other benefits, including integrated seminars, networking events, community engagement opportunities, and leadership development. Fellows also live in relative proximity to one another as part of the Residential Colleges or Lloyd International Honors College. Additionally, Fellows study abroad during their sophomore year as part of the global focus of the program. To be eligible for participation in the UNCG Teacher Education Fellows Program, a student must be a North Carolina resident and should have a recommended minimum 3.80 weighted cumulative high school GPA and a minimum SAT score of 1100 (verbal and math--approximately 1170 in the revised format) or ACT composite score of 24. Students must also select one of the UNCG majors that lead to a N.C. teaching license. Deadline for completing undergraduate application to UNCG and scholarship application is due January 1.
The Army National Scholarship process is the largest merit based scholarship program in the United States. Some key information from last year’s selection process: 69% of winners were in the top 25% of their class; 55% were in the National Honor Society; 76% were varsity letter athletes, and 59% were varsity team captains. Only 28% of recipients were involved with JROTC, demonstrating the scholarship’s applicability to a wide population of students. Some of the benefits include: full tuition and fees or room and board, book allowance of $1200/year*, monthly stipend for student expenses*, travel reimbursement to and from college*, and no commitment through the first year. Items with a * may include supplemental funding from the specific colleges/universities. Please click the link above to search for colleges and universities that participate in the Army ROTC Scholarship program. Deadlines for applying in 2016 fall between October and January.
Wilkes Community College Education Promise Scholarship
WCC Education Promise is a two-year, last-dollar scholarship designed to ensure every qualifying student graduating from high school in Wilkes, Ashe, and Alleghany counties can get a college degree from Wilkes Community College tuition-free. This scholarship program makes sure every qualifying student is 100% covered for the roughly $2,571 annual cost for tuition and institutional fees.
Wilkes Community College Scholarships
Please visit this page to view all of the scholarships available at Wilkes Community College. Priority deadline is June 1.
William Louis Poteat Scholarship to Wake Forest University
Begun in 1982, the William Louis Poteat Scholarship program honors one of the university’s most prominent historical figures. William Louis Poteat, a devout Baptist, was a professor of biology, president of the college from 1905-1927, and a widely recognized champion of the freedom of inquiry. These scholarships strengthen Wake Forest’s traditional relationship with its Baptist heritage and the state of North Carolina. The is awarded to up to twenty entering needy and worthy first-year students who are active members of a North Carolina Baptist church. The award is based upon excellent academic achievement, promise of leadership, and involvement in one’s church, and recipients must show promise of making a significant contribution to church and society. The Poteat Scholarship is a competitive need-based scholarship. Applicants should complete both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA by January 1, so that need may be determined before the selection process is complete. Applicants for the Poteat Scholarship must submit a letter of recommendation form completed by a church member by January 1.
The Foundation has been providing financial assistance to students for over 94 years and has helped more than 15,000 students attend college. Last year, there were 614 scholarships worth $1.4 million dollars awarded to 537 students from Wilkes, Forsyth, Davie, Davidson, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties. There are many scholarships available through this site that all use a single scholarship application, with deadlines beginning in January. The deadline for most merit-based scholarships is March 15 and the deadline for financial need based scholarships is July 1. Definitely check this website out to see what might fit for you. The single-stop scholarship application opens January 1.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. - Nu Alpha Zeta Chapter Catherine S. Tucker Scholarship
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Nu Alpha Zeta Chapter of Hickory, NC has been aiming to increase the success rate of local college bound African American females by easing their financial burden since 2008.In April of 2013, Mrs. Catherine S. Tucker, a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., passed away. Mrs. Tucker was a charter member of the Nu Alpha Zeta Chapter. In her honor, the chapter voted unanimously that our scholarship be given annually in her name. With the blessing of her family, the newly named scholarship was given for the first time in November 2013. Mrs. Tucker was a well-respected educator and community leader in Catawba County and surrounding communities in North Carolina. She always exemplified the essence of Finer Womanhood and the other founding principles of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Scholarship, Service, and Sisterhood. Since 2008 Nu Alpha Zeta has awarded 10 young ladies with the scholarship. The Nu Alpha Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority prides themselves in their founding principals of Scholarship, Sisterhood, Service, and Finer Womanhood. Not only do our scholarship recipients receive a monetary award but they are in constant communication with our chapter to make sure they are supported in all the ways to make their collegiate journey a successful one. To be eligible, students must: 1) be an African American high school female in the counties of Alexander, Catawba, Iredell, and Wilkes; 2) have a minimum weighted GPA of 3.0; 3) must be accepted and and planning to attend a four-year college or university in North Carolina and plan to attend this school; 4) must attend the DOVE Awards Ceremony; and 5) must agree to participate in limited media activities (with parental/guardian consent if under 18). Deadline for applications is January 31.