2025-2026 JSSA Scholarship Application

2025-2026 Scholarship Application

Please note that there is one application for all scholarships JSSA administers on behalf of generous benefactors and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington for students who's permanent address is in Maryland, Northern Virginia, or the District of Columbia only. Scholarships can only be applied to tuition expenses. Please complete the application in its entirety. If you have any questions please email scholarships@jssa.org.
Important Application Notes
- The application deadline is May 18, 2025.
- Only complete applications will be considered for a scholarship.
- Name your attached files starting with the initials of your first and last name. For example, if your name is John Doe, name your resume JD_Resume.
- All eligible applications will be reviewed after the deadline, starting on Monday, May 19, 2025. There is no need to rush to submit your resume before it is complete.
Regarding the 2025-2026 FAFSA

If you plan to complete the FAFSA application (which helps with your college financial aid), please wait to submit this scholarship application until you have submitted your FAFSA application and obtained the SAI Submission Report. While the FAFSA is not mandatory for this scholarship application, it is very important for the Scholarship Committee's review of your application and awarding process. We encourage eligible applicants to complete it and include the SAI Submission Report with their application.
Name of Scholarship Awarded
Amount Awarded
Name of Scholarship Awarded
Rosenthal Undergraduate Eligible For

Rosenthal Undergraduate
Rosenthal 2nd Year Eligible For

Rosenthal 2nd Year
Dreyfuss Priority Eligible For

Dreyfuss Priority
Dreyfuss 2nd Round Eligible For

Dreyfuss 2nd Round
Rosenthal Graduate Eligible For

Rosenthal Graduate
Morton Gibson Eligible For

Morton Gibson
Moldover Eligible For

Moldover
Sahm/Goldman Eligible For

Sahm/Goldman
First Name*
Last Name*
Date of Birth*

MonthDayYear
All applicants must be under 30 years old by 6/30/2025
Preferred personal pronouns*
He/Him, She/Her, They/Them, etc
Email*
Please ensure that your email address is correct. This is how we will contact you with any follow-up questions and where a completed copy of your application will be sent.
Phone Number*
Permanent Home Address (where you live when you are not at college):
Street Address*
City*
County*
Students in Montgomery County, MD, Fairfax County, VA, and Washington, DC are eligible to apply for a JSSA scholarship.
State*
Eligible students have a permanent address is in Maryland, Virginia, or DC
Zip Code*
Are you a previous JSSA Scholarship Awardee?:*
If you have previously received a JSSA Scholarship, please indicate the school year (e.g., 2024-25) it was awarded for, as well as whether it was for undergraduate or graduate studies. Please, list all JSSA awards you received.*
(i.e. 2024-2025 Undergraduate Studies)
What student level are you applying at?:*
What is the name of the school you plan to attend next year and in what state is it located?*
School name / state
What school are you currently attending? If you are currently taking a gap year, please let us know. If you are currently enrolled in college (either undergraduate or graduate) what is the name of your school? Or, if you have recently graduated college and plan to attend graduate school, please tell us the school you graduated from.*
High School / Undergrad school currently attending or just graduated from / Grad school attending
What is the tuition cost for one year at the school you plan to attend? You can find this information on your bill, your financial aid award letter, or on your school’s webpage for the Financial Aid Office where they list Cost of Attendance (COS) details. Please exclude summer or winter semesters. *
Please choose cost that matches your residency status such as in-state or out-of-state resident.
What is the housing cost for one year at the school you plan to attend? You can find this information on your bill, your financial aid award letter, or on your school’s webpage for the Financial Aid Office where they list Cost of Attendance (COS) details. Please exclude summer or winter semesters. *
This information is typically found on your school's Financial Aid Office webpage. Please choose correctly between in-state and out-of-state residency. Please enter 0 if you will be living at home or have no housing costs.
What is the meal plan cost for one year at the school you plan to attend? You can find this information on your bill, your financial aid award letter, or on your school’s webpage for the Financial Aid Office where they list Cost of Attendance (COS) details. Please exclude summer or winter semesters. *
This is often found on your school's website on the Financial Aid Office page. Please choose properly for in or out of state resident.
If you have been accepted to other schools, please list up to three that you considered attending:*
What is your intended major?*
What is your ideal career/career path?*
Financial Information
Did you complete the FASFA form for the 2025-2026 academic school year?*
Please note, FASFA completion is strongly encouraged.
Please provide your Student Aid Index (SAI) from your FASFA form.
If you did not complete the FAFSA, please leave this field blank.
If you or your family’s ability to contribute differs from the SAI, please indicate the amount that you and/or your family can pay towards your school bill for one year. If you complete this field, you will also need to explain your financial situation in a following field.
If you or your family can't contribute as much as shown by the SAI and you have special financial challenges (like helping relatives or unexpected health costs), please explain your situation here to help the committee understand your situation.
For students under age 24 only: will one or two individuals be contributing to your education?*
For students over age 24 only: how many individuals will be contributing to your education?
Do you have any siblings who will be attending college during the 2025-2026 academic year alongside you? If so, please specify how many will be enrolled in undergraduate programs and how many will be in graduate school, along with their ages. Please do not include siblings who will start college in later years.*
Please list only your siblings who will be in college at the same time as you during the 2025-2026 school year, along with their ages.

