This is the most underused eligibility position we come across, and it exists because of a quirk in how forms are written rather than anything about the students themselves.
Race and ethnicity are separate questions
US federal reporting standards treat Hispanic or Latino as an ethnicity, asked separately from race. That is why applications routinely ask two questions instead of one, and why the answer to the first does not constrain the answer to the second.
An Afro-Dominican student is Hispanic or Latino by ethnicity and Black or African American by race. Both are accurate. Selecting both is not gaming anything; it is the answer the form is asking for.
Why so few students do this
Three reasons, and none of them is that students are unaware of their own background.
- The forms imply a choice. Two dropdowns in sequence read as alternatives, particularly under time pressure.
- The scholarship categories reinforce it. Directories list "scholarships for Black students" and "scholarships for Hispanic students" as separate sections, so students self-sort into one and never look at the other.
- Identity language differs by household. A student whose family describes itself in national terms, as Dominican or Panamanian, may not think of "Black" as the relevant word even where the classification plainly applies.
The result is a group eligible for two funding pools that mostly applies to neither in full.
What this means in practice
Every award in our catalogue is open to Afro-Latino students on the same terms as any other Black applicant. The five that restrict eligibility to Black or African American students under the sponsor's own criteria include Afro-Latino applicants, because the criterion is race.
Ron Brown Scholar Program
Ron Brown Scholar Fund
The Ron Brown Scholar Program awards twenty four-year scholarships of $40,000 each ($10,000 per year) to Black or African American high school seniors who demonstrate academic excellence, exceptional leadership potential, financial need, and a record of community service. Applications close December 1 each year, with counselor recommendation letters due December 15 and winners notified April 1. Current college students are not eligible; applicants must apply during their senior year of high school.
CBC Spouses Education Scholarship
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
The CBC Spouses Education Scholarship supports African American or Black students pursuing an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degree. It is administered by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation through its scholarship portal, and the application window runs from early January to late March each year. Immediate relatives of a CBC Member are not eligible. The foundation does not publish a fixed award amount for this scholarship.
Awards run by organisations serving Black professionals apply equally. NSBE, the National Black Nurses Association and NABJ do not ask where your family is from.
| Scholarship | Sponsor | Award | Deadline | Min GPA | Who can apply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Society of Black Engineers Scholarships | National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) | $1,000 - $10,000 depending on the award | Varies by award; GPA verification windows close July 31 and February 26 | 2.5 | Minority-focused · National |
| National Black Nurses Association Scholarships | National Black Nurses Association | From $1,000 | Annually, March 15 at 5:00 p.m. EST | None stated | Minority-focused · National |
| NABJ Scholarships | National Association of Black Journalists | Up to $10,000 | Annually, late February (some awards close late January) | None stated | Minority-focused · National |
And the large need-based awards carry no race or ethnicity criterion at all, so they are open regardless of how you answer either question.
| Scholarship | Sponsor | Award | Deadline | Min GPA | Who can apply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuestBridge National College Match | QuestBridge | Full four-year scholarship (valued over $360,000) | October 1, 2026 | None stated | Open to all · National |
| The Gates Scholarship | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Full cost of attendance not covered by other aid | September 15, 2026 | 3.3 | Open to all · National |
| Cooke College Scholarship Program | Jack Kent Cooke Foundation | Up to $55,000 per year (last-dollar) | November 11, 2026 | 3.8 | Open to all · National |
The half we do not cover
We are a directory for Black, HBCU and first-generation students, so we do not verify Latino-specific awards and will not pretend otherwise. For that half of your eligibility, go directly to the organisations that specialise in it rather than to a general aggregator.
- The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is the largest single source in that space.
- Many national professional associations run parallel Latino and Black chapters, each with its own awards. If you are in engineering, nursing, journalism or law, check both.
- Country-of-origin associations, such as Dominican or Panamanian professional groups, run small awards with very small applicant pools.
We have not verified those against their sponsors' pages, so treat them as leads to check rather than as listings. Everything on this site has been checked; those have not, and we would rather say so than blur the line.
A practical sequence
- On every application, answer the ethnicity question and the race question, both, accurately.
- Apply to Black-specific awards. Start with the five restricted ones in our catalogue, since the pools are smallest.
- Apply to Latino-specific awards through organisations that specialise in them.
- Apply to the large need-based national awards, which have no race or ethnicity criterion.
- Check professional associations in your field, on both sides. Membership-gated awards have the smallest pools of all.
- Look for country-of-origin and diaspora associations, which are the least competitive money available to you.
Browse everything we have verified, or read what the 2023 Supreme Court ruling changed.