The American Welding Society Foundation (www.aws.org) was established in 1989 with a single mission—to develop funding to support welding scholarships. In 1991, money was set aside to support the first fellowship, which was awarded for $20,000. Since that time, the Foundation has awarded more than $5.3 million to some 3,900 students.
Scholarship Programs
Today there are five existing AWS scholarship programs. The National Scholarship program includes two scholarships for associate degrees for welding-related studies and 22 scholarships for minimum bachelor degrees in welding engineering, welding engineering technology, materials joining engineering, civil engineering, or a business degree with interest in welding. These scholarships are funded by individuals and/or companies, and range from $2,000 to $3,500. These awards are supported by a minimum funding endowment of $50,000.
The District Scholarship program provides $165,000 to each of the 22 AWS Districts so that they can award scholarships at the local level. Each District has $7,500 to be awarded annually. AWS and the AWS Foundation provide the annual funding for these awards. Each District, at its annual conference, selects the scholarships to be awarded to local applicants who have applied for scholarship funding. These awards usually range from $200 to $2,500.
The Section Named and District Named Scholarship program includes 17 Section Named Scholarships and 6 District Named Scholarships. These scholarships are funded at the local Section or District level by individuals and/or companies in the local area. A minimum endowment of $10,000 supports these awards.
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