Financial Contributor #1
Financial Contributor #1

First NameLast Name
Financial Contributor #1: Address

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState

Zip Code
Financial Contributor #1: Phone Number
Please enter a valid phone number.
Financial Contributor #1: Email
example@example.com

Financial Contributor #2
Financial Contributor: #2

First NameLast Name
Financial Contributor #2: Address

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState

Zip Code
Financial Contributor #2: Phone Number
Please enter a valid phone number.
Financial Contributor #2: Email
example@example.com

Financial Information
Please let us know why you did not complete the FAFSA form for financial aid?
This is required if you did not complete the FAFSA this year.
Estimate of your household's monthly debt? *
This includes rent/mortgage, utilities, food, etc paid monthly.
What is your household's estimated gross annual income (before taxes and any withholdings)?*
This refers to all gross earned income from individuals residing in your home. You can obtain this information from the W-2 tax forms received earlier, which were used for tax reporting.

Personal Statement
Please share any background information that the scholarship committee should consider for their decision. You may discuss your aspirations, challenges, or what inspired you to pursue your current path. This is required for all applicants and must be 250 words or more.*

250 word minimum0/0

Are you a First-Generation College Student?*
Are you a senior at a Montgomery County High School, (public or private)?*
If you took a gap year and graduated from a Montgomery County High School years before, please say yes.
Do you currently reside in the Montgomery County, Maryland, Fairfax, Virginia, or Washington, DC?*
Are you a US Citizen?*
Are you studying in Israel next year?
Will this your first time in Israel?
Is the program you are studying abroad with part of an accredited university? And will you be getting credits of a full-time student?
Are you in a full-time graduate program studying Jewish Communal Service?*
Do you intend to work in the Jewish community after graduation?*
Required Documents
Please upload each item as a PDF using the following naming convention. Files must follow this naming convention to ensure their documents are correctly saved with their application.

Name each file as: your initials document name.file type.

For example, JS Rusume.pdf or JS FAFSA Summary Results.pdf.

DO NOT create place-holder documents if you do not have a required document.

Applications received without required documents or with empty place-holder documents will be rejected.
Here are some resources to create pdfs:
Using Adobe to create PDFs - https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/creating-simple-pdfs-acrobat.html
Creating PDFs from JPGs - https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/jpg-to-pdf.html
Turning Word Documents into PDFs - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/save-or-convert-to-pdf-or-xps-in-project-desktop-d85416c5-7d77-4fd6-a216-6f4bf7c7c110
Completed FASFA SAI Submission Report

Please upload your entire FAFSA SAI Submission Report if you filed the FAFSA this year. To get this report, Log in to StudentAid.gov using your FAFSA ID (account username and password). Navigate to Dashboard. Select your processed FAFSA submission from the "My Activity" page; this will bring you to the 'Details" page. Select "View FAFSA Submission Summary." If you filed a FAFSA, this report is required. If your report does not contain your SAI, you have the incorrect report.
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Resume*

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Obtain your most recent unofficial transcript from your student account. This document must include grades for the first half of the current school year (2024-2025). High school students are required to provide transcripts that show all four years of high school (including first half of current year). Current college students must provide a transcript of your years in college, including the first semester of the current school year (2024-2025).*

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Standardized Test Results (SAT, ACT, etc) if you took them.

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Letter of Acceptance from the School you will be attending.*

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Financial Aid Award Page generated for you from the School you will be attending listing all awards and loans (even if you did not receive an award from your school). This is a page customized for you, not a generic listing of costs at your school.*

Typically, this lists the total cost along with any loans, grants, and scholarships you have been offered. Please log in to your school account and download it from there if you cannot find it.
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Letter of Reference (Optional)

If the person writing a letter of reference wants to send it to us directly, please have them email it to: scholarships@jssa.org and ask them to put LETTER OF REFERENCE FOR your-name in the subject.
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Other Documents you want to share.

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Additional Questions
How did you hear about JSSA Scholarships?*

Email from JSSAEmail from Other Community SourceFacebookTwitterSchool CounselorCollege TrackOther

Release of Information - Ability to Talk to 3rd Parties (if over 18 at the time of the application)

Please hit next if under 18
Due to federal, state, and local privacy laws, we need to have permission to discuss your scholarship with a third party (such as your parents or CollegeTrack). On this page, please indicate the names of the people and their contact information you authorize us to talk to. By signing this page, you authorize us to talk to the individuals or organizations below about the status of your scholarship application, status of payments, etc. If you do not sign this, we will only talk to you!*

Clear
People you have authorized us to talk to:

Morton A. Gibson Scholarship Questions
Are you interested in the Morton A. Gibson Scholarship?*
You must be Jewish and have volunteered in the local community to be eligible.
List all volunteer service you have performed in the Greater Washington Jewish Community or under the auspices of a local Jewish agency or organization. Please include the agency/organization name, your supervisor, and the dates and number of hours worked:
If volunteer service was performed in another community or under the auspices of a non-Jewish agency or organization, list such service and dates:
List any awards or recognition you have received for your volunteer service:
Did your volunteer service meet any school graduation requirements?
If additional volunteer service was performed to meet high school requirements, please explain:

Thank you for your application!

You may submit your application until Friday, May 18, 2025 at 11:59pm EST. You can also save and return to wherever you stopped. Please submit only when all required documents have been included and do not send 'empty place-holder documents' for required documents. Applications with place-holder files will be rejected. You must make sure everything is uploaded and correct before you hit the submit button!
Should be Empty:

2025-2026 Scholarship Application

Important Application Notes

Regarding the 2025-2026 FAFSA

Financial Information

Personal Statement

Required Documents

Additional Questions

Release of Information - Ability to Talk to 3rd Parties (if over 18 at the time of the application)

Morton A. Gibson Scholarship Questions

Additional Demographic Questions

Thank you for your application!