Apply for a Scholarship

Due to this year’s FAFSA-based delays, TSF will send out application decision notices at the end of July/early August. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Applicant Update:

To facilitate our calculations, TSF now requires a copy of your school’s financial aid package for the 2024-2025 academic year, in addition to the FAFSA Submission Summary already provided. Please ensure that tuition, mandatory fees, grants, scholarships, and loans are itemized. This information can typically be found in your financial award letters and/or billing statements. Note that we do not need details on housing, meals, insurance, and miscellaneous costs, as TSF only considers tuition and fees in its scholarship calculations.

We understand that some schools have not yet provided this information and encourage you to check your online accounts regularly to check for updates.

If we do not receive this information or advance notice of a delay by the end of day July 26, your scholarship may be at risk.

Thank you, we appreciate your help and patience as we navigate this year full of changes! 

Below are some ways to obtain a PDF copy of your Award Letter or tuition statement.  

  • Student Account: Log into your student account and download the document(s).
  • Print to PDF: If downloading is not an option, print the document and select “Save to PDF” instead of a printer name.
  • Email: If the document was emailed to you, forward the email or attachment
  • Scan & Email: Scan a paper copy and save it as a PDF

Who is eligible for a scholarship?

Any Wakefield resident, regardless of age, planning to enroll as a full-time student in a post-secondary school or a career-training program is eligible to apply for a TSF scholarship for each academic year of attendance. Wakefield Memorial High School METCO students are also eligible to apply.

Applications are typically accepted January through April for the school year commencing in the fall semester of the same year and ending after spring semester in the following year.  Due to the FAFSA overhaul this year and all its delays, TSF extended the application deadline to June 1, 2024.

application image and link

Applications are no longer accepted for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Who determines the scholarship recipients?

The members of TSF’s Scholarship Needs Committee determine all scholarship recipients. This committee is made up of members of the Board of Directors. Directors who have relatives applying for TSF awards are prohibited from serving on this committee as stipulated by our Bylaws.

We process all applications using assigned ID numbers rather than names, ensuring anonymity amongst the committee members.

How are scholarship recipients determined?

Scholarships are awarded to those applicants with the greatest need. TSF determines need using a formula which contains several factors, such as the family income expected to be available to the student per FAFSA Submission Summary, the cost of tuition at the school selected, the grants/aid provided by other means, and the dollar amount the organization has available to distribute for the year. 

Are scholarships ever given for reasons other than financial need? Yes...

 

  • Each year seven Bill Spaulding Merit Awards of $600 each are awarded to exceptional high school seniors. Invitations are sent to students that are college-bound high school seniors in the top 10% of their class and a Wakefield resident or a METCO student who attended WMHS all four years.
  • The Boston College Academic Achievement Award, funded anonymously in 1987, is awarded to a high-ranking member of the WMHS graduating class who will be attending Boston College. This award of $1350 per year is given for four years of undergraduate study at Boston College provided that the recipient remains a student in good standing at Boston College. This recipient is selected by WMHS staff.
  • The Rhudine Johnson Unsung Hero Award is given to two graduating Wakefield High School students (one male and one female) who are deemed “unsung heroes” of their graduating class. Per the instructions of the benefactor of this TSF fund, the recipients of this $600 award are selected by a peer group of TSF Student Directors.
  • The Dan Blanchard Award was created to honor the memory of Dan Blanchard, who taught history and social studies in Wakefield for 46 years and was Department Chair for 26 of those years.  This $600 award is given to a graduating senior who has excelled in Social Studies (History) and has participated in athletics at WMHS.  This recipient is selected by WMHS staff.