STEM Scholarships for Black, African-American, Hispanics, Latino Students

If you’re a minority student looking for a job path with plenty of career opportunities, majoring in STEM could be a great way to find it.

Careers in STEM — or science, technology, engineering, and math — are a growing field, and demand for talented workers is desperately needed. Millions of STEM jobs are projected to go unfilled in the near future. In fact, it’s estimated that 3.5 million jobs will need to be filled by 2025.

Though students of all races enter STEM majors at roughly equal rates, black and Latino students leave the major at nearly twice the rate of white students, finds a study published in the journal Education Researcher. This is the result of a combination of students changing majors and students choosing to leave college. More than a third of black (40%) and Latino (37%) students switch majors before earning a degree, compared with 29% of white STEM students. Another 26% of black STEM students and 20% of Latino STEM students drop out of college altogether—13 and seven percentage points higher, respectively, than white STEM students (13%), according to the study.

So why do black and Latino students leave STEM majors at nearly twice the rate of white students?

The researchers suggest that because black and Latino students are more likely to come from low-income families and they might not have access to the academic resources that traditionally help support students through to completion.

Getting a job in a STEM field will require career specialization that can be very expensive. However, if you are a minority student looking for assistance with funding your education, scholarships for Hispanics, Latinx, Black, African American, and other historically underrepresented students in STEM are available.

Top STEM Scholarships For Black, African American, Latinx, Hispanic and Native American Students

If you’re a diverse undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate student interested in finding free money to help you earn a degree in science, technology, engineering, or math, check out this list of organizations that offer scholarships for Black, African American, Hispanics, Latinos and Native American students in STEM.

These are some of the biggest STEM scholarships for African American, Hispanic, Native American and other diverse students. Sure, they are quite competitive as the bigger the award, the bigger the competition. But if done right, minority students can make a very large difference in your long-term financial situation.

• The American Meteorological Society: The American Meteorological Society provides scholarships to minority students who have traditionally been underrepresented in the sciences. This includes Black or African American students, as well as Native American and Hispanic students. The scholarship provides $6,000 in total funding distributed over a two-year period during freshman and sophomore years. Applications are due each February.

• The Society of Physics Students Scholarship Program: The Applicants must be undergraduate students in their sophomore or junior year of college who are majoring in physics or related science and members of the SPS national organization and be from a group that is underrepresented in science and engineering. Applications are due each March.

• Hispanic Foundation Silicon Valley: The Latinos in Technology Scholarship provides up to 100 Latino students the support they need to graduate from college. Additionally scholarship recipients will be considered for summer internships with sponsoring corporate investors. The application period closes each March.

• The Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program: The scholarship is available to those earning a master’s or doctoral degree in oceanography, marine biology, and maritime archaeology. While open to everyone, members of minority groups are especially encouraged to apply. The application period opens each October.

• The Gates Millennium Scholars Program: These scholarships provide 20,000 “outstanding students of color” with scholarship funding. The Gates Millennium Scholars Program offers funding for those pursuing an undergraduate degree in any area of interest. Continuing Gates Millennium Scholars can request funding for graduate degrees in computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science. African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students are all potentially eligible for funding. Applications are due each September.

You don’t have to restrict your scholarship search to just scholarships for minority students in STEM. You can broaden your search to scholarships that could be available to all individuals studying STEM. For example, The Thiel Fellowship is a two-year program for young people who want to build new things. Individuals under 23 pursuing projects in biotech, career development, economics and finance, education, energy, information technology, mobility, robotics, and space are encouraged to apply.

Where to Find STEM Scholarships for Hispanic, Latinx, Black and other diverse students in STEM?

If you’re looking for scholarships for diverse STEM majors, there are a number of resources available to you. These include:

• Your school’s financial aid office: School financial aid offices provide resources to help you find scholarships. The financial aid office can be the best place to discover scholarships that may be available from specific departments at your school, as well as other general scholarships available to all students in the STEM field.

• Professional organizations: Professional organizations in STEM such as the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and HACU offer scholarship opportunities to Latinx students who want to study science, technology, and other subjects. Check with local and national organizations to find all of the potential scholarships for which you could be eligible and utilize your network to find potential leads.

• IOScholarships: Most scholarship application deadlines occur typically from September through May. While this does give minority students some time to apply for scholarships, it still is a good idea to start searching for scholarships as early as students can. 

Treat the scholarship application process as a part-time job. The more applications you submit, the greater your chances are of winning scholarships. I treated the application process as a part-time job dedicating 15-25 hours per week. I figured if I spent two hours applying for a scholarship and won $1000, that was like making $500 per hour; an AMAZING part-time job!

IOScholarships help narrow your search. Results are generated based on your ethnic background and interests. Don’t wait, apply today!

If you need more information to help you win big scholarships read the following article.