The organization Dollars for Scholars is a community in St. Louis Park that raises money to give scholarships to seniors, according to counselor and scholarship coordinator Barb Nelson.

Nelson said Dollars for Scholars has been helping seniors in St. Louis Park High School for a long time and the community has been doing its part in assisting the Dollars for Scholars organization.

“They’ve been in existence since the ‘80s and it was all based around neighbors trying to raise money for graduates,” Nelson said. “It expanded to groups and families and businesses.”

The organization tries to help as many students as possible, according to Nelson.

“Typically with Dollars for Scholars scholarships, students will only earn one. They aren’t going to earn multiple ones,” Nelson said. “We try to spread out the ability to earn a scholarship to as many students as we can.”

Nelson said seniors will be introduced to the application process in February.

“(The) deadline is typically in March, but because of spring break being later, we had to determine the date, so the scholarship date will be set in the instructions sheet,” Nelson said.

Senior Aniyah Satchell said that Park is doing its part in helping many seniors which is a great thing to do for the two-thirds of seniors who usually apply for scholarships.

“I think that’s very good that SLP is helping out students getting scholarships,” Satchell said. “It can be hard for people to pay for college.”

According to Nelson, every senior should apply for Dollars for Scholars because everyone is qualified.

“The thing about it is that every senior is eligible for a scholarship,” Nelson said. “We 

probably get at most about 60 percent to 70 percent of students applying.”

Nelson said students will need to create an online profile for Dollars for Scholars to apply.

“On the high school website is the link to Dollars for Scholars, and then on that website, on the part that actually says students and parents, they will need to create an online profile,” Nelson said. “I would encourage most students to have an email that is not the St. Louis Park one.”

Senior Estelle Tronson said she realizes that college is expensive an

d she plans to apply for scholarships to reduce the expenses.

“I’m planning to apply for a couple of scholarships since college is a lot of money. It’s really scary, so it’s good to find ways to make it affordable,” Tronson said.

Nelson said if anyone has questions or wants to learn more about Dollars for Scholars, they should reach out to her in the counseling office.