PANAMA CITY — The deadline to apply for a Gulf Coast State College Foundation (GCSCF) scholarship is March 1.
The foundation, which solicits donations to fund scholarships, selects 650 to 700 students to grant supplemental scholarships, which last year gave each student $1,300 to spend, said GCSCF assistant director Dunkin McLane. This year, $1.1 million will be awarded in scholarship money, McLane said.
Application season started Jan. 1 and usually averages 1,110 applicants, he said. It is free to apply.
“You’re giving a person a chance to offset the cost of education,” McLane said.
Requirements for the scholarship are that the applicant must be attending Gulf Coast and have a minimum GPA of 2.0, he said.
High school seniors also attending Gulf Coast are encouraged to apply, he said.
A committee scores the applications based on essay questions, freeform questions and GPA. The essay questions are the main criteria examined, McLane said. Neither the GCSCF staff or Board of Directors are involved in the judging, he said. An individual committee member may review 100 applications each year, he said.
“Our scholarships are competitive,” he said.
After the March deadline, it may take two to three months to select the recipients. Scholarships are awarded each semester in the fall and spring, he said.
Margie Mazur, GCSCF executive director, said students who have different obligations than traditional students, such as having children and working a job, deserve opportunities.
“They are good students,” Mazur said.
Mazur said for some students, the scholarship was the first time someone encouraged them. When Mazur first started working at Gulf Coast a decade ago, she said, she saw students who came in and didn’t have a clue about college, but the scholarship financially relieved them so that they could focus on other aspects of college.