The Higher Foundation Grant

The Higher Foundation Grant promotes post-secondary education by providing need-based financial aid to Georgia college students. We award one-time $500 grants directly to Georgia college students to help cover their cost-of-living expenses. Our grant cycle is August through May to align with the academic year, and grant recipients are selected monthly at random to eliminate bias. Students will receive application updates by the 15th of the month. Please do not contact us for an application update. If you have any other questions or concerns, you may find answers in our Frequently Asked Questions. If you do not find your answer there, please email us at students@higherfoundation.org. 

The Higher Foundation Grant Categories

Food

We will help you purchase food and groceries to make sure you have the energy and nutrition you need.

Housing

We will help you pay your monthly housing bills to make sure you have a place to call home.

Transportation

We will help you pay for gas, rideshare, and public transit to make sure you get to class and work.

Healthcare

We will help you pay for therapy, medicine, dentist, and doctor visits to ensure you are in a healthy condition.

Resources

We will help you with the costs of your basic needs and college resources to help you go higher in your education.

Career Advancement

We will help you pay for fees related to professional development and getting into graduate school.

The Higher Foundation Grant Process

Please read through each stage carefully to understand our grant process.

Stage 1

Application

Eligibility Criteria:

  • Must be enrolled in a Georgia post-secondary institution pursuing either a Certificate, Diploma, or Degree (including Associates, Bachelors, Masters, & Doctorate) – High school students in dual-enrollment programs are not eligible. 

Application Requirements:

  • Proof of Georgia college enrollment for the current semester (Unofficial college transcript, official college transcript, or a college acceptance letter)
  • The Give Higher Campaign Video Submission (Please follow the instructions here)
  • Headshot with a backdrop, white wall, or outdoor background (Blurry photos, AI photos, and selfies are not accepted.)

Stage 2

Selection

If your application meets our application requirements, it will be accepted into our application pool and will remain active for 1 calendar year. We randomly select grant recipients from our application pool on the 15th of months August through April. If a student’s application is not randomly selected within 1 calendar year, the student’s application will be removed from our application pool, and the student is encouraged to reapply once removed if he or she still needs financial assistance. If your application is randomly selected, we will contact you. Please do not contact us for an application update.

Stage 3

Approval

Once a student’s application is randomly selected, we will request the student to provide his or her Enrollment Verification from the Office of the Registrar by the 1st of the following month during September through May. Once received and approved, the student will receive the grant award via PayPal by the 15th of the same month. Higher Students are encouraged to participate in The Give Higher Campaign and submit a Higher Testimonial once the grant award has been received. If a Higher Student still needs financial assistance after receiving our grant, he or she can reapply in the next academic year. Higher Students are eligible to receive only one grant from us each academic year. 

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Higher Alum Testimonials

For privacy reasons, the Higher Students’ pictures here are for illustration purposes only.

As a homeless student, the Higher Foundation Grant has given me more food security. Not being able to have food every day has been a huge stress on my mental health, but I feel more financially comfortable with the grant. I will be forever grateful.

Higher Alum, Georgia Institute of Technology

Honestly, when you’re worried about financial means, sometimes you cannot concentrate to your full ability. Being a college student requires you to have your concentration at full capacity. The Higher Foundation Grant allowed to relieve some stress by not having to worry where I was going to pull out money from without getting into more debt. This allows me to slowly thrive and pay my attention 100% to my classes.

Higher Alum, Georgia State University

Higher Foundation has been so helpful to me. While it may seem small, the grant to purchase a parking pass has made my life so much easier. I was spending an hour in both the morning and the afternoon waiting for the bus. Since school started, I was already rained on repeatedly. With my pass, I am able to get back and forth to school much more efficiently. As a law student, this is invaluable. I now have another hour to sleep, study, or cook — all these that are much more important to my future than simply waiting on the bus. Thank you so much. I cannot wait to pay it forward.

Higher Alum, University of Georgia College of Law