Every Step Up for Students Scholarship Explained

In 2020-2021, average yearly tuition fees spanned from $9,700 for public in-state colleges to $35,000 for private colleges. Many students in the United States can’t afford to cover education-related expenses without financial aid.

To offset that problem, many universities, organizations, and companies offer scholarships and grants to help students in need get an education. In this article, we’ll focus on one such organization—a Step Up for Students scholarship program.

We’ll also introduce DoNotPay and show how you can use our app in your search for scholarships.

What Is a Step Up for Students Scholarship?

Step Up for Students is a Jacksonville-based nonprofit organization that provides scholarships for K-12 students. These include:

• High school—juniors or seniors
• Primary school
• Kindergarten

The only prerequisite to getting a Step Up for Students scholarship is to be enrolled in a school in Florida.

Step Up for Students scholarships offer awards to students of different profiles, as follows:

Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program

This program awards $7,000 on average for students whose parents have low earnings, with the income threshold changing depending on the number of children. Look at this table to see the income limits for eligibility:

You need the following four documents to apply:

1. Paystubs no older than 30 days from the day you apply
2. Proof of residency for all members of the household
3. Parents’ driver’s licenses or passports
4. Proof of other sources of income

From 2021 onward, the program also includes students whose parents don’t have income issues if those students are:

• Dependents of active members of the United States Armed Force
• Siblings of the students in the Family Empowerment scholarship
• Students with one of the following disabilities:
  • Speech impairment
  • Language impairment
  • Orthopedic impairment
  • Emotional or behavioral disability
  • Learning disabilities:
    • Developmental aphasia
    • Dyscalculia
    • Dyslexia
  • Visual impairment
  • Hearing impairment

Family Empowerment Scholarship

Formerly known as the Gardiner Scholarship, the Family Empowerment program offers help to students aged three to 22. As this is a scholarship for children with special needs, an applicant needs to have one of the following disabilities:

• Anaphylaxis
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Cerebral palsy
• Down syndrome
• Emotional or a behavioral disability
• Hearing impairment
• Homebound
• Dual sensory impairment
• Prader-Willi syndrome
• Intellectual disability
• Language impairment
• Muscular dystrophy
• Orthopedic impairment
• Phelan-McDermid syndrome
• Rare diseases
• Spina bifida
• Speech impairment
• Brain injury
• Williams syndrome
• Visual impairment

When you apply, you need to provide the following documents:

1. Proof of residency
2. Birth certificate
3. Doctor’s diagnosis
4. Sworn Compliance

HOPE Scholarship

The goal of the HOPE scholarship is to give bullied children a chance to achieve academic success and overcome traumas. To be eligible, you have to be a K-12 student who has gone on a record for an incident of:

• Hazing
• Harassment
• Robbery
• Bullying
• Sexual assault

The scholarship will provide financial aid and transportation so you can go to a different private or public school. The financial aid amount varies from $6,700 to $8,800, depending on the school and the grade you’re in.

Reading Scholarship

The Reading scholarship program is available for third, fourth, and fifth-graders who have a maximum performance level two on the English Language Arts (ELA) test. You will have to provide the ELA score report when applying to prove the level of the reading difficulty.

The scholarship provides $500 for each student to help pay for private tutoring and literacy programs enrollment.

How To Apply for a Step Up for Students Scholarship

You can apply for Step Up for Students scholarships directly on the organization’s website. You will need to fill out the online application form and send the required documentation once they contact you. The documentation varies depending on the type of scholarship and the specifics of your situation.

Step Up Your Search for Other Scholarships

If you’re trying to find financial help for your studies, you should never limit yourself to one source. In the United States, hundreds of organizations and companies offer awards to high-performing students and those in need—take this to your advantage.

Some scholarships can be renewed even when you move past the K-12. College scholarship programs (for undergraduates, graduates, and doctoral students) offer a plethora of opportunities to students, especially those who belong to a certain group, such as:

• Veterans
• Women
• International students
• Minorities, including:
  • Hispanics
  • Native Americans
  • Filipinos
• Students of specific faiths:
  • Christian
  • Jewish
  • Muslim
• Students in specific fields of study:
  • Engineering
  • Computer science
  • Arts

The tricky part about these scholarships is the research process. Finding the right scholarship—and information about it—can take months. When you begin the research, you should talk to your school’s financial aid office to see what scholarships are available for you and what you need to apply. You can also visit your school or university’s website to see if there are links to other programs.

To save yourself time and effort, you can use DoNotPay. Provide us with the required info, and get a personalized list of all scholarships you’re eligible for in under five minutes.

Using DoNotPay To Find and Apply for Scholarships

Need help obtaining a scholarship? You can skip the hassle of time-consuming research and complicated application processes. Regardless of your level of study, you can use DoNotPay to find all the scholarships available to you within minutes. All you need to do is the following:

1. Sign up for DoNotPay
2. Click on the Apply for Scholarships feature
3. Answer a few questions regarding your academic achievements and level of study

We will provide you with a list that will contain scholarships you can apply for and valuable information about the programs, such as:

• Award amount
• Deadline
• Necessary documentation—essays, letters of recommendation, cover letters, transcripts, and similar

If there's a no-essay scholarship on your list, you can apply directly within the app.

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