A Look at Bill and Melinda Gates Scholarships

Scholarships are an excellent way for a person who can't afford college to actually go to college with some help. Scholarships give the less fortunate people a chance to better themselves and get a college education. Among the other foundations that Bill and Melinda Gates sponsor, they also offer five different scholarships for "promising" kids who can't financial afford the burden of college. The five scholarships are as follows.

D.C. Achievers Scholarship
This scholarship is specifically for high school students in the Washington D.C. area. It consists of 2,250 scholarships for high school students in the D.C. area. The students must live in the lower income wards 7 or 8 and must attend one of the local public high schools. This scholarship is not only sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gates but is also a private-public scholarship. It is supported by the District of Columbia's public schools and mayor to help better their city and schools.

Gates Cambridge Scholarship
This scholarship is an international scholarship program to help graduate students from outside the United Kingdom to study at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship is based on the person's grades, leadership abilities, their desire to apply their talents to provide services to others. The scholarship is awarded to approximately 100 different students each year. The student who applies for this scholarship must already be accepted into the University of Cambridge and must be working on a graduate degree of some kind.

Gates Millennium Scholarship
This scholarship helps provide funding for tuition for college for outstanding minority students who live in low income households. The minorities that are eligible for this scholarship are "African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American or Hispanic American." Financial information on the student's household income is also required when applying for this scholarship. Lastly, the student must have attained a high school grade point average of 3.3 on 4.0 scale.