First-Generation College Student Scholarship Application

First-Generation College Student Scholarship Application Template

Breaking barriers and becoming the first in your family to attend college takes courage, determination, and resilience. If you're a foundation, educational institution, or nonprofit organization supporting first-generation college students, this scholarship application template helps you identify deserving candidates while honoring their unique journeys.

Why First-Generation Students Need Dedicated Support

First-generation college students—those whose parents or guardians haven't completed a four-year degree—face distinct challenges that traditional scholarship applications often overlook. They may lack the family guidance about college applications, financial aid processes, and campus navigation that their peers take for granted. They're also more likely to face financial hardship, work while studying, and carry the weight of family expectations alongside their academic responsibilities.

This template recognizes those realities. It's designed to capture not just academic achievement, but the full picture: family educational history, financial circumstances, personal resilience, and the support systems these students have built or found along the way.

What Makes This Template Work for Scholarship Committees

This first-generation scholarship application gathers the information you need to make informed, equitable decisions:

• Family educational background to verify first-generation status and understand context
• Financial hardship documentation that goes beyond numbers to capture real circumstances
• Academic achievement and goals to assess potential and commitment
• Personal journey essays that reveal character, resilience, and drive
• Mentor and reference information to validate support systems and character
• Future plans and impact statements to invest in students with clear vision

The form balances structured questions with open-ended responses, giving applicants space to share their stories while providing your selection committee with comparable, actionable data.

Perfect for Educational Institutions and Foundations

Whether you're a university financial aid office, a community foundation, a corporate scholarship program, or a nonprofit dedicated to educational equity, this template adapts to your needs. It works for one-time awards, renewable scholarships, program-specific funding, or general academic support.

Paperform makes it easy to brand the application to match your organization, add your logo and colors, and create an experience that feels welcoming rather than bureaucratic—important when many first-generation students are navigating these processes for the first time.

Streamline Your Scholarship Management Workflow

Once applications start flowing in, Paperform helps you manage them efficiently. All submissions are stored securely and can be exported to spreadsheets for committee review, or integrated directly with your CRM or project management tools. Use conditional logic to tailor follow-up questions based on specific circumstances, and create automated confirmation emails that reassure applicants their materials were received.

For organizations managing multiple scholarship programs, you can duplicate and customize this template for different award levels, academic disciplines, or demographic focuses—all while maintaining a consistent application experience.

Add eSignatures and Multi-Step Workflows

Many scholarship programs require signed attestations, financial certifications, or verification forms. With Papersign (papersign.com), you can automatically generate these documents from application data and send them for secure eSignature—keeping everything connected to the original submission for clean record-keeping and compliance.

If your scholarship process involves multiple review stages, committee scoring, or applicant interviews, Stepper (stepper.io) can automate the entire workflow. Route applications to different reviewers based on criteria, track scoring, send interview invitations, trigger award notifications, and keep your team coordinated—all without manual spreadsheet juggling.

Built for Scale, Designed for Students

This template is SOC 2 Type II compliant and suitable for organizations handling sensitive student data, including financial information and personal narratives. Role-based permissions let you control who sees what, while detailed submission tracking ensures nothing falls through the cracks during busy application seasons.

Most importantly, the form is designed from a student-first perspective. Clear instructions, helpful descriptions, and a clean, accessible layout reduce application anxiety and help first-generation students put their best foot forward—because the scholarship process itself shouldn't be another barrier to overcome.

Support the Next Generation of College Students

First-generation college students often become the bridge between their families and higher education, opening doors for siblings, cousins, and entire communities. By making your scholarship application clear, comprehensive, and respectful of their unique experiences, you're not just funding education—you're investing in generational change.

Get started with this template today and create a scholarship application that truly serves the students who need it most.