Grants differ from scholarships generally for their tendency to award funds based on financial need, versus scholarships, which tend toward merit or a hybrid of the two. But grant programs really address the challenges that face underrepresented student populations. Ethnic minority students: search grants for Hispanic students, African American, Asian, and Native American students. Leading sources for funds remain government sources.
Types of Minority Grants
There are two main categories of minority grants:
- Ethnic minority grants are those designed to offer assistance based on ethnic challenges; such as grants for African American students, or Hispanics. Grant sources fund programs with the ultimate goal of diversifying education and professional fields.
- Non-ethnic minority grants offer need-based aid to individuals who by virtue of physical barriers may be challenged or otherwise disadvantaged in pursuit of an education or professional career. Grants for students with disabilities embrace those individuals with physical challenges as well as learning disabilities, like ADD, or autism. Women's grants make it possible for female students of all backgrounds to break into fields and educational programs that have historically been male-centric.
Best Sources for Minority Grants
Federal and state government grant funds are most proactive in handing out need-based aid to minority and low-income students. In each case there are deeper socioeconomic and political purposes, but the intent is to build a larger more self-sustaining economy as well as nurture self-sustaining communities. Popular federal grants include:
- Pell Grant
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
- Academic Competitiveness Grant
- National SMART Grant
These are not earmarked for minorities, you say? These federal grant programs remain essential tools for minority students: statistics continue to show that the majority of the grant monies go to fund the educations of minority—and disabled—students. If you are a minority student, from a low-income household, you must consider the Pell Grant one of your greatest opportunities.
If you don’t apply or qualify for a Pell Grant then you are automatically shut out of the FSEOG, the AC Grant, and the SMART grant—they all require students to be Pell recipients.
Next Best Sources for Minority Grants
Besides the wealth of the government, there are a few other very good resources for grant money:
- Put minority foundations on your grant program checklist. Well-known organizations such as the United Negro College Fund, the Hispanic College Fund, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or the American Indian College Fund, all maintain grant and scholarship programs for ethnic minority students.
- Learn how to identify grant programs that may be right for you from Corporate America. Competitive, but lucrative, grant programs are often launched by major corporations. Many stand committed to corporate diversity and spend millions of dollars supporting students,—just like you—ethnic and non-ethnic minorities.
