Vision Financial is committed to giving back and recognizes the importance of education and academic assistance.

Scholarships provide an opportunity for people to earn an education and pursue their dreams. Vision Financial is proud to award three deserving students pursuing a two-year or four-year undergraduate education with $1,000 scholarships for Fall 2027. Eligible applicants include graduating high school seniors entering college and current undergraduate students.

Scholarship Eligibility Criteria

In order to qualify for a scholarship, applicants must:

• Possess a 3.0 GPA or above on a 4-point (non-weighted) scale.
• Be a credit union member in good standing. (Memberships of parents or other immediate family members do not qualify.)
• Be enrolled or plan to be enrolled as a full-time student in the upcoming year.

Scholarship Application Timeline

• October 1 – February 1: applications accepted.
• February – March: applications scored and winners selected.
• April: winners notified.
• April - May: return verification forms completed by winners in order to process scholarship checks.
• June - July: scholarship checks mailed.

Application information you’ll need and how to make your application stand out:

Applications are completed on our scholarship portal. The information needed to successfully complete your application includes:

• Applicant and parent contact information.
• High school and/or college transcripts.
• Your non-weighted (4.0 scale) GPA.
• Credit union membership(s) and last four of your member number.
• College or university you plan to attend and degree you plan to pursue (this is non-binding, so if you are not sure, list your most likely choice).
• Details stating financial need (if applicable). This includes household income and other factors that you think we should know about your family’s financial situation.
• Community and school activities. Be as thorough as possible!
• Work history (if applicable).
• Essay question answer.

How Your Application is Scored

As you complete your application, keep in mind that we focus on four key areas:

1. Your grade point average.
   A score is automatically assigned based on your non-weighted (4.0 scale) GPA. The higher your GPA, the higher your score in this particular category.
2. Your school clubs and activities.
   Your involvement in school clubs and on-campus volunteer activities carries considerable weight. Please be specific in describing the clubs you were a part of and why they were important to you, as well as the activities you participated in with the club(s).
3. Your community and volunteer involvement.
   People Helping People is a motto and core value of credit unions throughout the world. So, it is only natural that we salute young men and women who are active in volunteering in their community, and trying to make the world a better place. Please list your recent volunteer and community activities thoughtfully and carefully, as this is a key part of the application process that can help you stand out!
4. The answer to your essay question.
   Each year, the Foundation asks applicants to write a short essay based on a question or topic we select. While just a few paragraphs will do, we do encourage you to give careful thought to your essay, and keep your essay focused on answering the question. The essay question section is not a space for you to tell us why you deserve a scholarship.

Essay Question: Please write an essay of up to 300 words of the following topic:

Tell us about a time when life didn't go according to your plan. Describe what happened, what you did next, and what this experience reveals about who you are today. (Note: your experience does not need to be negative or positive necessarily.) The impact of the situation, along with your decisions and learning points, are what matter most. We just want to hear from you, not an AI tool, so please write this essay yourself, in your own voice.

Financial Need

In addition to the four key areas we focus on when scoring your application, the Foundation also recognizes that college is overwhelmingly expensive for many. To help, the Foundation’s scholarship application portal includes a financial need section. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship based on your financial need please complete this section, and be as specific as possible when detailing your situation. Key information we look for when assessing financial need includes:

• Household income.
• Other scholarships you’ve received.
• Access to financial aid (federal and state).
• Savings.
• How much your family will contribute to your tuition this year.
• Circumstances your family is facing that pose a strain on finances. Please be as specific as possible when filling out this section.

To apply, students will use the online portal managed by the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation. The Carolinas Credit Union Foundation manages all notifications relating to the Vision Financial Federal Credit Union Scholarship program.

*Must be a Vision Financial Federal Credit Union member in good standing and must be a full-time student in the year for which they are applying for a scholarship.  **All application questions, communications,  and distribution of funds are processed through Carolinas Credit Union Foundation. See Carolinas Credit Union Foundation for details.