City on a Hill Scholarships
The City on a Hill Foundation offers a monthly scholarships which feature varying topics and eligibility requirements. While many of our scholarships are reserved specifically for former students of City on a Hill Charter Public School, we also offer opportunities for high school and college students across Massachusetts and nationwide. Before you apply, we recommend that you check out our Frequently Asked Questions. If the answer to your question cannot be found there, feel free to contact us.
Current Opportunities
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Theme: Civic Engagement • Service
Eligibility: All current undergraduate college students nationwide, with priority consideration for CoaH alumni and Boston-based students
Awards: Two winners — $2,500 each
Due Date: October 31, 2026
Decision Date: November 16, 2026Scholarship Prompt & Required Uploads:
One (1) original creative work in any of the following formats:
Essay (PDF, 700 words or less)
Poem or spoken word (PDF or MP4, 3 minutes or less)
Drawing, painting, sculpture, or photography (PDF)
Animation or short film (MP4 or unlisted link, 3 minutes or less)
An Artist Statement (150–200 words) that answers the following questions:
What inspired this piece?
How does the work honor or reflect Hispanic history, culture, or impact?
Evidence of enrollment (including, but not limited to a current financial aid award or transcript).
NOTE: This scholarship is intentionally aligned with Hispanic Heritage Month. Selected works may be featured (with permission) in Foundation communications.
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Theme: Impact • Arts
Eligibility: All Boston-based high school (9th-12th) and undergraduate college students
Awards: Five winners — $1,000 each
Due Date: October 15, 2026
Decision Date: November 4, 2026Scholarship Prompt & Required Uploads:
An essay (200 words max) responding to the prompt: Write about a song or album that has had an impact on your life. Explain why, or how, it shaped you.
Evidence of enrollment (including, but not limited to a current financial aid award or transcript).
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Theme: Public Accountability
Eligibility: CoaH alumni currently enrolled in a 2 or 4-year college/university or trade program
Awards:1st Prize - $3,500
2nd Prize - $2,000
3rd Prize - $1,500
Due Date: November 15, 2026
Decision Date: November 30, 2026Scholarship Prompt & Required Uploads:
Submit an essay (400-600 words) that responds to the following prompt: Why is Public Accountability important?
Evidence of enrollment (including, but not limited to a current financial aid award or transcript).
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Theme: Leadership • Service
Eligibility: Boston-based high school (9th-12th grade) and undergraduate college students who currently hold a leadership position (eg. Team Captain, Club Officer, Orientation Leader, Peer Mentor, etc) on campus
Awards: Two winners — $4,000 each
Due Date: November 30, 2026
Decision Date: December 15, 2026Scholarship Prompt & Required Uploads:
An essay (400-600 words) responding to the prompt: What have you learned from being in a campus leadership position?
A recommendation from a teacher, coach, professor or administrator; and
Evidence of enrollment (including, but not limited to a current financial aid award or transcript).
Frequently Asked Questions
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The City on a Hill Foundation offers a monthly scholarships which feature varying topics and eligibility requirements. While many of our scholarships are reserved specifically for former students of City on a Hill Charter Public School, we also offer opportunities for high school and college students across Massachusetts and nationwide.
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We post at least one opportunity per month, and they are typically posted at least six (6) weeks before the application deadline.
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Yes! We encourage you to apply to as many opportunities as you are eligible.
We ask, however, that you only submit one application per opportunity.
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Possibly. For the majority of City on a Hill's Monthly Scholarships, we ask that submissions for our opportunities be created specifically for our prompts, as they are often much more specific topics than a personal statement. There may be times, however, when a prompt calls for a portfolio or creative works, and in those cases, a previous used submission can be used for our opportunities. We ask that applicants use their best judgement knowing that their application will be evaluated for adherence to the prompt in addition to its contents.
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No. City on a Hill does not accept any AI generated or assisted work. If it is suspected that a submission is in part or wholly generated by AI, your application may be marked as ineligible in our system.
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Our applications are evaluated by a committee of educators from the Boston area, many of whom are previous City on a Hill faculty or Board members. All applications are reviewed by the committee after being anonymized by our applicant system, and committee members are not notified of applicant identities other than those of awardees who are publicly announced.
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If you are applying to an eligible scholarship as someone who is neither a CoaH alumni nor former faculty/staff, please select “Friend of the Foundation (Other).”
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For the Foundation, "Boston-based" means attending a school whose primary address is in Boston.
As we carry on the legacy of City on a Hill, we continue to aspire to the value if Public Accountability. One of the ways we do that at the Foundation is publicly posting all of our scholarship awardees so that Friends of the Foundation can see where their support goes in addition to celebrating the awardees and their educational journeys of which we have the honor to have a small role. Click below to check out our awardees!
Please note - our awardee pages may not reflect all distributed scholarships, as the Foundation allows awardees to opt out of public posting without penalty to their award or future eligibility for awards.