Native Students Scholarship

Anessa Rocha & Family
North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California
Fresno State University Health Science Administration

2023-2024 Academic Year Awardee

Background

In 2022, the Sebastian Family Foundation launched a scholarship for Native college and vocational students in an effort to increase access to educational opportunities and to increase the rate of graduation.  There is so much talent and beauty in Native communities. This scholarship fund recognizes that talent and seeks to contribute to the dismantling the oppressive forces that attempt to stifle it. 

Educational Access & Completion

One area of oppression comes through systemic hurdles to accessing quality education and completing higher education and vocational programming for Native youth and young adults.

“I (Dr. Vélez Young) was gifted mentoring, money, and encouragement from the community throughout my educational goals. Today, no matter the pains we face, our family has been very fortunate. We also understand that the Ancestors have given us so much and ask for us to keep serving in new and innovative ways so that future generations don’t need to rely on luck to overcome barriers.” 

Dates

• Application is released June 1 for the 2025-2026 Academic Year 
• Submissions due Aug 1, 2025
• Announcement of recipients by Aug 15, 2025
• Submit a follow-up letter and photo by Feb 1, 2026

Who is Eligible to Apply?

Geographic interactive map: https://native-land.ca/

• All Native students living in Central California are eligible, please see the map of Central California below 
• Native, or Indigenous, students can stem from peoples originating anywhere in North America
• Scholarships of $1,000.00 are awarded to each student in two separate checks of $500.00 at the start of each semester and checks are sent by mail or direct deposit

Criteria

• First-time and returning college or vocational Native students
• Native students residing in Central California, with or without federal recognition
• Full-time enrollment record 
• Submit a follow-up letter and photo by Feb 1, 2026 

How are scholarship applications read and processed?

• Is the application complete?

  • Did the applicant write all of the essays with 200+ words each or submit a 2-3 minute video for each essay question (i.e. applicants can choose to speak instead of write responses to the questions)?
  • Did the applicant upload a picture and evidence of enrollment in the coming semesters?

• Are the essay questions fully answered?

  • What did we learn about the applicant and their heritage?
  • Is it clear why the applicant is pursuing college or a vocational program?
  • Does service to the community or world sound like an important thing for the applicant and inspire readers?
  • Does cultural preservation, the Land, and/or kinship sound like an important thing for the applicant and inspire readers?

• What does not matter in the application?

  • There is no maximum word count.
  • Grammar and technical writing is not important to reading the applications.
  • Past school performance such as GPA is not relevant to this scholarship.
  • Age and other factors that are not listed under “Criteria” are not relevant to this scholarship program. 

Scholarship Awardees