Point Foundation awards 52 scholarships to LGBTQ students
This year's class of recipients is the largest and most diverse group in the foundation's history
The Point Foundation, the nation’s top scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students, announced it has awarded 52 scholarships to LGBTQ applicants seeking to pursue higher education.
Point selected 27 students as Point Scholars and 25 students for its expanded Community College Scholarship Program. This year’s class of scholarship recipients is both the largest in the foundation’s history, and the most diverse.
Of the 27 Point Scholars, more than a third are the first in their families to attend college, two-thirds are non-white, half identify as transgender, gender-nonconforming, or intersex, and eight were formerly homeless.
Of the Community College Scholarship recipients, 60 percent will be the first in their families to attend college, half identify as transgender, gender-nonconforming, or intersex, and one-third identify as bisexual, polysexual or queer.
In combination with past recipients still completing their course of study, a total of 98 LGBTQ students will be receiving financial support from Point during the 2017-2018 school year.
This year’s scholarship recipients include veterans of the armed forces, award-winning artists, human rights advocates, scientists, and founders of nonprofits. In addition, many recipients have had to overcome barriers such as family rejection and abuse, homelessness, discrimination, or challenges to their immigration status.
“Given the volatile political climate and its implications for trans rights, immigrant rights, gender issues, and civil liberties, it is essential that we continue to invest in the next generation of LGBTQ leaders,” Jorge Valencia, the executive director and CEO of Point, said in a statement. “By helping them to access the higher education they need to succeed, we can assure promising LGBTQ students are poised to become the change makers we so desperately need.”
For a complete list and biographies of scholarship recipients, or for more information on the Point Foundation, visit pointfoundation.org.
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