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Donna W. Foss College Scholarship
The Donna W. Foss college scholarship offers three different award amounts to students, so check it out asap!
This week’s post will highlight the Donna W. Foss Scholarship and my post next week will detail the Joe Foss Video Scholarship. (Update: The Joe Foss Video Scholarship is now closed. I will blog and share winning tips for the next contest when it opens in the fall)
Donna W. Foss (affectionately known as “Didi”) is the co-founder of the Joe Foss Institute. Here are her scholarship details:
- Essay Scholarship of 1500-2000 words
- Open to students in 9th – 12th grade, including recent high school graduates
- Students must be U.S. citizens
- Electronic submission with very specific guidelines
- Three awards offered: $5000, $2500, $1000
- Deadline July 5
Winning Tips: This is an essay-only scholarship, meaning no extra paperwork, such as letters of recommendation or school transcripts, is required.
This is great news for students with less than stellar grades and those with higher incomes that might not qualify for other scholarships.
The downside is that the essay needs to be quite lengthy (1500-2000 words) and written about a very specific topic, “A PROUD AMERICAN, What It Means To Me”. The submission requirements are VERY specific and laid out clearly in the guidelines and essay rules section.
Students need to read the requirements at least twice and print them out to make sure all guidelines are followed and checked off before submitting their entry by email. Because this scholarship is offered by the Joe Foss Institute, students need to become familiar with the institute’s mission and goals. This information should be strategically brought into the essay to show understanding of who Joe Foss was and how students can help spread his mission in their current and future endeavors.
Students who shy away from essay-based scholarships should not skip this one. The time they will save from not collecting the usual scholarship paperwork can be spent writing the essay. It is suggested several times in the guidelines how important grammar and word count are, so double (and triple!) checking for mistakes and getting trusted adults to proofread the essay is imperative.
For tips on writing an amazing college scholarship essay, click here.
Go here for all the details and to download the scholarship requirements:
DONNA W. FOSS COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP (Link removed, see note below)
NOTE: As of 2020, this scholarship is no longer offered. I will update this post if it is reinstated. Go HERE for more scholarship opportunities.

Open to High School Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors! APPLY NOW HERE

Monica Matthews is the author of How to Win College Scholarships. She helped her own son win over $100,000 in college scholarships and now shares her expertise with other parents and their students. She truly has “been there, done that” in regard to helping parents and students navigate the scholarship process.
Her method of helping students in finding college scholarships, writing unique and compelling scholarship essays, creating amazing scholarship application packets, and more have taught desperate parents to help their own students win thousands of scholarship dollars. She teaches them how to apply S.M.A.R.T. with outstanding results.
Monica’s scholarship tips have been featured on many prominent websites, and she has been dubbed the “Go-To” expert on college scholarships.