College Scholarships for LGBTQ+ Students
Credit: Image Credit: Eduard Figueres/iStock / Getty Images PlusIf you’re looking for extra support to fund your college education as an LGBTQ+ student, there are scholarships available to you.
Some grant you scholarship money based on your financial need. Others award you scholarships based on your academic achievements, extracurricular accomplishments, or field of study.
Scholarships typically require you to submit a personal essay, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and other demographic information. Some scholarships make an extra commitment to protect your choice to go public or stay private with your sexuality.
Organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and Campus Pride maintain scholarship databases you can search to find scholarships for LGBTQ+ students. You can also talk to your high school guidance counselor and research colleges in your state to look for more local or regional opportunities.
LGBTQ+ college scholarships come mostly from private and public organizations.
Across the country, more bills are being introduced to limit or ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Due to the increase of anti-DEI legislation prohibiting public colleges from offering scholarships based on sexuality or race, there aren’t many LGBTQ+ scholarships from these public institutions. However, some private colleges may still offer scholarships for LGBTQ+ students.
Some scholarships welcome all LGBTQ+ applicants. Others focus on specific student populations, such as learners pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees.
Check our list of scholarships that open throughout the year to see if you qualify. This is a non-exhaustive list, so look around online if you don’t find what you’re looking for here.
General LGBTQ+ Scholarships
These scholarships are available to students who identify as LGBTQ+, are allies, or have an LGBTQ+ parent. Some are limited to students who reside in specific U.S. regions and states, while others are available nationwide.
Point Foundation Flagship Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: LGBTQ+ students who are at least high school seniors. Must be pursuing or planning to pursue a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree at a four-year institution.
- Award Amount: Varies depending on financial need for up to four years
- Deadline: Opens Sept. 10, closes Dec. 5
Point Foundation Community College Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: LGBTQ+ students enrolled or intending to enroll in a community college for an associate degree or cosmetology degree/certificate program. You must be enrolled at least half time during the academic year and have 1-2 years of community college left with intent to transfer to a four-year institution for a bachelor’s or graduate with an associate degree.
- Award Amount: $2,400 per semester
- Deadline: Feb annually
Point Foundation BIPOC Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: LGBTQ+ students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) enrolled or intending to enroll in an associate, bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree program. You must be enrolled in one or more credit-bearing classes per semester.
- Award Amount: Up to $1,500
- Deadline: March annually
Pride Foundation Scholarships
- Who’s Eligible: The Pride Foundation awards several scholarships annually through one application for LGBTQ+ students and student allies from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Washington who pursue any postsecondary education. Being a U.S. citizen is not a requirement.
- Award Amount: Varies
- Deadline: Opens Oct. 11, closes Jan. 10
National Rainbow College Fund Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: The National Rainbow College Fund awards scholarships to 200 California LGBTQ+ students who are at least high school seniors and enroll in at least six credits at a four-year, community college, or trade/vocational institution.
- Award Amount: $2,500
- Deadline: March annually
League Foundation Scholarships
- Who’s Eligible: These scholarships are awarded annually to LGBTQ+ students graduating from high school who have a GPA of 3.0 or better. Applicants must complete two personal essays, have made community service contributions, and be accepted to an accredited U.S. college or university.
- Award Amount: Varies
- Deadline: April annually
Markowski-Leach Scholarships
- Who’s Eligible: Applicants must identify as LGBTQ+, have a minimum 2.5 GPA, and be enrolled in a program that provides a degree or teaching credential at one of the following universities: San Francisco State University; Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of California College of the Law, San Francisco; University of California, San Francisco; University of San Francisco; or California Institute of Integral Studies.
- Award Amount: $2,500 annually
- Deadline: March annually
Acorn Equality Fund Scholarships
- Who’s Eligible: Applicants must be downstate Illinois LGBTQ+ students or allies and attend a U.S. postsecondary institution. Downstate Illinois includes all counties except the following: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will.
- Award Amount: $1,000-$4,000
- Deadline: September annually
Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund
- Who’s Eligible: This scholarship is open to LGBTQIA+ students or students with an LGBTQIA+ parent who are pursuing a professional certificate, associate, or bachelor’s degree who’ve lived in Oregon or the following counties in southwest Washington: Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania, and Wahkiakum for at least one year.
- Award Amount: Up to $5,000
- Deadline: April annually
The Aritzia Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: The scholarship is available to students identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or two-spirit who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program studying or planning to work in fashion design, retail management, mental health, or social justice advocacy.
- Award Amount: $5,000
- Deadline: Opens early 2026
Traub-Dicker Rainbow Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: These annual scholarships are awarded to lesbian high school seniors, undergraduates, and graduate students. The program supports students who have demonstrated academic excellence and made a difference through community service.
- Award Amount: $4,000
- Deadline: Opens spring 2025; closing date TBD
PFund Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: This scholarship is awarded to LGBTQ+ students who are from or currently enrolled in school in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota or the Native Nations. Students can be enrolled in or admitted to a GED program, community college, four-year college, university, graduate school, trade school, professional certificate program, or apprenticeship program.
- Award Amount: $1,000-$12,000
- Deadline: March annually
Discipline-Specific LGBTQ+ Scholarships
These scholarships are designed for LGBTQ+ students who want to study a specific discipline. Awards usually include merit-based requirements and other restrictions based on an individual’s field or industry.
Out to Innovate Scholarships
- Who’s Eligible: Out to Innovate gives out scholarships to undergraduate LGBTQ+ students pursuing careers in STEM fields who have finished two years of college with a 2.75 GPA or higher.
- Award Amount: Varies depending on scholarship
- Deadline: Opens mid-April and closes June 7
Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award
- Who’s Eligible: The scholarship awards current or incoming undergraduate and graduate LGBTQ+ students pursuing journalism. Applicants must demonstrate a passion for the field, value fair and accurate news coverage, and show an awareness of issues facing the LGBTQ+ community. Graduates are required to be enrolled in a journalism program. All applicants must be NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists members in good standing.
- Award Amount: Up to $5,000
- Deadline: May 20
Kay Longcope Scholarship Award
- Who’s Eligible: Undergraduate and graduate student applicants must be an LGBTQ+ person of color pursuing a career in journalism. Graduate students are required to be enrolled in a journalism program. All applicants must be NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists members in good standing.
- Award Amount: Up to $3,000
- Deadline: May 20
Reaching Out LGBTQ+ MBA Fellowship
- Who’s Eligible: This fellowship is available to students at participating business schools. Alongside a scholarship, students will receive exclusive benefits to the program. Students will serve as ambassadors of the LGBTQ+ community at large and take an active role in on-campus LGBTQ+ activities. Use the website to let Reaching Out know you’re interested and at which schools.
- Award Amount: Minimum of $20,000
- Deadline: None, schools select students without applications
The National Gay Pilots Association Education Fund
- Who’s Eligible: United Airlines partners with the National Gay Pilots Association to offer this scholarship to full-time juniors, seniors, and graduate students in an accredited aviation college or aeronautical science program. Applicants must be FAA Instrument rating certified, have a minimum 3.0 GPA, and have earned a private and instrument pilot certificate.
- Award Amount: Varies
- Deadline: July 31
BestColleges STEM Pathways Scholarship
- Who’s Eligible: The scholarship is offered to U.S. legal residents who are at least 17 enrolling in an undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited college or university. Students must be pursuing a STEM-related major. The scholarship is meant to recognize students who have raised awareness of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in communities traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.
- Award Amount: $6,000
- Deadline: July 31