Scholarships at Berea College

The Katherine C. Christensen Scholarship Fund provides generous project funding for Berea College students interested in history, medieval studies, calligraphy, libraries, or canon law. Applicants meet with an academic advisor or faculty member to discuss the proposed project, then complete the Christensen application with a budget and a four-hundred-to-six-hundred-word proposal essay. The finished application is uploaded to the Box folder linked on the form, and a faculty member submits a separate endorsement form. Recipients write a letter to the donor describing how the award supported their work.

The Chu Memorial Scholarship assists Berea College students and other Kentucky students pursuing nursing and allied health professions. Established in memory of Dr. Caleb Chu, the award provides up to one thousand dollars per academic term and is administered through the Berea College Appalachian Fund. It is intended for students in health care studies at the undergraduate level and is not for medical or dental school. Applicants submit the online Appalachian Fund application with required documents as separate PDF uploads no later than one month after the beginning of the term for which assistance is requested.

The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Scholars program is a Berea College pathway award for high-achieving, low-income high school juniors who demonstrate outstanding character, academic achievement, and leadership in the spirit of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a 1903 Berea alumnus and founder of Black History Week. Selected juniors are active in community, school, civic, or church organizations, show financial need, resilience, and perseverance, and hold an unweighted high school GPA of at least 3.4. Woodson Scholars receive celebratory recognition, admissions counseling through the summer, and an invitation to Woodson Preview Day on campus in October.

The David Jones Wild and Crazy Fund at Berea College supports international travel and study-abroad programs that are not covered by traditional college funds. Established through David Jones’s philanthropy to Berea, the fund helps undergraduates participate in overseas learning experiences that might otherwise be unaffordable. Berea students apply for study abroad through the Center for International Education and may receive support from college study-abroad scholarships and specialized funds such as this one when program costs exceed standard awards. The fund is part of Berea’s broader effort to make global education accessible to students with limited resources.