Foundation Scholarships

Empire State College Foundation scholarships are available to students thanks to the generosity of alumni, employees, foundations and friends of the college who have chosen to recognize the importance of education by establishing and contributing to scholarship funds. We thank our generous contributors for making education possible for many of our students. If you’d like to learn more about supporting a scholarship, please visit our Annual Fund Page.

All Empire State College students who have financial need (as determined by the FAFSA form), have earned at least 8 credits at Empire State College, and who are in good academic standing are eligible to be awarded a scholarship. Unless indicated, students may not apply for specific scholarships. All students who meet the above requirements will be considered for any scholarship for which they are eligible.

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Foundation Scholarship Profile

Nearly one year ago a young man, Nickolas Pekearo, an auxiliary police officer and student at Empire State College, selflessly chased down a deranged shooter in a heroic effort to protect the citizens of New York City.

In this effort to save others’ lives, he lost his own.

At that time, a few of Nick’s dearest friends hoped to create an endowed scholarship that would honor Nick forever by supporting other talented writing students like him. To date, a small group of contributors have raised an impressive $18,000 in support of the Nicholas Pekearo Scholarship in Creative Writing.

A scholarship committee consisting of Nick’s dear partner, Christina Honeycutt, Nick’s faculty mentor at the college, Shirley Ariker, and Nick’s colleague and friend from Crawford Doyle Booksellers, Thomas Talbot, hope to bring this amount to at least $25,000 to endow this scholarship permanently in Nick’s memory.

To learn more about Nick, or about how you can support this scholarship in his honor, please click the link below.