Apply for a Scholarship
Apply for a Scholarship
Scholarship applications for the 2025–2026 academic year are now being accepted through May 1, 2025.
Who is eligible for a scholarship?
- Any Wakefield MA 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.
What are the application requirements?
To complete the application process, applicants must meet the following requirements by May 1, 2025:
- Submit the application form linked below.
- Provide a PDF copy of their 2025-2026 FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS).
- Must be done at time of application.
- Submit PDF copies of financial aid award letters and billing invoices/statements that detail direct costs and any financial aid awarded for the academic year or semester(s) depending on your enrollment status.
- Submit documents at time of application, or when they become available and before the May 1 application deadline.
- Please make sure your name and school are clearly displayed on the financial documents you submit.
- Your documents should include an itemized breakdown of your cost of attendance, as well as any grants, scholarships, and loans offered. This information is typically found in your financial aid award letters or billing statements.
- New and Transfer Students: Provide documents for 2025-2026.
- Returning Students: If you’ve received your 2025–2026 statements, please submit them. If not, you may provide your most recent documents from the 2024–2025 academic year instead.
Questions/Need Help?
2025-2026 FAFSA
Obtain your FAFSA Summary
May 1, 2025
How are scholarship recipients selected?
Scholarships are awarded to applicants with the greatest demonstrated financial need, calculated using a comprehensive formula that considers several factors, including:
- The Student Aid Index (as calculated on the FAFSA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
- Costs associated with the applicant’s selected school
- Grants and aid provided from other sources
To ensure fairness and impartiality, all applications are processed using assigned ID numbers rather than names, maintaining complete anonymity throughout the selection process.
The TSF Scholarship Committee determines the calculation factors that guide both eligibility and award amounts, taking into account the total funds available for distribution in an academic year. This committee is composed of members of the Board of Directors, with a Bylaws policy prohibiting directors with relatives applying for TSF awards from serving on this committee.
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.