Annually, the Orphan Foundation of America and the Casey Family Scholars Program award $1.5M in scholarship funds to foster youth in colleges, universities and training programs across the country.  Applications are currently being accepted at www.orphan.org. The deadline is March 31.

Questions can be directed to scholarships@orphan.org.

All OFA scholarships are awarded based on a combination of merit and need, and funding levels are determined based on cost of attendance and other resources. Scholarship recipients as well as non-recipients will be notified via email in June 2011. Notification will be sent to the email provided in the application.

Applicants must:

• have been in public or private foster care for a minimum of 12 consecutive months at the time of their 18th birthday; OR have been adopted or placed into legal guardianship from foster care after their 16th birthday; OR they must have been orphaned for at least one year at the time of their 18th birthday.
• have been accepted into or expect to be accepted into an accredited, Pell-eligible college or other post-secondary school.
• be under the age of 25 on March 31 of the year in which they first apply.
• have been in foster care or orphaned while living in the United States.  U.S. citizenship is not required.

Many (but not all) young people who are eligible for OFA/Casey Family Scholars funding are also eligible for federal Education and Training Voucher, or Chafee, dollars. Visit www.statevoucher.org to find out more about this program.