Common Scholarship Application 2024-2025 Evaluation

If you are a Scholarship Evaluator, please click here to log in and access your applications.

Evaluate Your Applications

Join our Scholarship Evaluator Team

Interested in a hands-on volunteer opportunity to read, evaluate and make scholarship decisions for our local San Diego County students?

Then you may be a great fit as a scholarship application evaluator with the San Diego Foundation Community Scholarship Program!

With nearly 140 scholarship funds, 3,000 applicants and more than 900 recipients annually, we rely on our evaluators to make informed and thoughtful award decisions. We are inspired by the commitment our evaluators have made to students and are excited to work together to award a record amount of scholarships each year.

Responsibility

The scholarship selection process runs from January to mid-May. Scholarship evaluators are typically responsible for:

  • Reviewing and scoring applications online
  • Attending in-person or remote interviews with applicants

Scoring applications will take an average of 1-2 hours per pool. Each pool has an average range of 10 – 20 applications, though some may be larger or smaller. Evaluators may sign up to score as many pools as their schedule permits.

Scholarship Evaluator Training

Watch a recording of our scholarship evaluator training to learn more about the application platform Foundant, the dashboard, how to score and rank applicants, and an evaluator overview. Reach out to Melanie Mashburn at melaniem@sdfoundation.org for additional questions.

Timeline

  • January 17, 2024: Common Scholarship Application Opens
  • March 6, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.: Common Scholarship Application Closes
  • March-April 2024: Foundation staff qualifies applications
  • April 2024: Scholarship Application Evaluator training and assignments begin
  • April-May 2024: Application Evaluators read and score applications online
  • June 2024: All students are notified of awards

FAFSA Changes

This year the Department of Education shortened the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and changed the SAI (formerly EFC) tables to more accurately reflect need, especially for low-income students. However, the application has significant issues that are preventing families from applying successfully. To ensure that we continue to help students with the most need, we are allowing students to fill out a FAFSA estimator form in lieu of a full FAFSA or CA Dream Act this year. For more information, please visit our FAQs page.

We will cover the FAFSA in more detail when we host our evaluator trainings in early April and will announce dates when they are confirmed.

Resources

2023-2024 Scholarship Evaluator Training

Community Scholarships Program Flyer (English and Spanish)

Interested in joining our Scholarship Selection Committee? Please contact Melanie Mashburn at melaniem@sdfoundation.org or (619) 814-1315.

Connect with Our Team

Telephone Email Submit a Contact Form