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“YOU, YOU, AND EVERY ONE OF YOU CAN GO TO COLLEGE IF YOU CHOOSE!”

-Ewing Marion Kauffman

KC Scholars was incubated at the Kauffman Foundation to continue its legacy of support for postsecondary attainment. KC Scholars was intentionally and purposefully designed as a community asset. Over 70 members of the region worked together for over a year to plan KC Scholars and it is now an independent 501(c)(3), situated in the community, with a community-based board of directors.

KC Scholars was designed to create life-changing opportunity for thousands of individuals and to positively transform the region’s workforce and economy.

Over

Ethnically and Racially Diverse College-Educated Workers Infused Into the Regional Workforce

Increase in the Region's Minority College Attainment Rate

Trillion

In Increased Wages for the Region

Trillion

Into the Local Economy

Read on to learn more about this unique and powerful program.

OUR MISSION IS YOUR SUCCESS

The mission of KC Scholars is to increase postsecondary education attainment in the greater Kansas City area.

KC Scholars will provide the means – through scholarships, financial incentives to promote college savings, and support services – for low- and modest-income students and adults needing access to pursue and complete a postsecondary credit-bearing credential or degree.

KC Scholars provides the opportunity for college for those that likely would not have otherwise attended or completed.

WHO WE SERVE

The program is designed to serve low- and modest-income high school students who are in public, charter, and private schools and home-schooled; and adults with some college, but no degree, and adults with an associate’s who will be supported to earn a bachelor’s degree.

KC Scholars will make approximately 500 scholarship awards (at least 250 Traditional, up to 200 Adult Learner, and at least 50 College Savings Match and Incentive) and seed up to 500 529 College Savings Accounts annually.

We will award many more Traditional Scholarships this year than last. Apply so you are considered for a life-changing scholarship.

OUR SERVICE AREA

KC Scholars serves a 6-county area of the Kansas City region: Wyandotte and Johnson Counties in Kansas and Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte in Missouri.

Learn More About How To Apply

KC SCHOLARS IS CHANGING LIVES!

Nearly all KC Scholars share that receiving the scholarship, and accompanying support, changed their lives! They indicate that they would not have attended college without KC Scholars.

In the words of 2018 traditional scholarship recipient, Natalie Moyer, “KC Scholars is not just a donation that is helping students like myself lower their cost of higher education. It’s an open door to opportunity, an all-in support system put in place for its students to make sure they succeed, and a chance for young adults like myself to finally see their dreams become a reality. KC Scholars is so much more than just a program to help students. KC Scholars is a family—a family that’s got your back.”