Student-centric advice and objective recommendations
Higher education has never been more confusing or expensive. Our goal is to help you navigate the very big decisions related to higher ed with objective information and expert advice. Each piece of content on the site is original, based on extensive research, and reviewed by multiple editors, including a subject matter expert. This ensures that all of our content is up-to-date, useful, accurate, and thorough.
Our reviews and recommendations are based on extensive research, testing, and feedback. We may receive commission from links on our website, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions. Our marketing partners don’t review, approve or endorse our editorial content. It’s accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted. You can find a complete list of our partners here.
Top 15 Scholarships for Immigrants in December 2022
If you are an immigrant, or the child of immigrants, there are many scholarships that have been designed with you in mind. Organizations have set aside funds for scholarships for immigrants in any situation. There are scholarships designed for green card holders, DACA recipients, naturalized citizens, and any other citizenship status you could imagine.
We’ve attempted to include a survey of all of these situations in this list, so scroll through to find the best scholarships for immigrants to make your education affordable!
Jump ahead to:
- Top scholarships for immigrants
- College resource hub for immigrants
- Frequently asked questions about educational funding for immigrant students
- Explore these other scholarship categories
Keep on reading to learn all about the top scholarships for students who are immigrants!
Top 15 Scholarships for Immigrants in December 2022
The Scholarships360 Research Team reviews all scholarships individually and strives to exclude any scholarship where any of the below applies:
- The scholarship requires a fee to apply
- The scholarship provider’s privacy policy allows for the misuse of student data
- The scholarship requires paid membership in an organization (with certain exceptions for reputable trade organizations and others)
- Student are required to sign up for a site or service to apply*
- The scholarship seems primarily used for lead generation** or idea harvesting purposes***
- The scholarship website has many grammatical errors and/or advertisements
- The scholarship or scholarship providing organization seem untrustworthy
- There is no evidence the scholarship was previously awarded
- The scholarship has not been awarded in the past 12 months
- There is no available contact information
If you believe a scholarship has been published in error, please reach out to [email protected] and we’ll take a look!
* There are certain exceptions to this, for example if the sponsoring organization is a major corporation or nonprofit with its own scholarship application system.
** Lead generation scholarships will require students to sign up for an app or website and require minimal (if any) application requirements.
***Idea harvesting scholarships will require students to submit blog posts or other materials that companies may use for marketing purposes.
$10,000 “No Essay” Scholarship
Scholarships360 Exclusive
Easy scholarship open to all US-based high school, college, community college and graduate students.
$2,000 Nitro College Scholarship – No Essay
Sponsored
Easy scholarship open to all high school, college, community and graduate students.
Niche $50,000 “No Essay” College Scholarship
Sponsored
Open to high school and college students, as well as anyone looking to attend college or graduate school in the next year.
“Follow Your Own Path” Essay Scholarship
Scholarships360 Exclusive
Open to all postsecondary students, regardless of the type of training/education they are pursuing.
“Outstanding Undergraduate” Essay Scholarship
Scholarships360 Exclusive
Open to current undergraduates at four-year universities in the U.S.
Dream.US Opportunity Scholarship
Offered by TheDream.Us
Open to undocumented students who came to the U.S. before age 16 and live in states where they effectively have no access to college.
Dream.US National Scholarship
Offered by TheDream.Us
High school seniors and college freshmen with or without DACA who came to the U.S. before age 16 and qualify for in-state tuition.
NIAF Scholarship Program
Offered by National Italian American Foundation
Italian-American, NIAF members and full-time postsecondary students in the U.S. with at least one ancestor who immigrated from Italy.
Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
Offered by PD Soros
Open to students under 30 years of age who are applying to graduate or professional school and are immigrants or children of immigrants.
Jeff Sein Kwan Yang Memorial Scholarship
Offered by JSKY Memorial Scholarship
Open to high school seniors residing in the San Gabriel Valley area who are immigrants or the children of immigrants.
$10,000 CollegeXpress Scholarship
Sponsored
Annual $10k scholarship from CollegeXpress open to all high school students.
Esperanza Fund Scholarship
Offered by Esperanza Education Fund
Open to high school seniors and graduates from the D.C., Maryland, or Virginia area who were born outside of the U.S. or whose parents were.
New Leader Scholarship
Offered by Marin Community Foundation
Open to previous New Leader Scholarship recipients who will be attending a graduate school in the California Bay Area.
$25k “Be Bold” No-Essay Scholarship
Sponsored
Easy scholarship open to high school students, college students, community college students, and graduate students.
Niche $2,000 “No Essay” College Scholarship
Sponsored
Easy scholarship from Niche open to all high school, college, and graduate students.
How to win scholarships for immigrants
As with any type of scholarship, scholarships for immigrants are very competitive. In order to succeed in your applications, you’ll have to stand out from the crowd. It’s important to put a lot of thought into your essays and do some research before you begin writing.
Because these scholarships are geared towards immigrants, it’s a good idea to do some reflection on how your immigration story has impacted you and shaped your goals. Think about how it’s fostered your strengths and shaped your goals. Try to emphasize these points in your essays.
Writing effective essays
In addition to choosing strong subject matter, it’s important to write an essay that is impactful, succinct, and eye-catching. Luckily, we have a host of resources to help you with this. Those include guides on how to write a winning scholarship essay, how to start and end scholarship essays, and how to write an essay about yourself. We can also help you tailor your writing to 250 or 500 word limits, and write a scholarship resume.
Related: DACA scholarships
College resource hub for immigrants
Here is a list of resources for college students who are immigrants. Some resources will be geared towards documented immigrants and others are geared towards undocumented immigrants.
U.S. Department of Education Resource Guide for Undocumented Youth
This guide was assembled by the US Department of Education with the intent of providing a comprehensive guide for undocumented students. It includes information on what is within your powers as an undocumented student, as well as a directory to other useful resources.
My Undocumented Life
This website is a comprehensive hub of resources, news, and updates about studying in the United States as an undocumented student. On it, you’ll find guides for every step of the college application process, tailored specifically towards undocumented students.
U.S. Department of Education Resources for Immigrants
There’s no better place to get information than straight from the source. Here is the Department of Education’s page concerning everything to do with resources for immigrants. Whether you are documented or undocumented, there is information here on the rights afforded to you by the state when it comes to education.
List of state bills which impact immigrant students
This list goes over each state’s varying laws concerning how immigrant students can receive financial aid, can apply for schools, and more.
Frequently asked questions about scholarships for immigrants
Can an immigrant get a scholarship?
There are many scholarships available to immigrants in the United States; the Nargis E. Ragab Scholarship for First Generation Immigrants and the Children of First Generation Immigrants is a great example. All of the scholarships on this list are open to immigrants, and each has different requirements for residency status, meaning there are some open specially for DACA recipients, while others are for green card holders, or for people of any residency status.
Can non-citizens get scholarships?
Many scholarships are open to non citizens, such as the Red Thread Foundation Scholarship, which is open to women of international backgrounds regardless of citizenship status. Many of the other scholarships in this list are available for non citizens; check their eligibility requirements to make sure.
How do undocumented students pay for college?
Undocumented students face many hurdles in the struggle to pay for college. Though there are many scholarships that they are not eligible for, there are also scholarships made specifically to help undocumented students pay for college. Many of these scholarships are listed on this page, such as the Dream.US National Scholarship.
Can green card holders get Pell Grant?
Most green card holders are considered “eligible non-citizens” and therefore can get the Pell Grant. Green card holders are also eligible for most of the scholarships on this list, so if you are a green card holder looking for help paying for college, check out some of our top scholarships for immigrants!
