Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund (NRCF) proud­ly cel­e­brat­ed anoth­er mile­stone in its mis­sion to expand access to high­er edu­ca­tion, award­ing $250,000 in schol­ar­ships to 100 stu­dents this year. The announce­ment came as part of San Diego Foun­da­tion’s annu­al Schol­ar­ship Cel­e­bra­tion, held at the San Diego Zoo, where stu­dents, fam­i­lies, donors and com­mu­ni­ty part­ners gath­ered to hon­or this year’s recip­i­ents.

Since its found­ing, NRCF has now award­ed a cumu­la­tive total of $700,000 to 280 stu­dents, made pos­si­ble by a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of donors, vol­un­teers and part­ners com­mit­ted to pro­tect­ing access to high­er edu­ca­tion.

This year’s cel­e­bra­tion was part of a broad­er mile­stone for San Diego Foun­da­tion’s Com­mu­ni­ty Schol­ar­ship Pro­gram, which award­ed a record $5.67 mil­lion in schol­ar­ships to more than 1,000 local stu­dents across all of its part­ner schol­ar­ship funds—the largest schol­ar­ship dis­tri­b­u­tion in the foun­da­tion’s his­to­ry.

“This cel­e­bra­tion is a chance to rec­og­nize what these stu­dents have accom­plished and the com­mu­ni­ty that is help­ing them con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion. For many stu­dents, finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty can make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in their abil­i­ty to stay focused on school and keep mov­ing toward their goals. We’re grate­ful to the donors and part­ners who make that sup­port pos­si­ble.”

A Growing Community of Support

NRCF’s schol­ars bring a wide range of expe­ri­ences to their edu­ca­tion. Many are first-gen­er­a­tion col­lege stu­dents, and many bal­anced work, fam­i­ly respon­si­bil­i­ties and oth­er finan­cial pres­sures while pur­su­ing their degrees. Schol­ar­ship sup­port helps pro­tect their edu­ca­tion­al momen­tum by reduc­ing finan­cial bar­ri­ers that can make stay­ing enrolled more dif­fi­cult.

Join the Effort

As NRCF con­tin­ues to grow its schol­ar­ship fund, this year’s cel­e­bra­tion Reflects what sus­tained donor sup­ports makes pos­si­ble. Every gift, whether it estab­lish­es a new schol­ar­ship or sup­ports an exist­ing one, pro­tects access to edu­ca­tion and cre­ates sta­bil­i­ty dur­ing uncer­tain­ty.

To learn more about estab­lish­ing a schol­ar­ship fund or sup­port­ing NRCF’s mis­sion, vis­it rainbowcollegefund.org.