CAMARILLO — The Ventura County Community Foundation Scholarship Program has awarded $2,009,312 to students across the county for the 2026 season, exceeding the nonprofit’s past scholarship grantmaking record.
“As another incredible scholarship season closes and we enter a new school year, we are proud to celebrate the hard work and promise of the students this program exists to serve,” said Kirsti Vomund, VCCF scholarship director. “This year, we awarded 610 scholarships to 441 students, making this our biggest award year ever!”
VCCF first opened its scholarship program in 1990, working hand in hand with passionate fundholders wanting to support the county’s students. Since then, the program has grown significantly, granting scholarships to thousands of local students over the years for their higher education aspirations. For the third year in a row, over 1,200 applications were submitted, a reminder that the need for scholarship support continues to grow alongside the community it serves.
The program works closely with the county’s high schools to ensure that as many students as possible are aware of the opportunities available to them, including under-represented groups such as first-generation college students, students returning to school after a gap, trade and technical students, and foster youth, among many others. Individual students can receive multiple awards ranging from $500 to $11,000.
“This milestone wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our donors,” said Board Chair Leah Lacayo. “They are the reason we are able to lift up hundreds of our community’s students every year to help them reach their educational dreams and full potential.”
The program opens its annual scholarship season from October through January, where students can apply for hundreds of opportunities through a streamlined process and be auto-matched to individual scholarships based on major, city and other criteria.
The program’s award selection process is powered by a committee of 169 volunteer readers: a mix of former educators, dedicated community members, past award recipients and fundholders eager to play a direct role in helping students succeed. Each reader spends about 10 to 15 hours reviewing and scoring over 30 applications so that every student has at least three volunteers reading their stories and understanding their situations in the awarding process.
“I asked myself how I was actually going to pay for college, and at the time I honestly had no clue,” said Miguel, a VCCF scholarship recipient. “Then a couple days later, I opened my email and was surprised with a couple of emails congratulating me for winning some scholarships. I was in shock and extremely excited. Opportunities like this are what really makes or breaks going to college for a lot of people, including myself.”
The next scholarship season opens later this fall. VCCF is working to establish its first community-endowed scholarship fund so that donors across the community can contribute at any donation level to help students on their academic journeys. With this year’s applicant pool being one of the largest in recent years, that support is needed more than ever to help meet the demand from Ventura County’s students.
To learn more about the Ventura County Community Foundation Scholarship Program, visit vccf.org/scholarships
ABOUT THE VENTURA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
Since its founding in 1987, the Ventura County Community Foundation has believed that everyone has something of value to contribute. With more than 24,000 donors from every corner of our community and across the nation, we specialize in connecting people, resources and solutions to create lasting impact in our shared world. VCCF’s Philanthropic Consulting Office helps individuals, families and businesses on their philanthropic journey. As part of a network of more than 900 community foundations nationwide, VCCF is also committed to being a community leader in our region. Together, we work to create a better future for all by pursuing our community’s greatest opportunities and addressing the most critical challenges, inclusively uniting people, institutions and resources from throughout our communities and providing significant, widely shared and lasting results. Learn more at VCCF.org