Scholarships for Cancer Survivors and Patients
Get a Financial Break in College
Individuals who are either living with cancer or are cancer survivors face insurmountable challenges comparatively. Not only has the deadly and often-incurable disease threatened their lives, but also emotional, psychological and physical challenges not usually faced by college students become a significant consideration.
Emotionally, many cancer patients and survivors suffer depression and other psychological problems when faced with the chances of dying. An otherwise ordinary life is no longer progressing along with a definite future. Patients and survivors may vow to make core changes in behavior such as pursuing goals once put off.
A college degree can be a daunting prospect and in many cases cancer can be the biggest risk to tackling an education. For this reason there are many organizations that make scholarships available solely to individuals suffering with cancer or to cancer survivors.
Federal Sources of Cancer Scholarships
Federal Pell Grants are available to seriously income-challenged students and many individuals with a life-threatening disease are financially poor due to medical costs. Students of any type should always seek assistance from federal sources first. Apply for the Pell Grant or the Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students by completing a FAFSA application.
The Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students is available for students interested in a degree in a health profession or nursing. The program is available directly through the school you will be attending and awards are based purely on need. Awards can cover the cost of tuition, making it worth the energy to apply.
Private Sources of Scholarships
Private organizations such as the Cancer Survivors Fund do much more than simply award scholarship funds to cancer patients and survivors. The organization is dedicated to providing spiritual and emotional support and inspiration to those in need living with cancer. Young cancer patients and those who have survived often face serious challenges both monetary and psychological with visualizing and planning a viable future that may again hold their lives in the balance.
Organizations such as this survive on actively seeking monetary donations so their work may continue to help with improving the lives of cancer patients and survivors. Once only available in Texas, the Cancer Survivors Fund is open to all students living in the U.S . Applicants must be able to articulate in an essay why cancer has changed their goals and view of life. Those students awarded scholarships must also agree to serve a certain number of community service hours with other cancer patients as a way to give back to the cancer community.
The Patient Advocate Foundation provides a Scholarship for Survivors that is designed to assist students who have survived cancer and other serious diseases. The scholarship is also based partially on academic merit, and like the Cancer Survivors Fund, those receiving scholarship funds must be willing to dedicate a few hours of community service each week in exchange for funds that may be as much as $5,000 per academic year.
The mission of SAMFund is to scholastically assist college students between 18 and 35 in financing and completing a college education, which translates to effectively moving forward with their career and life goals. Before diagnosis of their disease, many young cancer patients once had certain goals for college and personal lives. Once interrupted many may lose sight of those goals, and survivors may come to realize new goals they never had. The meaning of Sam, Surviving and Moving Forward, is met in this not-for-profit organization's dedication to financial scholarships and grants.
Students Affected by Cancer
Siblings of cancer patients or survivors face their own distinct challenges in life. While a child with cancer may seem to be the primary focus for a family's purpose - the fight for life - other children may feel less important, with their goals not well defined. In some cases siblings of cancer patients may come to view otherwise commonplace goals in life as being frivolous in comparison to a brother or sister's fight for life.
The SuperSibs! Scholarship is uniquely designed to combat the feeling of inadequacy and lack of self-importance often faced by a sibling of a cancer patient. Scholarship funds help a financially distressed family living with heavy medical bills, as well. The scholarship may award up to $5,000 per academic year.
