For those who received HSF designation in June 2022, was there some kind of reception offered for winners? I seem to recall posts about being invited to something, I assume on a regional level. Was just curious. If so, did your child attend and when was the reception. Thanks.
There is an online version of the event and if I recall you can travel to a live one but it’s all on your own expense. If you live in the city they are hosting then ok it may be fun to meet some people. The online version was a waste of time. They just sent another email to sign up with a huge list of benefits. One is called HSF insider. what is that? Never heard of it in a email or nothing. Has someone? They talk about a network of 65k alumni? Where? Is there an app? LinkedIn? There is no access really, it’s all playing with words. But again they get donors to donate so the CEO can pocket 600k. Nice gig.
2 Likes
There were 4 Scholar Celebrations last year plus the virtual celebration. They were in NYC, Chicago, Atlanta and LA. They were held over a 2 week period in July. My daughter was not able to attend any of them, not even the virtual one because of a previous commitment.
1 Like
So, I noticed they moved deadlines this year. Last year Phase I was due March 15 and finalists were notified April 1st. This year, Phase I is due February 15, so maybe finalists will be notified around March 1st, or the first week of March. Still says selection is June. Last year was about the last day of June. Maybe it will be closer to the beginning of the month this year. Phase II was due at the end of April last year. I assume for those who advance, it will be the end of March this year. We’ll see how it goes.
2 Likes
For those who care, and don’t think it’s a scam, HSF 2023 Finalist letters are out. Phase II applications are due March 30th.
edit: additional info- over 124,400 applicants this year, no word on how many finalists
2 Likes
yes, my daughter just received her letter for a finalist
3 Likes
Looks like your timeline prediction is spot on. My son received his email yesterday stating that he is a finalist and explaining the Phase 2 steps : )
To clarify, if chosen as a winner (let’s assume it’s closer to June 1st this year) it would say if you were chosen for a financial award but won’t say how much, right? I know students don’t get the money until December, but when do they find out the amount? We have only heard of students getting awards under $1000, no bigger awards. Thanks.
1 Like
Congrats!
1 Like
The data for 2022-23 shows that 59,000 students submitted and they chose 10,000 so appears to be a significant increase in applicants this year.
1 Like
Here we go again… my son received his email to continue to next phase. I have back-to-back kids so we just went through this whole process with my older son and he didn’t get any scholarship money. My younger son is a higher achieving student so I will very disappointed if we end up with the same outcome, especially since he has a preference for very expensive colleges. But also because he’s been busting his butt applying to a lot of scholarships while maintaining a very intense course load this year. And he’s still waiting to hear from more than 10 college decisions. Very stressful time. I do hope he gets something from this program.
[quote=“2CollegeHoosiers, post:110, topic:3613318, full:true”]
Here we go again… my son received his email to continue to next phase. I have back-to-back kids so we just went through this whole process with my older son and he didn’t get any scholarship money. My younger son is a higher achieving student so I will very disappointed if we end up with the same outcome, especially since he has a preference for very expensive colleges. But also because he’s been busting his butt applying to a lot of scholarships while maintaining a very intense course load this year. And he’s still waiting to hear from more than 10 college decisions. Very stressful time. I do hope he gets something from this program.
So your son was a HSF scholar last year but did not get a money award? I would love to know how they decide on amounts. I know it’s partially based on need but I’m surprised your son would not get the lower end of $500 at least. If your 2023 son gets an award, maybe that would point to academics being a piece of this but there doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to how they decide, based on past years. My son will complete Phase 2 but our expectations are low on getting a monetary award. We are in the same boat with endless extra scholarships and the rigor of his current schedule so we HOPE there is some kind of $ award. The other unknown is that some colleges don’t allow stacking of scholarships so this would just “reduce need” and maybe not be a help anyway 
My daughter received the letter also that she has been selected as a finalist. Strange that the number of applicants increased so dramatically this year.
2 Likes
My daughter was a scholar last year and didn’t get a monetary award either. She was initially wait listed to be designated a scholar and then was moved off the wait list and was designated a scholar and wait listed for a monetary award and never received one. I think this is the last year she will try. If she doesn’t get a monetary award this year she will stop applying.
That makes sense, will be interesting to see if she gets one this year. Let’s hope so.
So, my daughter was a finalist last year and in June or July whenever they announced scholars, she was named a scholar and her letter explicitly stated that she would receive a scholarship between $500-$5000. At that point it becomes based on need. Full disclosure, her Uni gave her basically close to nothing in grant aid - meaning I guess they dont think we have much need. (Of course it was by far the lowest of every school she was accepted to - including two other schools that were tied with it in the top 10 rankings) One gave over $20,000 more, the other gave about $11,000 more. Of course other schools gave her Merit Aid with far more value than any of that. (sigh) So, I was hoping that based on school cost and the fact that the school was giving her very little that maybe they would give her a little more than the minimum. They didn’t. But, hey we’ll take it. Everything helps.
