Our Scholarship Model

ATHEFA’s scholarship program helps disadvantaged, first-generation students access higher education through tailored financial support. Rather than offering one fixed scholarship amount, ATHEFA considers each applicant’s actual needs, including tuition, academic supplies, and essential cost-of-living support where needed. This approach allows us to use donor funds responsibly while helping students overcome the specific financial barriers that may prevent them from starting or completing higher education.

1. Nomination

ATHEFA works with approved Partner Organizations to identify eligible scholarship applicants. Partner Organizations nominate students they have known for at least one year and who meet ATHEFA’s core eligibility requirements, including being a first-generation student and preparing to enter or continue higher education.

This nomination process helps ensure that applicants are not selected based on paperwork alone. Local partners provide important context about each student’s background, financial need, character, and community involvement, helping ATHEFA better understand the full picture of each applicant’s circumstances.

2. Application

After nomination, students complete a detailed scholarship application. The application asks students to share information about their educational goals, financial circumstances, chosen higher education institution, expected costs, and the support they need to successfully pursue their studies.

Applicants are asked to break down their requested funding so ATHEFA can understand the true cost of attendance, including tuition, supplies, and essential living costs when relevant. This tailored approach helps ensure that funding is directed where it is most needed, allows us to fund more scholars, and ensures that each scholarship is built around the student’s real circumstances.

3. Review

Applications are reviewed by ATHEFA’s Scholarship Review Committee using a fair and consistent evaluation process. Each application is assessed and scored against a set of defined criteria, including financial need, academic potential, personal circumstances, community involvement, and commitment to creating a positive impact.

ATHEFA aims to make scholarship decisions thoughtfully and transparently. When there are more qualified applicants than available funds, eligible applicants may be waitlisted for future consideration. This allows ATHEFA to continue supporting strong candidates as additional funding becomes available.

4. Disbursement

Once a student is awarded a scholarship and confirms their acceptance into an approved higher education institution, ATHEFA works with the Partner Organization to distribute funds in scheduled instalments, reducing the risk of misuse while ensuring students receive ongoing support.

Funding is intended to support the full proposed study period, provided the recipient continues to meet program requirements. Recipients are expected to maintain passing grades, submit regular updates, seek employment, and remain engaged with their Partner Organization. This ongoing support and accountability help students remain on track while allowing ATHEFA to measure the long-term impact of each scholarship.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Not right now; a core principle of our model is keeping talent and funds within developing communities and institutions.

    However, we’re hoping to add a version of this in the future for post-conflict areas or where local institutions can’t offer quality education in a field. To learn more about our future ambitions, click here.

  • Unfortunately not. To ensure our donor funds are allocated responsibly to the most in-need applicants, we require that applicants be nominated by one of our Partner Organizations first.

  • While this isn’t our main focus, we are open to funding these and other similar programs and degrees on a case-by-case basis, provided that studying this field can make a personal and community impact.

  • Absolutely! We’re always on the lookout to partner with new organizations that meet our requirements.

    Please visit our Partner Organizations page to learn more.

  • Right now, we only have Partner Organizations in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, but we’ve identified over 30 nations where our mission would be beneficial. With enough growth and Partner Organizations, we’d love to expand to more of these countries!

  • While our current focus is undergraduate scholarships, we are open to funding them on a case-by-case basis.