To help our community recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton through Season of Sharing and the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, click here. 

DONATE NOW

For students under 24 years of age, scholarships are available throughout the year, although specific application deadlines may differ. To be eligible, applicants must be:

  • A current resident of Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, or Charlotte counties, or be a graduating high school senior or graduate of a high school located within one of these four counties.

  • Younger than 24 years of age as of December 31st of the year in which they apply (if you will be 24 years of age as of this date, please visit our page for Students 24 Years of Age or Older).

Available Scholarships for Students Under 24 Years of Age

Traditional Scholarship

Completing our Traditional Scholarship application will allow our scholarship committee to consider you for more than 70 different scholarship opportunities. Applicants must be a resident of Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, or Charlotte counties or be a graduating high school senior or graduate of a high school located within one of these four counties. Students must be pursuing or planning to pursue further education at an accredited university, community college, technical school, or certification program.

Application will open December 2024.

Click here to view a listing of all scholarships awarded through the Traditional Application.

Scholarship Renewal

This year, eligible renewal students will receive an email from scholarships@cfsarasota.org  inviting them to complete the Renewal Application. If you are an eligible renewal student but have not received an email invitation by May 2024, please contact    scholarships@cfsarasota.org for more information.

Special Note: Please read your notification letter carefully as it will detail whether or not your scholarship is renewable. Students who were not awarded a renewable scholarship during a prior year, will not be considered through this application. Please apply through our Traditional Scholarship application to be considered for a new scholarship award.

Our Board of Directors

Questions? 

See our 
Frequently Asked Questions
for support

May 23, 2024

Partnership is Key: The Community Foundation of Sarasota County and the Sarasota County Bar Association

Below is a listing of all other scholarship applications for students under 24 years of age:

Andrew Monroe Memorial Scholarship

The Andrew Monroe Memorial Scholarship Fund awards two $1,000 scholarships annually to graduating high school senior soccer players in Sarasota County. 

Visit https://andrewmonroe.com/ for more information about this scholarship.

Andrew Vincent Messina Scholarship and Elsie Bird Davies Memorial Scholarship

The charitable purposes of the Andrew Vincent Messina Fund for Music Education and the Elsie Bird Davies Memorial Fund for Piano Students is to provide music lessons and instruments to children with financial need who otherwise would be unable to participate in music education. Applicants must be residents of Sarasota or Manatee County who are taking lessons from a teacher who is a member of the Piano Teachers Association in either Sarasota or Manatee County.  

Application closed. Next opens June 2025. 

Father Connie Dougherty Memorial Scholarship

The Father Connie Dougherty Scholarship Fund may be used to further education at a college, university or institution of higher learning, including vocational training. All Sarasota County high school seniors and graduates of Sarasota County public and private high schools may apply. 

Application will open January 2025.

Destinations Florida Dave Warren Scholarship

Destinations Florida, through the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, is pleased to offer the Dave Warren Scholarship. This scholarship opportunity is available to college juniors who plan to make a career in the hospitality industry within the State of Florida. Selection criteria includes the personal goals of the student, financial need and community involvement. 

Application CLOSED March 15, 2024.

Sarasota County Bar Association Richard R. Garland Diversity Scholarship

This scholarship is intended to provide an opportunity for incoming second year law students of under-represented minority backgrounds (e.g. race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, physical disability, or socioeconomic background), who have an interest in practicing law in Sarasota County. Scholarship awardees will complete a summer internship with a law firm in the local area after their second year and receive a scholarship for their third year of law school.

Application next opens July 1, 2024 and closes November 15, 2024. 

Suncoast Nursing Action Coalition BSN Scholarship

This scholarship provides financial support for current BSN candidates in the Suncoast Nursing Action Coalition (SNAC) Region (Sarasota, Charlotte, Manatee, & Desoto counties). The goal is to increase the number of bachelor’s prepared nurses who are working within the SNAC region.

Application next opens in February 2025. 

Suncoast Nursing Action Coalition Doctorate in Nursing Scholarship

This is a renewable scholarship for the benefit of students demonstrating financial need who are accepted into an accredited Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Nursing or a Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) program. Eligible applicants must be faculty members teaching in the area of nursing at State College of Florida, Keiser (Sarasota), Florida SouthWestern State College (Charlotte), Galen College of Nursing (Sarasota), or University of South Florida (Sarasota-Manatee) and be nominated by the Dean or Director of the program at which they currently teach.
 

Application next opens July 1, 2024 and closes Aug. 1, 2024. 

2Gen Parent Scholarship

The 2Gen Scholarship connects low-income parents with children attending Alta Vista, Emma E. Booker, Gocio, and Tuttle Elementary Schools with educational pathways to build their skills and lead to family-sustaining wages. Applicants must be referred by the Parent Education Navigator, be 18 years of age or older as of December 31st of the year in which they apply and be residents of Sarasota or Manatee counties for a minimum of 1 year.

Deadline: Rolling Application