It is very nearly a sure thing that you are going to need financial assistance to complete your education as a social worker.
A joint survey conducted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Council for Social Work Education (CSWE) in 2020 found that only about a third of Master of Social Work graduates nationwide manage to get through school without any form of financial assistance.
With a total debt load of somewhere between $79,000 and $92,000 resting on their shoulders after graduation, social workers can continue to bear the burden of educational costs for decades.
But like so many things you’ll discover in your career as a social worker, getting out in front of problems before they happen whenever possible is alway the best solution. And that means putting in the legwork on the front end before you even get your degree to pin down funding through grants, scholarships, and other sources.
There’s a lot of good people and organizations in Florida and around the country trying to do their part by making degrees in social work more affordable for those who need the financial help. That means there’s a lot of dollars on the table for students exactly like you. You just have to know where to find it and what hoops to jump through to get it.
The good news is that we’re here to do our part too, helping deserving Florida students get into BSW and MSW degree programs and get out into the field working to make a difference.
We do it by offering exactly the kind of guidance and direction you need to get your hands on the money earmarked for Florida’s aspiring social workers.
Completing the FAFSA Application Is the First Task for Any Aspiring Social Work Student
Everyone starts their financial aid journey with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
FAFSA is the major unified application that unlocks federal funding opportunities like Pell Grants and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Just as important, it puts you through a process of collecting and submitting official financial information. That can then be forwarded directly to schools to help qualify you for other forms of assistance.
Because FAFSA is a federal process, you will have options to appeal funding decisions if you get less than you think you should qualify for.
Although filling out a FAFSA form and dealing with all the various bureaucratic snarls that come with big government programs can be challenging, it will give you a comprehensive picture of what lenders and scholarship award organizations look at. You’ll know where you stand and get a good idea what you might qualify for.
Grants, Scholarships, Loans, & Work Study: Understanding the Options Available to Florida Social Work Students
A grant is money you are given toward your college costs based on financial needs. It’s money you do not have to pay back, unless, in some cases, you drop out before completing the term the grant applies to. Typically these go straight to tuition payments, but in some cases are distributed directly to students. Most available grants are provided by state or federal government agencies. In some cases, these do require a certain type of post-graduation obligation, such as serving in an area with unmet social work needs for a specific time period.
Like a grant, a scholarship is money that you don’t need to pay back. Scholarship money can usually go toward tuition or other school-related expenses. Scholarships are offered by many different government agencies, corporations, and non-profit organizations. They may include financial need as a criteria, but also typically require that you meet other terms that are in line with the purpose of the scholarship. Those terms can include your ethnic background, where you went to high school, where you are attending college, or how well you write an essay. These are usually competitive, so even if you qualify, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be the one getting the money.
Unlike scholarships or grants, loans are granted with the intention that you will pay the money back over time, with interest. On the other hand, you can use the funds toward any kind of school-related expense. The terms of repayment vary. Both government and private lenders have various criteria for offering loans and loan terms. In some cases, depending on your post-graduation service, loans can be forgiven so you do not have to repay the full amount.
Although anyone can get a job while they are going to school and self-fund, work-study programs are run by schools themselves (sometimes called fellowships or assistantships) and are designed to put you into positions that are related to your social work studies. You may help with research or engage in student teaching in return for having part of your tuition paid or receiving a stipend.
Most students who need financial assistance end up putting together some combination of all these options to pay their way. If you and your family are lower or middle income, you’ll probably receive at least some grant money; you may line up a number of scholarships both on your own and through your school of social work; you might work summers to build up the bank account for the school year; and you’ll likely end up covering the gaps with a few student loans.
For the purposes of most financial aid, if you receive support from your family, their financial status will be the biggest consideration in needs-based awards.
The key thing is to realize that there are a lot of options and resources. Florida needs social workers, and there is a lot of help available to ensure you get through the educational requirements to get you there.
Florida Schools of Social Work Have Some of the Most Generous Assistance Options for Students
The best resource for most students in their financial aid journey usually ends up being the financial aid office of their own college. Even before you start attending, the professional advisors working in these departments can help you:
- Understand and fill out FAFSA applications
- Offer detailed budgets of annual costs of attendance, so you understand what your needs will be
- Develop a range of financial aid packages that shows all your options for assistance
- Deliver information on unique scholarship or funding options for you from the school itself that may not be available elsewhere
- Help you find scholarships suited to your background and financial status
It’s quite common for Florida schools of social work to offer literally dozens of different dedicated scholarship grants endowed only to their university by former graduates or their survivors. These come with various conditions, like most scholarships, but attendance at that school is the big one.
