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Student grants are offered to individuals to pay for college educational opportunities.  Any individual can apply for student grants for college if they meet the eligibility requirements. 

 

The best way to find out which foundations give student grants for college is to go to your local library and conduct research.  Local libraries have many foundation directories and resources available to use at no charge.  Many libraries have access to the Foundation Directory Online so that you can do a search on “scholarships” to find student grants. The Foundation Directory Online allows you to search for Grants or for Foundations. It is a good idea to use both search engines.  There are at least 1,039 foundations in the United States that give student grants to individuals through scholarships and over 2,000 foundations that give to scholarship funds.  According to the Foundation Directory Online, the top ten foundations that give the most in student grants to individuals are:

 

Ø       The Starr Foundation - $188,856,235      

Ø       Walton Family Foundation, Inc. - $106,902,909

Ø       Wal-Mart Foundation - $100,998,323

Ø       Open Society Institute- $80,033,357

Ø       Greater Kansas City Community Foundation - $73,434,915

Ø       The San Francisco Foundation - $65,295,022

Ø       Verizon Foundation - $61,294,961

Ø       Marin Community Foundation - $57,6090,426

Ø       The MBNA Foundation - $50,933,355

Ø       Peninsula Community Foundation - $49,064,684

 

Other big givers of student grants to individuals include the Buffett Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, Daniels Fund, and the Peter Kiewit Foundation.

 

When conducting a search for student grants, also search for grants awarded for student aid. Many colleges and universities receive grants to provide student aid to individuals. For example, The Duke Endowment consistently provides funding to Duke University for student aid.  In 2004, The Starr Foundation gave $5,000,000 to Temple University in Pennsylvania for student aid and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region gave $5,000,000 to the Posse Foundation in New York.