Alumni Renewals

Renewal Application is now required.

The application is available starting in May and closes August 24th. Questions regarding your application process after the closing date should be referred to the SFA office staff at (703)824-6730.

Start your renewal application here May 1.

You will create a username and password for our application portal the first time you enter the site as an alum, so applications do not need to be submitted in one sitting. You can edit and update your application starting May 1; however, please note that your application will not be considered complete until all components are submitted.

Required Application Documentation

If you’re applying to renew your scholarship based on financial need, remember that you will be required to submit the following documentation prior to our deadline:

  • Recent Student Aid Report (SAR) from FAFSA
  • Cumulative Transcript from your college to show adequate yearly progress with cumulative GPA and total number of earned credits. This can be unofficial and downloaded from your school portal. Must submit all transcripts from schools attended in 2022-2023.
  • “Financial Aid Award Summary” from your school. Ask for the Summary starting in May and follow up with your school regularly to request that it be expedited for a scholarship application! (Your SFA Renewal Application will not be considered complete without an official Financial Aid Award Summary from your school for 2023-24.)
  • “Cost of Attendance” from your school. This is a breakdown of the direct and indirect costs of attending your school. It states what the costs are for housing, tuition, transportation, books, etc. (Sometimes, your school will list your cost of attendance on your aid award summary. If that is the case, then you do not need to submit it separately.)

Non Need-Based Renewals: If you are applying for an inherently renewable merit-based scholarship, you will only need to submit your college transcript. If you can’t remember whether or not the scholarship you received was renewable, contact us and we can let you know!

Application Process Details

We now require all SFA recipients to apply for renewal of their scholarship each year of college. Even if you are taking a gap year, we need to know your plans! To be eligible to apply for renewal, applicants:

  • Must have at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA, and
  • Must have completed a minimum of 30 earned credit hours for the year or be on track to graduate within 4 years.

The majority of SFA recipients were awarded need-based scholarships that are renewable. However, there are additional groups of scholarship recipients who are eligible to receive renewal funding from SFA. The following groups of recipients are eligible to receive renewal funding:

  • Recipients originally awarded need-based scholarships who continue to demonstrate financial need (as determined by the formula below and SFA’s benchmark EFC).
  • Have been awarded a recipient of a no-need, renewable scholarship from SFA
    or
  • Be a recipient of a no-need scholarship who now demonstrates financial need (as determined by the formula below and SFA’s benchmark EFC).

How to determine if you “demonstrate financial need”: Review the financial aid being offered to you by your school and your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) from your Student Aid Report (SAR) from FAFSA. To determine “financial need” we use the following calculation: a) cost of attendance for your university minus b) grants and scholarships from the school as well as from the state and federal government, c) outside scholarships you receive, and d) your parents’ EFC from the FAFSA. A recipient cannot be over-awarded, that is receive more money than the cost of attendance.  Please review the example below and contact SFA with any questions:

Original scholarship amount: up to $3,000
$66,512 (university cost of attendance)
– $58,718 (school, state, and federal grants)
– $0 (outside scholarships)
– $6,498 (EFC from SAR)
= $1,296 (demonstrated financial need)
Therefore, SFA can only award this recipient $1,296 of the $3,000 for which s/he is eligible.

For Further Application Assistance

Please feel free to contact the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria office with questions about our SFA Application at any time! 

Alexandria City High School (King Street Campus), Room A-121
8am–4:30pm, Monday–Friday (school year)
9am–3:30pm, Monday–Friday (summer)
[email protected]
(703)824-6730