Pre-College Support

The PATHe to USF Scholarship

The Pinellas Access to Higher Education (PATHe) aims to provide equitable, flexible,
and attainable pathways to promote access to higher education for all students in
Pinellas County. This scholarship is intended for students who recently graduated from
a Pinellas County high school and are admitted to the University of South Florida, St.
Petersburg.

Scholarship amount: $500 per semester for two semesters (Fall and Spring)
Application opens: February 15, 2025
Application deadline: April 1, 2025

award disbursement

• Recipients will be notified mid-April
• Funds will be applied to your USF student account
• Recipients will receive $500 per semester for up to two semesters (Fall/Spring)
• Recipients can reapply to renew their scholarship for the following year

eligibility requirements

To be eligible for the PATHe to USF scholarship, applicants must:

• Be a graduate of a Pinellas County high school (within the last 2 years)
• Be admitted to USF St. Petersburg
• Be admitted as a freshman (including dual enrollment, early college, early admission, and collegiate high school) for Summer or Fall 2025
• Be enrolled for a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester (Fall/Spring)
• Be enrolled at USF St. Petersburg with at least 75% of the classes taken at this campus each semester 

The students who receive the PATHe to USF scholarship must commit to:

• Meet with a PATHe advisor at least twice per semester
• Attend at least one event at USF St. Petersburg per semester
• Complete a volunteer activity or internship at least once per academic year

Eligible applicants received a unique link to apply. If you meet the eligibility requirements but did not receive the link via email (or are unsure), please contact us at stp-pathe@usf.edu.

After applicants receive a link to apply you must:

Collect your information

You will be asked to provide the following information:

• High school weighted and unweighted GPA
• College GPA and number of college credits you’ve completed or
  expected to be completed by the time you graduate from high
  school. (If you have taken dual-enrollment or Early College classes)
• Upload an unofficial copy of your college transcripts (If you have
  taken dual-enrollment or Early College classes)
• Upload your SAT, ACT, or CLT scores (You can upload multiple
  SAT, ACT, or CLT scores and we will consider the highest score on
  each section.)

prepare short essay answers

As part of the application process, you will need to submit four short essays, each with a maximum of 250 words. Your responses should focus on the following topics.

Academic achievements

What are your most significant academic achievement and what effort
did you put into reaching that goal?

Career goals and aspirations

What are your career goals, and how do you plan to achieve them? How
does this scholarship align with your future plans?

Extracurricular activities

Extracurricular activities refer to activities that students participate in
outside of their regular academic classes. These are things you do on your
own time, usually after school or during weekends, including:

• Playing sports
• Being a member of a club
• Playing music
• volunteering
• Participating in religious organizations
• Working

Describe your involvement in extracurricular activities and how these
experiences have shaped you as an individual.

Challenges and overcoming adversity

Describe a significant challenge you've faced and how you overcame it.
What did you learn from that experience?

For questions or to learn more about this scholarship, email stp-pathe@usf.edu.

For additional scholarships, visit our College Funding Page.