Tiffany Padilla, who just graduated from high school, is on her way to Dallas Baptist University, where she’ll enroll in an accelerated program to earn her undergraduate and graduate degrees and become a children’s counselor.

Tiffany always dreamed of getting a college degree for a career working with children. But ever since her father had a stroke a few years ago, she knew she would have to find a way to pay for college herself.

A devoted and talented student, she graduated with 27 dual-credit hours earned during high school. With unrelenting devotion to her studies and to making a difference throughout her high school years, she earned multiple scholarships – enabling her first year of college in Dallas to become nearly tuition-free.

One of those scholarships came from the Ida V. Holland Educational Trust, one of more than 100 scholarship funds that the San Antonio Area Foundation manages each year. The scholarship dates back to 1944, when Mrs. Holland, a widow at the time, created a planned gift trust providing perpetual scholarships to serve future generations. Each year one student is awarded funding from the trust. It’s a renewable scholarship, meaning that students are eligible to continue receiving funding for the duration of their college career.

Padilla is one of 659 students who received great news from the San Antonio Area Foundation: they had been selected to receive scholarship funding for this fall. For 2020, the Area Foundation awarded $3.4 million to students from more than 100 funds under its management.

An additional 645 students who were previously awarded scholarships through the San Antonio Area Foundation also received great news of their own – their scholarships will be renewed for the coming school year.

“Thanks to our generous, community-minded donors, the San Antonio Area Foundation scholarship program is making a significant investment in the lives of hard-working young people in San Antonio and surrounding areas,” said Marjie French, CEO of the Area Foundation. “This scholarship program not only helps dedicated students reach their goals, but also supports one of our key focus areas of youth success.”

Since awarding its first scholarship in 1969, the San Antonio Area Foundation has given out millions in scholarships each year to help thousands of students reach their academic goals.  Through the generosity of its donors, including individuals, families and corporations, the Area Foundation has awarded more than $31 million to more than 6,500 students in the past 12 years.

Each scholarship fund at the Area Foundation has its own criteria for awards. Some fund a student’s education in a specific area of study, such as health care or engineering. Other funds help students attend a particular college or university or award scholarships to students from a specific high school.

For information and resources to help students identify scholarship opportunities plus resources to help them succeed in school, please visit our Scholarships page.