In terms of her stats, to give you some idea:
Ranked in the top 10 of over 725 students (7), in a good public school
GPA: 4.0 unweighted - 5.7/5 weighted
I think maybe a 1390 on PSAT, NHRP scholar
National Merit Commended
SAT: 1520 (760/760), 1540 Superscore (760M/780E)
15 AP classes (mostly 4s and 5s) (and she can really only use maybe one - not even the 5 on physics…)
AP Scholar with Distinction, AP Scholar with Honor, AP Capstone Diploma
National Honor Society as well as Math, Science, English and History National Honor Societies
Some local and regional awards for her non-school extracurricular, accepted into highly competitive summer programs every year
Not a lot of school ECs - a couple of clubs - but her outside EC was typically 20 hours a week, but could be as much as 40 hrs/wk - so she didn’t have a lot of extra time
Did a lot of community service/outreach type activities through her external EC
2 Likes
Thank you for sharing that! Our combined income is about $153k and our EFC was listed as $17k for my son because we will have 2 in college next year. But I’m not feeling optimistic we will be selected for a $ award if he becomes a scholar and if he is it will likely be on the lower end. Knowing this, he still wanted to follow through on Phase 2 but it’s a little misleading they call it Hispanic Scholarship Fund and list “up to $5000 award” when most seem to get the low end and the scholarship part seems to be the most unpredictable aspect.
From what I recall last year the people whose kids received $500 said their EFCs were high or very high, so that could be why all we saw on this thread were $500 recipients. In other years I did see other amounts. I also saw somebody post in the past where they received $500 two or three years in a row and senior year they received like $3000. I don’t recall your son’s stats, but good luck, hopefully he will make it and he will change the trend. Tell him not to put the application off because if I recall correctly, there are 4 parts, and you can’t see the next part until you complete the part before. So you can’t see the essay question which I think is in part 2, until you complete part 1. One piece of advice I have on the university side is to appeal the financial aid decision of his top choices. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I appealed to my daughter’s top two choices, one came back with about $15k more, the other came back with nothing. (and yes, my daughter chose the one which came back with nothing additional… but she fell in love with the school and things are going really well for her there.)
Thank you for that info and advice!
Yes, he plans to get right on the Phase 2 application. He is a strong student, although not in Ivy territory (but hopefully he has a shot for HSF recognition and $)
Here are his stats/info:
4.0 unweighted GPA (his school does not weight grades or rank students)
1450 SAT (700 Reading/750 Math)
National Hispanic Merit Scholar
Level 10 Gymnast
USA Gymnastics Academic All-American
Honor Band (drums) with All-County and Area All-State recognition
Lots of volunteer work including:
-Bridges from Borders (group that interviews & tells the stories of immigrants and refugees and tries to educate those populations on dispelling myths about mental health services)
-Drummer for music ministry at University at Buffalo Newman Center for weekly masses
-Percussion player for Concerts for the Soul (memorial ceremonies to help families who lost loved ones due to cancer, gun violence, drug overdose, etc.)
-Pediatric Urgent Care
-Youth Engaged in Service
Fluent in Spanish
Spent 2 summers in Mexico doing upper level gymnastics all in Spanish
Plans to study psychology with end goal of PhD in clinical psychology, hopes to work with Spanish-speaking populations
NHS
UNICEF Club
Varsity Gymnastics Co-Captain
Top schools right now are:
Case Western (got in with $43,500 merit plus $8k grant)
Northeastern (applied EA, deferred to RD)
Barry University Miami (semi-finalist for STAMPS but did not get the full ride, however they are showing him the love with extra merit which brings COA to $16k)
North Park University Chicago (waiting on some bigger scholarship contest results)
Rollins (Orlando)
Buffalo State College (good local option, keep giving him extra money)
Le Moyne (Syracuse)-awaiting some potential extra scholarships awards
1 Like
That sounds really good to me. Congrats on Case Western, EA and a pretty big merit scholarship. For the financial aid, did they provide an appeal process? They usually do, but if not just call the financial aid office and ask if there are any options to appeal. One of the things you can point out on the appeal form if they have one is your EFC, which is about half of your remaining COA. They may not be aware or may have missed that you have another child in college.
Great suggestion! Didn’t even think an appeal could be an option. We kind of felt like we hit the lottery with that offer considering many of his friend’s only received small merit awards. It’s just under $32k so a great price for CWRU but definitely over budget. My son applied for a few competitive scholarships there so he was hoping he might have an outside shot, although I heard they might just reduce the FA award if he gets one, so not sure that school is realistic but he really loves the vibe there. We will try an appeal if my son still considers it a top choice in the next month. Never hurts to try.