Site makes isle college
scholarship search easy

The online database is designed
to help students and parents

Hawaii students interested in tracking down college scholarships can now use a free online search engine designed specifically for them by College Connections Hawaii, a local nonprofit organization.

"This is the first time Hawaii-specific scholarships have been collected in one site for parents and students to access online," said Wren Wescoatt, executive director of CCH. "Local scholarships are the ones Hawaii students have the best shot at winning."

The new Hawaii Scholarship Search, launched Tuesday, contains more than 300 options, from $200 awards to full college rides at schools in Hawaii and on the mainland, based on need or achievement. It will be regularly updated and expanded.

"There have been online scholarship searches nationally, but the problem is that you've got hundreds of thousands of scholarships, most of which no one qualifies for," Wescoatt said. "Students have had to weed through that."

Among the Hawaii-tailored opportunities on the site are scholarships for Asian-American journalism majors, cheerleaders going to Hawaii Pacific University, members of the Construction Industry Credit Union and students whose parents work at Hilo Hattie.

Students can search by criteria such as ethnicity, college major, residence, high school and grade-point average.

"It's a great search engine," said Eleyne Fia, college counselor at Campbell High School. "It's easy to maneuver through, and students enjoy using it because the questions are direct and simple to understand."

College Connections designed the database with a grant from the Henry Zuberano Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation. It brings together scholarships from the Hawaii Community Foundation, the state Department of Education, the University of Hawaii system, Kamehameha Schools and other sources.

Visit www.collegeconnections.org and click on "Scholarship Search" to register.