SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

5 North Carolina Counties
Represented

ALL
Legal Statuses
Welcome

Opportunities
for
New Applicants

Over $1.4 Million in Scholarships

Almost 30 years ago, a small group of women from Spanish-speaking countries formed an organization in Charlotte to help young Latinos gain critical access to higher education and careers. LAWA continues to provide scholarships through a competitive process based on academic achievement, financial need and community service. A volunteer committee consisting of college and university faculty, area educators and former LAWA Scholars conducts "blind reviews” of every application without knowledge of student names or personal information. LAWA thanks these educators and our sponsors for their dedication to this impactful program!

2025-2026 Scholarship Applications

NOW Closed.

*For questions, please email scholarships@lawanc.org

MATCHING INSTITUTIONS

Belmont Abbey College (new), Johnson C. Smith University, Montreat College, Queens University of Charlotte, South Piedmont Community College, Carolina University, Wingate University, and Randolph College have partnered with LAWA for over five years to support Latino students!

These universities match LAWA scholarships for students enrolled in their programs. The public display of collaborative support towards the Latino student's tuition promotes community building and higher education access.

*Matching dollars depend from institution to institution*

new scholarship funds

LAWA has a strong relationship with the Charlotte community and it's evident on how fortunate we are of having long standing established scholarships funds.

This year we are proud to introduce 5 new scholarship funds.

2024 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS CEREMONY

With the patronage of generous individuals, corporations, foundations, nonprofits, and individuals, LAWA awarded scholarships to 71 Latinos students in the amount of $311,500 dollars including matching funds.

19 students are attending a matching scholarship partner.

This year, LAWA received 5% more applications compared to 2023.

Tuition scholarships are awarded based on the following criteria:

1) Financial need

2) Academic achievement

3) Community service, regardless of a student’s legal status.

Congratulations to our 2024-2025 LAWA Scholars

Hear from our scholars...

Luz

Jorge

Isabella

David

"My name is Luz Tortolero, I will be transferring to UNCC this upcoming Fall as a Fine Art and Graphic Design Major. I have been a LAWA scholar for the past two years, and I am beyond thankful to LAWA and the Gonzalez Scholarship for not only providing me with the funds for my education, but also for providing me and so many other LAWA scholars with resources, support and opportunities, thank you"

LUZ

“When I moved to this country, I was determined to continue my education no matter the cost. However, I was surprised to find a community that supported me as much as the Charlotte Hispanic community has. Moving forward, I will transfer to Duke University to finish my studies in Biochemistry and Computational Biology. I want to become a scientist who helps face Cancer Biology's challenges and will do so as a proud LAWA scholar. I'm grateful to LAWA's partners for making resources available to us and to LAWA for delivering them. Thank you for believing we are capable of great things.”

JORGE

“I am Isabella Loreto and I will be majoring in Architecture at Virginia Tech in the fall. Firstly, I want to thank everyone here for you dedication to this organization and assisting all of us recipients in pursuing higher education. I am incredibly proud to be a part of this community and grateful to Marand Builders to supporting me in this journey at Virginia Tech, I couldn’t have been able to fund my education without their generous scholarship. I also want to thank my parents for getting me here, I wouldn’t be here without you. I can’t wait to learn and connect more with the LAWA family in the future.”

ISABELLA

“My name is David Pozo, First I just wanted to thank LAWA for all of their support and I really do feel like I am a part of a good community with so many talented people. I am going to be a sophomore in the fall and I will be majoring in Industrial & Systems Engineering. One of the reasons I am able to pay for college is because of the Marand Builder Scholarship, they have been amazing, and I was actually offered and internship with them over the summer and I am learning a lot about the industry, their company and I’m also just learning what it’s like to have a real job for the first time. Finally, I just wanted to say thank you to Marand Builders and thank you to LAWA for giving me this opportunity and investing into my future and a big thank you to my family and all of my supporters, Thank You.”

DAVID

LAWA Scholarship Recipients throughout the years...