The 2024 Application is now live.
Applications will be accepted until April 30, 2024.

2024 Foundation for Amateur Radio

Scholarship Application

Updated January 8, 2024

To qualify for any of the scholarships managed by the Foundation, you must hold a current amateur radio licensed issued by the FCC or by an equivalent organization in a foreign country.

There are several questions that ask for essay answers. To make it as easy as possible for you to complete the form in one sitting, we suggest that you complete the essay questions ahead of time in Word or in a text editor, then copy and paste your answers into the form. Below, you will find some suggestions to help you to write a strong application. When you click on ‘Submit’ to send the application, you will find a link that allows you to go back and edit the form later. PLEASE COPY THIS LINK, OPEN IT, AND SAVE THE PAGE AS A BOOKMARK! This will allow you to edit the form later if necessary.

Please note that the application form changes every year. Hence, it is important that you begin by accessing the application form from this page every year before starting it. Do NOT use the form from any prior year.

Only those applications submitted using the on-line form will be accepted. If you cannot use our online application, please contact us (farscholarships@gmail.com) and provide an explanation of the issue(s). If necessary, we can provide an alternate form of the application to you. It is important for us to understand your issues with the use of the form and any problems that you might have encountered when using it.

Here is some information that may help you to write a strong application:

Each of the members of the FAR Scholarship Committee reads all of the applications and scores them based on their own rating factors.

When we have all of the scores, we normalize them so that they can be ranked. Once ranked, we make the awards starting with the highest ranked student and working down the list until we have awarded all of the scholarships.

Here are the scoring factors that are typically used by our reviewers:

Amateur radio activity – Allowance is made for the fact that the workload associated with college studies may not leave much time for operating during the school year. That said, the sub-factors here are class of license, membership in a club, participation in public service and/or emergency communications activity, and specific interests in such elements of the hobby as contesting, DX, satellite communications, home-brewing gear, and the like. We’re not suggesting that you change your activities as much as suggesting that you give us a clear understanding of them.
Need – We’re not paying anyone’s tuition, but given two comparable students, the one with the greater need is likely to score higher. The important factor here is to make sure that you answer all of the questions on the form related to FAFSA scores, family income, and college tuition and expense costs.
Performance in school – Not surprisingly, a good GPA is a plus. ACT/SAT scores are evaluated for rising freshmen, only.
Choice of major and career – We don’t evaluate majors and/or careers, per se. However, we would like to know why you have chosen your major and what you plan for a career. This is an area where longer answers are better.
Outside activities – We’d like to be able to form an image of you as a complete person. Hence, we’d like to know about your other activities, that is those outside of ham radio. Are you a Scout? Active in your community or church? Do you play sports? Do you sing or play an instrument? What awards have your received as part of any of those activities.

Please note that we have 16 QCWA scholarships and the Chichester scholarship which all require recommendations to be sent to us! We cannot award these scholarships to anyone who has not submitted the applicable recommendation!!! We can provide assistance in finding an QCWA member and/or an ARRL club officer near you from whom you may request the recommendation. To assist your sponsor in preparing their recommendation, please have them go to: http://www.qcwa.org/sponsors-scholarship-recommendation.pdf to get the preferred format and content for their recommendation.

All awardees must submit a thank you note, a head and shoulders photograph and a brief bio upon notification of their award. Those items should be sent to farscholarships@gmail.com within two weeks of their notification in order to receive the award check. If you have questions about the scholarship process, please email them to farscholarships@gmail.com.

(Posted by Dave Prestel, W8AJR, FAR Scholarship Committee Chairman)