There's money, plenty of it, available from a local foundation for graduating high school seniors in Vacaville and Fairfield, but the deadline to apply is noon Friday.
For those interested, visit the Solano Community Foundation website, at www.solanocf.org, for more information or call 399-3846. A total of $147,000 is up for grabs.
Three scholarship funds offer awards to students enrolled in Vacaville public high schools, and Fairfield and Armijo high schools in Fairfield.
The Harry and Eleanor D. Nelson Vacaville Endowment Fund will award $115,000 in college scholarships to students graduating from three Vacaville high schools.
This year, 11 scholarships are available - five Nelson Scholarships at $20,000 each (payable over four years at $5,000 per year); five Briggs Scholarships at $2,000 each (one year only); and one Powell Scholarship at $5,000 (one year only to a Vacaville High student).
To apply, a student must be a senior attending Vacaville, Will C. Wood, or Buckingham Charter high schools for the junior and senior years, and with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
Six Fairfield High School students will receive scholarships worth a total of $30,000 from the Fairfield High School Staff Scholarship Endowment Fund.
There are two four-year scholarships at $10,000 each (payable over four years at $2,500 per year), and four one-year scholarships at $2,500 each.
Fairfield High School graduating seniors interested in applying should ask their teachers or the school's discipline secretary for details, including the deadline for applications.
At Armijo High, two scholarships available at $1,000 each (one-time award) will be made from the Andrew Lucas Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Of these annual awards, Connie Harris, the Foundation's CEO, said in a press release: "The generous donors who established these scholarship funds wanted to provide financial support Solano County students in perpetuity. It is an honor and privilege to be able to help change lives for the better."
The Nelson fund has supported many Vacaville students for more than 50 years; it was originally established as a trust in the 1960s. Fairfield High School Staff Scholarships have been awarded to qualified students annually since 2006. The Andrew Lucas Memorial Scholarships were awarded for the first time in 2018 in memory of Andrew Lucas, who attended Armijo.
Recent scholarship recipients have used their awards to attend University of California campuses at Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Davis, and Los Angeles, in addition to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; the California State University campuses at Chico and Sacramento; and Solano and Sacramento community colleges, among others.
Students interested in applying for any Nelson or Lucas scholarships should download the detailed eligibility criteria and application forms from www.solanocf.org.
Applications for Nelson and Lucas scholarships must be submitted directly to the Foundation via email, regular mail, or be hand-delivered. Foundation offices are at 744 Empire St., No. 240, Fairfield.