Mental Health Education Annual Scholarship: Eligibility and Opportunities

Mental health scholarships offer financial support, awareness, and recognition to students with mental health conditions, encompassing both visible and invisible disabilities. These scholarships aim to alleviate tuition costs and foster awareness and innovative solutions for those navigating mental wellness challenges.

Understanding the Scholarship Landscape

Each year, millions of people in the United States receive diagnoses of mental illnesses. Increasing awareness has led to the creation of specific scholarship opportunities by individuals and mental health organizations for people living with mental illnesses. These scholarships can be diagnosis-specific, GPA-specific, or generalized mental health scholarships.

General Eligibility Requirements

While specific criteria vary, most mental health scholarships share common eligibility requirements:

Mental Illness Diagnosis: Applicants often need to provide documentation of a mental health diagnosis.
Essay: A personal statement or essay is a crucial component, allowing applicants to articulate their experiences with mental health, the scholarship's significance, and its potential impact on their lives. Authenticity is key.
GPA Minimum: Many scholarships, including need-based ones, have a GPA minimum. Although a GPA of 3.0 is the average minimum, some scholarships have an academic criterion as high as a 3.5 GPA.
Proof of Financial Need: Applicants are usually required to prove their need for financial assistance to ensure that the scholarships only go to those that actually need it. To determine if a student is from an economically disadvantaged background, use the Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guideline table for one year preceding the data submitted on the FAFSA by comparing the appropriate income to the table. Different yearly poverty guideline tables should be used depending on the academic year and corresponding FASFA for which you are determining if a student qualifies as coming from an economically disadvantaged background.
Age Minimum: Most mental health scholarships require candidates to be 17 or 18 years of age and above.
Citizenship: Applicants are required to be a citizen or non-citizen national, an individual lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States, or any other person defined as a “qualified alien” under section 431(b) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-193, as amended.

Mental Health Education Annual Scholarship Specifics

The Mental Health Education Annual Scholarship awards $1,500 to one eligible student twice a year. This scholarship seeks to reward essay applicants, and is for students entering college or already enrolled in a higher education institution.

The scholarship is open to any major who can shed light on this issue. It may be a personal story that you can share or a more researched essay.

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Essay Topics

The essay component is central to the application and should address one or more of the following topics:

Various Eastern and Western methodologies to treat mental health.
Alternative treatments for individuals with mental health problems.
How society can promote "positive states of mental health" for its citizens.
Why addiction, in various forms, is becoming more prevalent in our society.
What are the consequences of this addiction for the individual and society?
How can we remedy the crisis on both the individual and societal level?

Submission Requirements

Applicants must be currently enrolled in either High School, University or College as a full-time student. There will be 2 contest submission dates. To be eligible for the contest submit your essay by one the submission dates.

Round 1: January 1st to May 31st, with winners announced on July 1st.
Round 2: July 1st to November 30th, with winners announced on December 31st.

Participating in our annual scholarship constitutes your consent to use personal information for the purposes of offering the scholarship and reporting to the appropriate tax authorities.

Strategies for a Standout Application

Start Early: Begin your scholarship search and application process early to allow ample time to prepare and polish your applications.
Tailor Your Search: Look for scholarships tailored to your specific mental health issue.
Craft a Compelling Essay: A compelling personal statement or essay is the best way to make your mental health scholarship application stand out. Put your heart and soul into explaining how mental health struggles have affected you, why the scholarship is important to you, and how it will affect your life. Being authentic will go a long way.
Seek Feedback: Teachers, counselors, parents, and classmates can help you write a compelling essay or personal statement. They can provide great feedback and let you know if it sounds authentic.
Meet Deadlines: Most scholarships have very strict deadlines and any late applications most likely won’t be considered.

Additional Scholarship Opportunities

Beyond the Mental Health Education Annual Scholarship, numerous other scholarships cater to students with mental health conditions. A few examples include:

Andrew Perez Memorial Scholarship: Created by Jesus Perez to honor his late son Andrew Perez by helping students pursue their education regardless of their mental illnesses. It is open to any BIPOC high school or bachelor’s degree student diagnosed with a mental health condition.
Ethel Hayes Scholarship: Awarded by Dr. Terrence O. to stimulate more open and honest conversations about mental health issues and the people struggling with them. Students living with mental illness or who have had loved ones living with mental illness are eligible for the award.
Tony Coelho Media Scholarship: This scholarship is funded by NBCUniversal in honor of Tony Coelho, a Californian United States Representative and author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and provides $5,625 to eight students with any kind of disability looking to work in media, entertainment, or communications.
The Prochnow Foundation Scholarship: The Prochnow Foundation was founded to help brilliant people suffering from mental illnesses further their education and personal growth by reducing their financial burden. The foundation offers an annual scholarship fund, career-focused mentorship programs, and in-person speaking events. Eligible students must be enrolled in a four-year college or full-time vocational school.
Suzie’s Mental Health Awareness Scholarship: Suzie’s Mental Health Awareness Scholarship awards a scholarship of $500 to a high school student living with mental health issues, who has a loved one diagnosed with mental health issues, or who plans to pursue a degree in a mental healthcare field such as psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience.
The Jared Munroe Foundation Scholarship: The Jared Munroe Foundation gathers donations which are then awarded as scholarships to students who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and are undergoing treatment. Applicants must be officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, provide a therapist letter, be a fresh high school graduate or a high school student in their last year, and submit an essay on the provided topic.
The Jack Scura Fund: The Jack Scura Fund was established in memory of John “Jack” Joseph Scura II, Esq. to recognize students with disabilities excelling in school and in their communities. The scholarship is awarded partially in the fall semester and the rest in the spring semester.

