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BASIC Scholarships

Begin. And Keep Going.

BASIC scholarships help Borregans start vocational training, community college and four-year degrees — and keep going until they finish.

Who qualifies, and how to apply

Borrego Springs High School graduates in caps and gowns turning their tassels at the outdoor commencement ceremony

The scholarship program

Students

Apply for a Scholarship

Applications open for two weeks in early March. The exact dates are posted here soon after the New Year. Your latest school transcript is the one document the application asks you to upload — no account or sign-in needed, the form opens straight away.

Am I eligible?

Already awarded and enrolled? Submit your proof of enrollment instead.

Apply for a Scholarship

Awarded scholars

Submit Proof of Enrollment

Already been awarded? Send proof that you have enrolled during July or August. Anything from your school showing you are enrolled for the coming term will do — a class schedule or registration confirmation, a tuition bill or account statement listing your courses, or an enrollment verification letter from the registrar. Your check follows about two weeks later, paid directly to you rather than to your school.

No account or sign-in needed here either — open the form, attach your document, and send it.

Not awarded yet? Apply for a scholarship during the March window.

Submit Proof of Enrollment

$820,885

Awarded in scholarships since 1998

553

Individual awards made

27

Years of unbroken support

45

Scholars supported in 2024–25

Figures cover 1998–99 through the 2024–25 school year. BASIC expects to pass $1,000,000 awarded in 2026. See every year.

BASIC Gives Two Types of Scholarship

The program is built around a simple idea: getting to school is one problem, and staying there until you finish is another. BASIC helps with both.

Start

Start-School Scholarships

To high school graduates planning to attend vocational, two-year or four-year colleges.

Stay

Stay-in-School Scholarships

To those who continue their education and work towards a certificate or a degree.

A scholar who is awarded in their first year and stays in good academic standing can be supported every year after it — which is why the award amounts below rise after the first year, and why some BASIC scholars have been with the program for a decade.

How to Apply

BASIC exists to help Borregans begin and continue learning after high school — vocational training, community college, and four-year college and university study.

Who Is Eligible

  • You graduated from Borrego Springs High School or you have lived or worked in the Borrego Springs school district area for the year before you apply.
  • You plan to enroll in an accredited vocational program, community college, or four-year college or university.
  • You have financial need. This one applies to everybody.
  • You have a copy of your latest school transcript to submit.

To be funded for later years of school, BASIC scholars must be in good academic standing and submit a transcript, and must submit proof of enrollment each year.

The Year at a Glance

  1. Early March Apply during a two-week window. The exact dates are announced on this page soon after the New Year.
  2. End of April Awards are announced by email to each applicant.
  3. July and August Awarded scholars submit their proof of enrollment.
  4. About two weeks later The check arrives, paid directly to the scholar rather than to the school.

If you are awarded. BASIC celebrates each year’s scholars on this site. The application asks whether your profile — your photo, your school and your answers — may be shown publicly. If you opt in and you are awarded, that profile appears on our current scholars page. If you would rather not, say so on the form: your award is unaffected and nothing about you is published.

Questions about applying? Email contactus@borregobasic.org.

What You Can Receive

Whether it is a start-school or a stay-in-school award, every BASIC scholarship is one of two kinds. Every awarded scholar receives a General Scholarship. Some also receive a Named Scholarship on top of it.

General Scholarship Awards

Type of SchoolFirst YearEach Year After
Vocational program or community college$500$1,000
Four-year college or university$1,000$2,000

Award values may vary according to BASIC’s fundraising success. Awards usually end once a scholar has earned a baccalaureate degree, though some scholars continue with support from named funds.

Named Scholarships

Many BASIC donors have funded a named scholarship award, a number of them in memory of someone they loved. The donor decides what the award recognizes and how much it adds to a scholar’s general award. There are two kinds: those that support study in a particular field, and those that reward academic achievement.

  • “Coach” Tim WHITE Scholarship

    Exemplary community service

  • Barbara COATES Scholarship

    Students studying to become teachers

  • BASIC's Special Scholarship Fund

    unusual circumstances

  • Bill WRIGHT Memorial Scholarship

    Students studying business

  • Curt YAWS Scholarship

    Students studying to become teachers

  • Dr. Edith A. SCHMITT Memorial Scholarship

    Students studying to become nurses

  • Gary BEZER and Lise FLEURY Scholarships

    Exceptional students

  • Jerry R. GOLDSMITH Memorial Scholarships

    Students studying healthcare or science disciplines

  • Joann and David STANG Scholarships (in memory of David)

    Academic excellence (GPA 3.33–3.65)

  • Joanne and Richard INGWALL Scholarships

    Academic excellence (GPA 3.66–4.00)

  • Jon GILBERT Memorial Scholarship

    Students studying STEM

  • Martha DEICHLER Scholarship

    Students studying to become teachers in a public school district

  • Paula MATTHEWS and Mark REMY Scholarship

    Students majoring in environment, sustainability, or public policy

  • Ralph SINGER Memorial Scholarships

    Students studying to become nurses

  • Rosemary and Richard FAUSEL Scholarship

    Students studying STEM

Donors have given $268,000 to named scholarship funds, and $143,000 has been awarded from them to scholars so far.

More About the Program

Past, present, future

Our Record

Where BASIC came from, every award made since 1998, and where this year’s 45 scholars are studying.

See the Record

In their own words

BASIC Salutes Its Graduates

The scholars who finished — in nursing, aviation, medicine, engineering and business — and what the scholarship meant to them.

Meet the Graduates

This year’s class

Our Current Scholars

The scholars BASIC is supporting right now, each one telling their own story — where they are studying, and where they are headed.

Meet the Scholars

The Future Is in Your Hands

Every dollar BASIC awards comes from this community — from the Circle of Art and the golf tournament, from gifts to the General Scholarship Fund, and from donors who have created named scholarships in their families’ names. There is no endowment behind these awards. There is you.

Donate to the Scholarship Fund
Get Involved

BASIC’s Scholarship Committee: Tom Cassidy, Barb Coates, Dick Fausel and Dick Ingwall, Chair, with Joanne Ingwall, Board Scholarship Coordinator.