The Scholarship and Interest-Free Educational Loan Program
Obtaining a college education is expensive, and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts strives to provide some financial assistance to students living in Franklin, Hampden or Hampshire counties to help them achieve their goal of graduating from college. We have over 160 different scholarship funds and two loan funds available through our program, and give away over 1,000 individual awards. This equates to approximately $1.4 million in scholarships and $600,000 in interest-free educational loans.
See our Scholarship and Loan Program FAQ for more information.
We are pleased to announce the resumption of CFWM’s student loan program. After a temporary pause was initiated in July 2024 to assess the program’s impact on students, we have made the decision to reinstate the program while continuing ongoing research and dialogue. The pause was part of a larger initiative to evaluate how the loan program fits into the broader conversation of student loan debt, affordability, equity, and long-term financial health for students.
Applications will open on November 1 and close on November 15 at 12PM noon, with awards expected to arrive to students in January 2025, ensuring students have support for the Spring semester.
If you have any questions, please email scholar@communityfoundation.org.
Scholarships and interest-free educational loans are provided for one academic year and are not automatically renewed each year. You can reapply to our program every year you are going to attend college, and the application you submit that year will be considered for all scholarships and loans for which you are eligible.
If you are interested in establishing a new scholarship fund, please visit our START A FUND page.