That’s a plus, however! The pool of competition you face for earning those scholarships is much lower than any of the more open resources we list here. And they are also grants that the school financial aid office will have the most insight and experience with… another good reason to contact the university early in your hunt for financial aid.
College Tuition Assistance From Florida State Agencies
The Florida Department of Education has its own sort of miniature version of the federal Student Aid Office — the Office of Student Financial Assistance. You can find centralized resources there for information and guidance in both the overall process of hunting for financial support and in various options that are specific to Florida schools and residents.
As with federal grants, many of these options are aimed primarily at students with a strong financial need. But they are also broken down into various funding opportunities that are aimed at other particular populations and needs. Social work students who graduated from high school in Florida will often find they qualify for several of these opportunities.
To get started, you’ll have to fill out a FAFSA and also a Florida Financial Aid Application. That will give you access to these generous scholarship opportunities
Bright Futures is the big umbrella program for distributing funds gathered from the state lottery to students with strong academic credentials. They include:
- Florida Academic Scholars
- Florida Medallion Scholars
- Gold Seal Vocational Scholars
- Gold Seal CAPE Scholars
The requirements include high standardized college test scores and high school GPA scores above a certain level. Additionally, applicants are required to fulfill 100 hours of volunteer service or paid work hours at an approved employer.
Maybe the best part about Bright Futures scholarships is that as long as you maintain your credit requirements and GPA standards, they will renew automatically each year.
Florida Student Assistance Grant
FSAG awards come in public, private, and postsecondary awards that cover most schools in the state offering social work programs. These are primarily needs-based, with relatively low GPA requirements. The grants can be renewed, as well, keeping the funding flowing as long as you meet attendance and academic requirements.
First Generation Matching Grant Program
The Florida FGMG may be of particular interest and use to social work students here, since it covers a demographic group that so many are a part of: the first generation within their families to attend college. This only applies to undergraduate institutions and only those within the Florida state university and Florida College System. It is needs based and administered by the individual institutions that participate in the program.
Florida Work Experience Program
FWEP is a state-run, needs-based work-study program that can help offer Florida social work students with paid placements that will simultaneously help further their educational and career goals. That may include accumulating required practice hours, making this a two for one opportunity for lucky and qualifying students.
OSFA has a number of other scholarships and opportunities that you may be eligible for as a Florida resident but which aren’t necessarily directly related to social work studies. It’s worth a look at their website or a discussion with your college financial aid office to see what other state-based options you may qualify for.
There’s a Good Chance You Qualify for Additional Funding That Isn’t Even Aimed at Social Work Students Specifically
Although our resources focus on scholarships and fellowships that are aimed toward social work or human services students, you should be aware that there are thousands of other awards from organizations all over Florida and across the United States. They might not have anything to do with social work necessarily. Instead, you may qualify just because:
- You belong to a particular minority or ethnic group
- Your parent works for a certain organization or in a particular field
- You attended a specific high school or lived in a certain town
- You achieved a certain level of scholastic achievement in high school
- You write a killer essay on a specific subject of interest to the group granting the scholarship
Additionally, you may find social work scholarships that are focused only on particular niche roles, such as homelessness or refugee work.
If you were in the military you will have other state and federal educational funds you may be able to tap into. Similarly, if you had a parent who served, you may have additional funding options.
Either way, this list is something intended to get you started, not as the ultimate and complete resource for Florida social work degree funding. You’ll find that scholarships aren’t always offered every year, while new ones appear all the time. And there are categories of awards we’ve barely scratched here.
So your own diligence and resourcefulness will play the biggest role in helping nail down enough financial aid for that coveted BSW or MSW degree.
Financial Aid Resources From NASW and Other Major Social Work Organizations
If there’s an organization that is at ground zero for the need for social workers on a national scale, it’s NASW. So it’s no surprise that the group has created an entire foundation dedicated to offering scholarship funds to aspiring social work students.
You’ll need to become an NASW member in order to take advantage of these. Student memberships are available at a discounted rate as long as you are enrolled in an eligible program, however.
These scholarships require that you submit:
- A biographical essay
- A statement of merit
- Financial statements for you and, in most cases, your family
- Two or more professional references
All NASW scholarship are aimed at graduate students, so these may be just the thing to get you over that last little hurdle toward earning your Master of Social Work degree.
Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarship
Up to ten MSW students each year receive grants for $4,000 apiece to support their commitment to performing social work in American Indian or Hispanic/Latino communities.
