The Federation of American Consumers and Travelers (FACT), a nonprofit consumer organization, is awarding $75,000 in scholarships in 2021. 

The scholarships are open to current high school seniors, students currently enrolled in a college, university, or trade school, those who’ve already graduated from high school but missed the opportunity to join higher education, and students entering or attending graduate school. 

The only significant eligibility criterion is that applicants must be members of the organization or the immediate family of a member. FACT currently has 500,000 members across the United States, and membership costs a modest $4 per month or $48 per year. FACT members have over 25 benefits, including a health discount card, telemedicine access, and exclusive travel savings.

Applications are accepted year-round, and the scholarships are evaluated and awarded four times each year. 

Applying for a scholarship is easy. All that those who are interested have to do is fill out a brief application and write an essay of two pages or less. 

“There are a lot of really exceptional students or superathletes who can, with relative ease, obtain other scholarships,” said a FACT scholarship committee member. “FACT’s program is aimed more toward students who want to get ahead and who are willing to work hard, but who may not have a perfect GPA and haven’t lettered in four sports. In other words, FACT wants to help those students who are worthy but who all too often get overlooked and may not be readily able to find help someplace else.”

Since the start of its scholarship program in 1992, FACT has awarded almost $1.5 million to students, according to Vicki Rolens, FACT’s managing director.

What makes FACT’s scholarship program particularly unique is that most of the funds have gone to high school graduates who did not go directly to college and, without the scholarship, likely wouldn’t have been able to.

“FACT is extremely proud of the scholarships for persons who have already graduated from high school because there are so many people who – for whatever reason – go straight from high school to a job or marriage and/or parenthood,” said Rolens. “Suddenly, these people are trapped. They become so wrapped up in raising families and earning a living that it becomes almost impossible, from a financial standpoint, to improve their situation by going back to school. We know of few, if any, other scholarship programs designed for these people.”

To apply for the scholarship, click here. 

For more scholarships, check TUN’s Scholarship Search Engine.