The Estonian Students Fund in USA was founded in 1961 to provide scholarships and grants to students of Estonian heritage. Since the mid-1990s, the Fund has seen increasing requests for support from students in Estonia and fewer requests for support from Estonian-Americans in the USA. While we gladly support Estonian students no matter what part of the world they live in, we are hoping to reach greater numbers of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation Estonian-Americans in the coming years.
Scholarship amounts can range from $1000-$5000, depending on the applicant’s background, financial need, grades, etc. Basic Estonian language skills as well as interest and participation in the Estonian-American community are also taken into account. The Fund also provides special scholarships to those US-born students who wish to study in Estonia for a semester, a year or longer.
The annual application process opens in November and closes in February. Applications are reviewed by the Scholarship Committee in the spring, notification is made in May and scholarships are distributed in late summer.
Information about the Estonian Students Fund in USA can be found online at www.esfusa.org. The scholarship application will be posted to the website about November 15th.
Also, for those who use Facebook, the Fund has a page there that can help keep you informed about news, deadlines and other relevant information from ESF. Simply log on to Facebook, search on “Estonian Students Fund in USA” and give us a “Like”.
