Working part-time jobs and going to college is hard; that’s why EC offers scholarship opportunities for hard-working students to ease their pain from paying tuition fees.
Different resources are available at the Scholarship Office located on the second floor of the Student Services Center for students who are interested in receiving a scholarship.
“We have three computers at the Scholarship Office where students can search for scholarships for an hour by appointment,” Scholarship Technician Kahealani Kamahele said. “They can also apply for financial aid on the computers.”
The office hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Friday.
“We have only five applications so far, which is not unusual,” Kamahele, said. “We usually end up getting a hundred applications in four hours on the last day.”
The deadline for applications, Kamahele said, has been moved up from March to Dec. 16 because students who are not attending winter session may miss the spring deadline for turning in applications.
Kamahele said that the scholarship descriptions posted outside the Scholarship Office have corresponding numbers with application forms in the office.
“Students just have to look at the numbers, then come in and pick up the application forms with the corresponding number on the tree,” Kamahele said.
Among the hundreds of scholarship is the El Camino Scholarship.
“There is a list of different scholarship with the EC Scholarship, for students of different majors and who fit in different criteria,” Kamahele said.
There were 55 donors last year and 135 scholarships. Approximately $45,000 was awarded to students.
“We have a lot of opportunities and it is easy for students to apply,” Kamahele said.
Students just need to pick up a pink EC Scholarship application form at the Scholarship Office, obtain an unofficial printout of their current transcript and the required GPA is 2.0.
An autobiography is also required, but the subject of the autobiography depends on what scholarship it is and what the donor requires.
“We had ethnic scholarship donors who require students to write essays to comment on any ethnic issues,” Kamahele said. “We have also had a scholarship sponsored by the water works which required students to come up with a project that has to do with the subject.”
After a student has been awarded a scholarship, Kamahele said that it may take a week to more than a month for him or her to receive the check, depending on the donor.
However, money is not the only thing that students should look for.
“A plaque or a certificate will be awarded to the students,” Nickle said. “Even though the students might not receive a lot of money, the certificate will be useful later on when they want to apply for a university,” Nickle said.
