Awards range from $1,000 to more than $5,000, with many scholarships being renewable. The application deadline is 5 p.m. April 15.

While scholarships are available for graduating high school seniors and current college students, undergraduate or graduate, adult re-entry students and students with financial needs — including middle-income families — can apply.

Students attending community colleges or career/technical schools or four-year universities are also encouraged to apply.

A diverse range of scholarships is available.

Qualifications include: a minimum 2.0 GPA; a commitment to education, potential college success; participation in community service, extracurricular activities and/or work experience; being a current residence in San Bernardino or Riverside counties for at least one year; and demonstrating a need for assistance to pay for school.

Another significant requirement is to submit a completed FAFSA or CA Dream Act and Student Aid Report (SAR). IECF requires that information from all applicants.

Scholarship success stories abound.

In 2024, Kyra Boyle was a recipient of the Safe Schools Desert Cities Burton/May Pride Award. The unique award recognizes outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or intersex (LGBTQI) youth who have helped foster a positive self-image among other LGBTQI youth. The key scholarship factors included demonstrating participation, dedication and initiative.

“There are a lot of scholarships out there, and if a student is stressed about finances the way I was, I’d recommend reaching out to the college financial aid centers for guidance,” Boyle said of her process.

Then there’s IECF’s own board chair, Jesse Melgar. Determination drove Melgar’s college pursuits, but so did community support. He was able to secure $15,000 in scholarships, including one from IECF, which, at the time, was known as The Community Foundation.

Thanks to the funding, he was able to attend UCLA, where he became the first in his family to graduate from college.

Flash forward several years, and Melgar went on to earn a full-ride scholarship for his master’s degree at UC Riverside. A return to the Inland Empire followed, along with a big push to give back.

In addition to serving as IECF’s Board Chair, Melgar is also the founder of the CIELO Fund, which has been instrumental in uplifting Latino-led organizations and initiatives in the region.

Learn more at iegives.org/students/overview.

The Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. Visit iegives.org.

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The April 2 deadline to apply for the need-based Cal Grant and Middle Class Scholarship that California funds will be pushed by a month, giving students more time to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The Democratic governor’s move is the latest in a series of attempts across the country to blunt the impact of widespread issues with the new form — from processing delays to technical problems — which have drawn Republican fury on Capitol Hill and frustrated parents and students.

The extension will “help ensure more California students are able to complete the FAFSA, avail themselves of state Cal Grant or Middle Class Scholarship financial aid, and enable them to access the financial resources to begin fulfilling their dreams of achieving higher education,” said Democratic Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, who authored the bill.

The bill was fast-tracked through the state Legislature last week and backed by the state’s public university systems. It’s meant to help applicants who have so far been unable to fill out the FAFSA — especially students whose parents are undocumented who for months couldn’t complete the form due to technical glitches.

The U.S. Department of Education resolved the issue for families of mixed immigration status this month, but took another step backward last week when it announced it had made errors in calculating around 200,000 student aid offers.

The near-constant technical problems with the online form have caused such a significant dropoff in applications in California that the state student aid commission estimates as much as $100 million could be awarded to students who apply over the next month. The two state aid programs award more than $2 billion each year, supplementing federal scholarships like the Pell Grant.

California public universities had already given students at least two extra weeks, until May 15, to commit to attending as they await backlogged financial aid offers. Processing delays in Washington, D.C., have caused colleges to receive students’ financial information later than usual, prompting several other universities across the country to delay decision day to June 1.

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The MSJC Promise launched in Fall 2019 to make a high-quality education at MSJC financially accessible to more students throughout the region.

Based on feedback the college has received from its educational partners, MSJC has expanded eligibility requirements. This new change allows high school students who earned concurrent, dual-enrollment, and/or articulated units from a college other than MSJC to be eligible for the MSJC Promise Program.

To be eligible for the first year MSJC Promise, students must meet all of the following criteria:

• Apply for admission at MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com” claiming to be https://msjc.edu/apply

• Be a California resident or exempt group

• Have a high school diploma or GED

• Be a first-time student (students that completed concurrent, dual-enrollment, or articulated coursework/units in high school that were received from a college other than MSJC will be eligible)

• Apply for FAFSA or California Dream Act Application

• Be enrolled in and complete at least 12 units per term in the Fall and Spring semesters

• It is recommended that first-time students take English, Math in the first year

• Maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA while at MSJC

• Students enrolled in the MSJC First Year Experience (FYE) Program will receive priority in the MSJC Promise Program (MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from “nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com” claiming to be https://msjc.edu/fye) To be eligible for the second year of the MSJC Promise Program, students must meet all of the following criteria:

• Be enrolled in and complete at least 12 units per term in the Fall and Spring semesters of the second year

• Apply for FAFSA or California Dream Act Application

• Maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA while at MSJC

For more information, please check the MSJC Promise page on the MSJC website. Anyone with questions about the program can email finaid@msjc.edu or call 951-465-7891.

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Mt. San Jacinto College serves about 27,000 students in a district covering 1,700 square miles from the San Gorgonio Pass to Temecula, with campuses in San Jacinto, Menifee, Banning and Temecula.

The Summer 2021 session begins June 7 and the Fall 2021 semester begins Aug. 16. Enroll today. MSJC awarded a record-breaking 3,848 degrees and certificates to 2,173 graduates on May 27, 2021.

MSJC | Contributed

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