Scholarships Offered By Green River Foundation – Author: Rosemarie Stephenson
Green River College has multiple financial aid resources available to all students.
“Green River College Foundation provides resources to assist Green River College achieve education excellence,” The Green River College Foundation website said in their mission statement.
The foundation focuses on four strategies: access, capacity building, flexibility, and the success of the students.
Recently, the foundation has added 100 additional scholarships to their program.
The Green River Foundation scholarships, TRiO scholarships, and The Husky Promise scholarship, which is great for any students who have plans to transfer to The University of Washington, are all options for the many different types of students.
Josh Gerstman, a development director at the Green River College Foundation, said they are a “501C3 Not-for-profit organization that works to help students remove financial barriers.” The staff of the Green River College Foundation is made up of students who work and make connections with private donors, and their board of directors are comprised of volunteers who that provide leadership.
The GRC Foundation scholarships are separated into five different categories: program based, merit based, need based, general scholarships and transfer scholarships. It holds two cycles of scholarship applications: in the spring and another in the following fall.
Gerstman says their main focus is the spring applications where over 250 scholarships are awarded. The fall applications are available primarily for students who were not aware of the spring application.
Overall, the foundation has awarded over $500,000 through both cycles this year.
More information about eligibility requirements, deadlines, and how to apply can be found at
The TRiO scholarships are primarily for “first generation, low income, and/or students with disabilities.” Aside from offering scholarships they also provide free services like transfer advising, visits to local four-year colleges, major choice, and career advising and access to the TRiO computer lab.
To qualify for all of the TRiO services and scholarships, you must meet at least one of their three requirements: students must be a first-generation college student, meet low-income federal guidelines or have a documented disability.
For students who are interested in transferring to the University of Washington, the Husky Promise could be a scholarship to look into. First, the federal aid that students receive from completing the FAFSA is applied to tuition and fees.
If this does not cover the full cost, then the the Husky Promise will pay the difference in the form of scholarships and grants that students do not need to repay.
One Green River student, Amethyst McKnight, who worked as an intern to her high school’s career counselor, says she loves the University of Washington and thinks the Husky Promise is “an amazing program for students.”
Once students get approved for the program, it is just a matter of maintaining their GPA and grades. “They make the eligibility really easy…” McKnight said.