Additional Resources

Financial Aid Office: Talk to someone working at the financial aid department of the college or university you wish to attend.
Scholarship Search Engines: There is a wide range of scholarships available every year, but knowing where to look isn’t evident. Luckily, there are plenty of tools that can help you find the perfect scholarship for you. ScholarshipOwl is your source of relief from the dreaded application process. We put students on the fast-track to success by providing direct access to the scholarships they need the most.
Scholarships360: Create your Scholarships360 account to confirm your eligibility for the Mental Health Education Annual Scholarship.
Niche: Niche can help with every step of the college search including paying for it.

Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) Program

The Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS) program provides funding to schools, not directly to students. Students may contact the financial aid office at their schools to verify if they are part of the SDS Program and inquire whether they qualify.

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SDS Program Eligibility

To qualify for the SDS program, schools must be:

An eligible domestic institution.
Offering a health professions degree program for an eligible discipline.
Accredited by the recognized, major accrediting body for the specific health discipline.
Carrying out a program to recruit and retain students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups, which you can demonstrate by showing you are enrolling and graduating full-time students from disadvantaged backgrounds in your specific degree program.

Eligible Disciplines for SDS Program

To apply for the SDS program, your health discipline program must lead to one of the following degrees:

Medicine: Doctor of Allopathic Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
Dentistry: Doctor of Dentistry
Other Health Disciplines: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Doctor of Optometry, Doctor of Podiatry Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine
Behavioral and Mental Health: Graduate degree in Clinical Psychology, Graduate degree in Clinical Social Work (Master of Social Work is an eligible discipline to apply. Please choose clinical social work on your Program Specific form), Graduate degree in Gerontological Counseling, Graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, Graduate degree in Mental Health Counseling, Graduate degree in Rehabilitation Counseling
Public Health: Graduate degree in Health Administration, Graduate degree in Public Health
Allied Health: Bachelor’s and Graduate degrees in Dietetics, Graduate degree in Audiology, Graduate degree in Occupational Therapy, Graduate degree in Speech Pathology, Bachelor’s and graduate degrees in Dental Hygiene, Bachelor’s and graduate degrees in Medical Laboratory Technology (Medical laboratory Sciences is an eligible discipline to apply. Please choose medical laboratory technology on your program specific form), Bachelor’s degree in Radiologic Technology
Nursing: Associate, Bachelor’s, and Graduate degrees in nursing (pre-nursing is not eligible)
Midwifery: Certified nursing and non-nursing graduate degrees in midwifery (pre-nursing and pre-midwifery are not eligible)
Physician Assistant: Graduate degree in Physician Assistant Studies

SDS Program Requirements

There is a cap of $50,000 per academic year for dental students and $40,000 per academic year for all other health and nursing professions students.
Scholarship funds can be used for the following: Tuition, Health insurance, Books, Software, Laptops, iPads, Conferences and trainings, including any related travel (not daily commuting), Stipends, Subsistence, Housing.
You must award at least half the cost of the annual tuition and cannot exceed a student's financial need. If the scholarship amount does not meet both of those conditions, the student does not qualify.

Determining Disadvantaged Background

To meet the definition, students must demonstrate they are either educationally, environmentally, or economically disadvantaged.

Educationally or Environmentally Disadvantaged: Determined based on criteria such as the student graduating from a high school that has a low overall student average SAT score (The ACT can be used in place of the SAT) or being the first generation in a family to attend college.
Economically Disadvantaged: To determine if a student is from an economically disadvantaged background, what annual income do we use? Please use the Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guideline table for one (1) year preceding the data submitted on the FAFSA by comparing the appropriate income to the table.

Behavioral Health Workforce Scholarship Program (BHWS)

The Behavioral Health Workforce Scholarship Program is funded subject to the availability of funds and appropriation from the Massachusetts Legislature. The behavioral health workforce is identified as a priority workforce area. Supporting individuals in the behavioral health pipeline throughout their education and career development is essential to increasing the pool of available behavioral health professionals working to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.

BHWS Application Process

Meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) according to institution’s requirements and federal standards.
Make sure you have completed and submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Once submitted, it takes 3-5 days for your FAFSA to be received by our office.
Complete the Behavioral Health Workforce Scholarship Program application in the MASSAid Student Portal system. The BHWS application will only appear in your MASSAid portal if the application is open and we have received your FAFSA.
Successfully submitted applications will remain in a pending status in the coming weeks as all submissions are reviewed.
Once recipients complete their program, they must obtain full-time, qualifying employment in order to complete their service requirement. Internships and fellowships do not qualify and will not count toward the service requirement.

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