Verne LaMarr Lyons Scholarship
Six students are chosen annually for their commitment to supporting African American communities with health or mental health services. This award goes exclusively to students in MSW programs.
Lawanna Renee Barron Scholarship Endowment Fund
Lawanna Barron made her mark in social work in the south, where poor, Black, rural communities are widespread. That’s the target for this grant, which requires that you show an interest in working with such communities as part of your career. The grant is awarded to only one student attending an accredited MSW program each year, offering $1,000. Unlike many social work scholarships, however, you may apply for and receive the award for multiple years.
National Options for Loan Forgiveness May Be Open to Some Florida Social Workers
While loans will probably be the absolute last financing option on your list, you are unlikely to cover all your college costs out of grants and scholarships. But loans can have a hidden escape clause for individuals who offer mental health and social services in certain parts of the country or to certain marginalized populations.
For Florida social workers, this comes largely through federal programs offered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment program will pay down up to $50,000 of your outstanding college loans in return for two-years of service at an NHSC-approved site. These are health care facilities that offer outpatient services in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas… which you can look up with a handy tool on the Florida Health site.
You may also be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program run by the Education Department if you work directly for the U.S. government or certain non-profit organizations in Florida. PSLF is a bit more complicated to qualify for—you must make a total of 120 qualifying monthly payments on your own, be working full-time for the relevant agency, and have a type of loan that qualifies. This can make it important that you choose certain types of loans when you start your college studies, so working with financial aid offices who can guide you in that right direction can be critical.
Other National Social Work Organizations Providing Scholarships to Florida Students
In addition to NASW, there are a number of other national organizations offering scholarship for social workers that are just as open to Floridians as they are to students in other states. These big national offerings tend to deliver more bang for the buck than state or local scholarships. On the other hand, you are competing with a much larger field of potential rivals.
Of course, these are just a sampling of the thousands of scholarships available to students across the country from various backgrounds or studying various causes. You certainly shouldn’t limit yourself to those only affiliated with social work or human services, but it definitely makes sense to start here. With your commitment to the cause of social work in Florida, you’ll have an edge to receiving competitive awards that are focused on social justice and human service.
National Association of Black Social Workers
With a state population that is nearly 15 percent Black, there are plenty of Florida social work students who are potential NABSW members. That membership is your ticket to one of the 10 awards the organization offers annually of between $500 and $2,500 to support Black/African American social work students who are enrolled for at least 6 hours per semester.
Council on Social Work Education Minority Fellowship Program
CSWE offers other options for all kinds of minority students attending programs they accredit at the master’s level. You’ll need to be planning on specializing in mental health or substance abuse treatment social work practice focused on racial or ethnic minority communities. The fellowship is only offered to students in their final year of studies.
Council on Social Work Education Carl A. Scott Memorial Fund
CSWE also offers a separate fund that goes to support two students each year with $500 toward books and supplies. Although open to all students, it’s particularly aimed at BIPOC BSW and MSW students who have demonstrated a commitment to promoting racial equity and economic and environmental justice.
APA Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Program
The American Psychological Association may not jump to the front of your list of organizations likely to offer scholarship grants to social work students, but this grant covers MSW students who plan to enter careers in behavioral health focused on services for ethnic and racial minorities.
If your plans for a career in Florida social work take in the big picture of macro work in social justice and a better society, then you might just want to apply for a coveted Truman Scholarship. Offering up to $30,000 for graduate students devoted to public service roles, the real value in the Truman program is often thought to be the advising, mentorship, and extra training that comes with it. Truman scholars are often preferred hires in government agencies addressing major social issues, which can boost your career even after graduation.
Offering over 1,500 scholarships for a total amount distributed of almost $5 million, the Davis-Putter Fund is a big player in social justice educational awards. Offered to active or emerging organizers of progress social and economic justice movements, these are a great fit for either graduate or undergraduate social work students.
American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences Undergraduate Scholarships
AAFCS offers an unusual but lucrative kind of support for social work and other students in a range of studies from culinary arts to housing to family relations. With grants of up to $5,000 for bachelor’s students planning to focus on any of those areas, your BSW studies could get a significant boost from this organization.
Stephen J. Brady Stop Hunger Scholarships
A $10,000 award is a big deal in the scholarship world, and the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation offers this one to students specializing in improving food security. If that lines up with your plans in social work studies, you can not only get the grant, but receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Foundation’s annual fundraising event.
National Organization for Human Services Spirit of Service Scholarship
Social work is just one niche within the larger human services field, so it’s worth looking at scholarships that can apply to human services students in general. This offering from NOHS puts $500 toward any undergraduate pursuing a degree in the field.