Stars Scholarship

The South Texas Academic Rising Scholarship (STARS) Scholarship is open to all students who are US citizens or permanent legal residents. Applications are due by March 31 and are now available at the DMC Advising Office.

The STARS scholarship is available to students in Nueces and surrounding counties.

Qualifications include: having a minimum of a 2.7 GPA on a 4.0 scale, be attending a two-year community or a four-year college or university, and at least 12 undergraduate credit hours (unless enrolled in the Allied Health program).

STARS was formed in October 2002 as a "grass-roots" organization offering tuition assistance to students. "It was founded with the goal of making higher education available to the students of South Texas," according to the STARS scholarship website.

The STARS foundation works hand-in-hand with DMC. When awarded the scholarship, a student receives $700 from STARS and another $700 from DMC.

The application requires information such as high school and college transcripts, a FAFSA report and a personal statement. "We've already given out 300 applications," said Edie Hamilton, assistant director of Development.

This scholarship chooses applicants for many reasons. "Recipients are selected on a competitive basis of academic achievement, personal strengths, leadership and financial need," according to the website.

A student can find information about the scholarship at www.southtexasstars.org and the application can also be found on the website.

"We encourage students to go for it because it's another support for their education," Hamilton said.

Students are able to apply and can receive the scholarship multiple times. The STARS scholarship is funded locally by the business community and 35-40 Del Mar College Students are awarded the scholarship annually.

"We want to give as much money away as possible," Hamilton said.