Money for Moms: Education Opportunities for Mothers in College

Nationwide

Some scholarships for moms in college are offered to women throughout the U.S. They usually assist mothers with limited financial resources. For example, the Women’s Opportunity Award provides $2,000 grants to moms who have low-paying jobs and earn most of their household income.

Low-wage mothers can apply for $5,000 scholarships from the Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation. To qualify, they need to attend nonprofit universities and have children under 18. The income limits for Education Support Awards vary depending on the size of a family.

Mothers should not overlook scholarship providers that also help women with no children. One example is the Jeannette Rankin Foundation. It awards 15 yearly grants to women who are at least 35 years old. The recipients must enroll in bachelor’s degree programs.

Other grants assist moms and childless women who want to enter specific fields of work. For instance, the Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship provides education funding to help American and Canadian women take classes on statistics. Only full-time students can apply for this grant.

The Society of Women Engineers also offers a field-specific scholarship. It helps mothers earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering or computer technology. However, the SWE only supplies grants to women who have already enrolled in qualifying programs.

Regional

Some organizations exclusively provide grants for moms in certain parts of the country. Many regional scholarships help single mothers attend college. For example, Capture the Dream gives financial assistance to minorities and single parents in the San Francisco Bay area.

Other regional grants supply funding for low-income women to take classes. The Women’s Education Coalition offers yearly awards of up to $4,000. It assists people who lack jobs or work too few hours to pay their bills. This scholarship is available in southern Michigan.

Colleges

A number of grant suppliers only help mothers who attend specific universities. For instance, Waypoint Services awards $500 scholarships to single moms at Iowa’s Kirkwood Community College. Mothers may obtain similar grants in Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

With adequate research, current and future students can find plenty of generous scholarships for stay-at-home moms and working parents. The next step is to apply for assistance. Most grant providers have websites with application forms that students can download, print and mail.