American Foreign Service Association Scholarship

The AFSA Scholarship Program offers college aid to children of AFSA members whose parents are/were Foreign Service employees. We provide financial aid scholarships to undergraduates and academic merit awards, art merit awards, and a community service award to graduating high school seniors. The above activities could not happen without the generous bequests and donations from those in the Foreign Service community. No AFSA membership dues are used in the AFSA Scholarship Program. This robust AFSA member benefit has disbursed more than $4.3 million to 2,400 students in the last 27 years.

To be eligible for the AFSA Scholarship Fund Program:

Only the children of Foreign Service employees, whose parent(s) is a member of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), are eligible to apply for an AFSA award/scholarship. A student must be claimed as a dependent on the most recent IRS tax form by his/her parent(s) or guardian(s). An AFSA member is or has been an employee (active duty, retired, deceased, and/or separated) with a foreign affairs agency as defined by the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Department of State, USAID, USIA, USAGM, FCS, FAS or APHIS). Children of AFSA Scholarship Committee members are ineligible for AFSA awards or scholarships. For those high school students whose parents are not in the U.S. Government Foreign Service, please view information on AFSA’s High School Essay Contest.

Financial Aid Scholarships

To be eligible to apply for an AFSA undergraduate Financial Aid Scholarship, a student must:

• Be a current high school senior or college freshman, sophomore or junior.
• Be a dependent child of a Foreign Service employee who is an American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) member. The AFSA member must be or have been an employee (active duty, retired, deceased, and/or separated) with a foreign affairs agency as defined by the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Department of State, USAID, USIA, USAGM, FCS, FAS or APHIS).
• Have a minimum GPA of 2.75.
• Demonstrate financial need.

Merit-Based Scholarships

To be eligible to apply for a competitive AFSA Merit Award (Academic and/or Art or Community Service Award), a student must:

• Be a current high school senior.
• Maintain a satisfactory academic record (a minimum cumulative 3.25 GPA out of a 4.0 scale is needed to apply for Academic Merit Award and a cumulative 2.75 GPA on a 4.0 scale is needed to apply for the Art Merit Award). Not all that apply will win an award.