Scholarship Applications for the 2025-26 Academic Year are open!
Renewal applications are due by February 17th, and first-time applications are due by March 17th. High school students from our 21-town region are encouraged to find out more about the eligibility criteria and to APPLY NOW!
2024 Connecticut Community Foundation scholarship recipients include (left to right): Samantha Cook of Watertown, Maria Britto-Hicks, Marcus Concepcion, Claire Demers, and Armani Hayes
Over $1.1 Million Dollars in Scholarships Were Awarded for the 2024-25 Academic Year.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of hundreds of donors, the Connecticut Community Foundation has been one of the largest scholarship-awarding organizations in our region for decades. This investment in helping our neighbors pursue their educational goals is, in turn, an investment in the future enrichment of our community.
In 2024, more than 400 students were awarded a total of over $1.1 million dollars in scholarships for the 2024-25 academic year. Students from Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills currently attend college at 125 institutions throughout the United States — expanding their promise, dedicated efforts, and unique hopes for a prosperous future. Many of those students have expressed their desire to one day reach back and uplift their communities.
Marcus Concepcion of Watertown, an aerospace engineering major at Worcester Polytechnic, received his award from the Jack and Vivian Hanson Scholarship Program. “This scholarship is not just a financial blessing; it is also a motivating force that drives me to excel academically and contribute positively to my community,” says Marcus. A dean’s list student, Marcus has also achieved Eagle Scout rank. His service project involved clean up and revitalization of the lower area of the historic Holy Land USA site in Waterbury. Marcus hopes to “help other students achieve their dreams, just as you have helped me.”
A 4-year undergraduate degree requires a serious, substantial investment. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of college in the U.S. has more than doubled in the first 25 years of the 21st century. The average student now spends $58,628 per academic year living on campus at a nonprofit university, with many universities costing significantly more. Comparatively, those college costs surpass more than half of the median household income in Connecticut overall ($93,760 in 2023). A single average year of college costs well above Waterbury’s median household income of $46,329.
Yet, over a lifetime, that investment in a college education — along with well-informed career choices — can also pay off substantially, and the benefits extend beyond the individual. While the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity reveals that most bachelor’s degree holders see substantially higher lifetime incomes than high school graduates, they are also more likely to receive employer-provided health insurance, greater job stability, better retirement security, and are more likely to be civically engaged, to volunteer their time and talents, and to participate in community organizations. Many of the Foundation’s scholarship recipients have already expressed their desire to help others and contribute in powerful, positive ways.
Scholarship recipient Armani Mayes of Waterbury is simultaneously completing her undergraduate degree in Psychology while beginning her first year in the Doctorate of Occupational Therapy Program at Western New England University. Armani expressed her gratitude and hopes “that many students after me get the opportunity to thank you all as well.”
Samantha Cook of Oxford received the Isabelle V. Curtiss scholarship, which she says will “help ease some of the burden of college” as she pursues her degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, gaining knowledge and skills she hopes to bring back to her home state.
Mariah Britto-Hicks from Waterbury, a mother of four and full-time worker is balancing her family responsibilities with her academic aspirations as she attends Central Connecticut State University. A scholarship from the Dr. and Mrs. Sidney B. Luria Memorial Scholarship Fund is helping Mariah to pursue her goals and “give back to my community as a forensic psychologist.”
When it comes to “paying it forward,” Claire Demers of Watertown, a recent graduate from the University of Rhode Island who received the Jack and Vivian Hanson Scholarship is already on her way to becoming an educator herself! She is helping to inspire the next generation of young scientists at Pomperaug High School in Southbury, where she is an intern while she begins her graduate work at the University of Bridgeport.
The Foundation’s Senior Program and Scholarship Associate Tallitha Richardson calls it a “great pleasure” to have worked with the students, their parents, and the colleges for more than 20 years. Tallitha has built strong relationships with these families and is always a calming force and steadfast advocate for our scholarship recipients. “My heart is touched every time a student or a parent sends me a thank you or calls me on the phone and says how the scholarship made such a difference in their life — removing some of their financial burden and allowing them to focus, apply themselves, and have a successful college career. We are forever grateful to our donors who fund the scholarships that aid these young people as they work to reach their educational and career aspirations. None of this would be possible without them.”
Sources for this article include:
DataHaven’s Waterbury 2021 Equity Profile ; Greater Waterbury Health Partnership’s 2023-2026 Community Health Needs Assessment; New Research Reveals True Value of College Education (Forbes, Dec. 2024); The Education Data Initiative; United States Census Bureau
