Scholarships

Project Summary: The Hope Foundation of Palestine will offer partial or full scholarship to qualified students with financial hardship but excellent academic skills. The foundation will concentrate on first-generation students as early as middle school to give them, and their families HOPE of having someone from the family attain a specific degree from a university of choice in Palestine. There will be certain criterion of selection to include, excellent academic record, financial difficulties and be from a family whose father and mother never finished a college degree. While at the university of choice, the student MUST always maintain a minimum of 3.0 (B average). Additionally, the student needs to choose a major that will benefit the larger community after graduation. Lastly, the student must give back to the larger community once he/she graduates. Additional selection criterion might be to identify the future needs of the community and then help select a qualified candidate to fulfill such future need. As an example, certain region of Palestine might need a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist, an agriculture specialist, a teacher, an engineer, etc. Full scholarships will be offered once funds are secured for the whole duration of the scholarship.

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Challenge: Many students with excellent academic records give up on finishing high school or attending a university after graduating from high school because they know that the university is out of reach to them and their families due to cost. These students will start working at an early age as laborer in Palestine or Israel to support their families. Such family chance of getting out of poverty is limited. Being a laborer does not guarantee continuous and consistent  income. At certain time, a family can afford to send one of their children to a university but if the head of the house loses his/her job, or gets injured, such family is out of income and their child in a university is now not able to continue. Other challenges facing students from poor and needy families is that they owe the university tuition, and they will not be able to receive their diploma until they pay their debt.

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Solution: The Hope Foundation of Palestine will start a campaign of information as early as middle school to first-generation students and their families. Such program had some positive results in the United Stated and the foundation hopes to apply these positive results in Palestine.

The foundation will offer a partial scholarship, full year at $1,750, or a semester at $875 to those students who are almost done with a degree that benefits the larger community, but their families fell on hard times and cannot afford of the cost of a university any longer.

Full scholarship will include books, travel and living expenses at a cost of $10,000 for four years. Full scholarships will only be offered to children of families from poor and needy first-generation. Additionally, the foundation will help certain families of scholarship recipients financially to offset the loss of income from their child while attending a university.

Lastly, the foundation will help on a case-by-case basis those who are done but do owe the university back tuition to get their degrees.

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Long-Term Impact:

The foundation believes that the true way out of poverty is through education. Concentrating on first generation student will

1. Create graduates with degrees that will benefit the larger community. These degrees include but limited to Islamic studies, medical degrees (general practice), dentistry, pharmaceutical, agriculture, nursing, education, physical therapist for seniors, therapist, and social workers. just to mention few.

2. Improve the quality of life of his/her family and the larger community.

3. Create an atmosphere within such family to have more siblings attend a university.

4. Create a culture of giving back to the community which in turns encourages other first-generation students to become part of this culture.

5. Improve the quality of life in the larger community by reducing poverty.