Students seeking scholarships for Kachemak Bay Campus’s fall and spring semesters have until mid-August to apply.

The campus offers scholarship applications in a packet format for both fall and spring semesters. The packet application for the fall semester needs to be submitted to the campus by Aug. 12 at 5 p.m.

The packet application includes materials for multiple scholarship opportunities with various eligibility criteria. Students who submit all required documents will be considered for each scholarship they are eligible for. Required documents include a general application form, a personal essay and a financial needs assessment form.

The personal essay will include responses to three questions. There are specific guidelines indicated on the application form and some simple essay writing tips.

Scholarships available for the fall semester include: a limited number of Kachemak Bay Campus tuition waivers and a scholarship, the South Peninsula Hospital Foundation scholarship, the Mary Epperson student support and scholarship endowment and the Kachemak Bay Rotary Club Scholarship.

Nancy Johnson, student services manager and advisor, noted that the South Peninsula Hospital Foundation provides very generous support for every year. “They provide the campus with $5,000 each semester that we can offer to CNA, nursing students and other health majors. The award was doubled in recent years and we really appreciate that.”

She also said that the tuition waivers allow the campus to waive the cost of credits. The waiver is designed for students who don’t qualify for other scholarships for other reasons. “For example, a student might not qualify for federal aid so we’re able to really scoop up and help students who aren’t getting assistance in other ways.”

Johnson said that almost everyone who applies is able to get help in some way as long as they have a legitimate application.

“We get a lot of students who think ‘scholarships aren’t for me’ and don’t bother to apply, but the message we like to try to get to the students is that if you take the effort to apply, we can probably get you some aid.”

Johnson said some of the things the campus hears students say is that they’re not straight-A students or they’re not entirely broke. “But we recognize that everyone needs help paying for college and we like to be able to spread that around to whoever comes through our doors to help them pay for school.”

The scholarship packet can be picked up at the front desk of the college. It is not available online but if a student is interested in receiving the packet by email they can reach out to kbcinfo@alaska.edu. The completed application can be dropped off at the campus or delivered by email.