#CaringScholar Judges Select Three U.S. College Students for Grants of $1,500 Each

SAN MATEO, CA; June 26, 2015 — Caring.com, a leading senior care resource for family caregivers, is pleased to announce today the winners of its first financial aid scholarship for students attending an accredited U.S. university or college while also caring for an aging or ailing loved one.

The #CaringScholar program was launched in March 2015, with a deadline of May 31 for the first round of grants. The Caring.com Student Caregiver Scholarship award provides three (3) university students in the United States with a $1,500 grant each for tuition and/or books, based on the applicant’s compelling 1,500-word essay or two-minute video story submission. These three winners were chosen from among more than 1,500 applications and 25 finalists:

  • Christina M. Fletcher — a student at the University of Akron in Ohio who is majoring in nursing and caring for both of her disabled parents
  • Erin Pratt — a student at Life University in Marietta, Georgia, who is majoring in chiropractic neurology and caring for her 95-year-old grandmother
  • Rashelle Quinn — a student at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, who is majoring in nursing and caring for her father, who suffered a severe brain injury in a car accident when she was a child

“Congratulations to each of these deserving students who are caring for parents and grandparents while also attending college,” said Caring.com CEO Andy Cohen, who co-founded the caregiving website in 2007 after being a caregiver to his mother. “All of the finalist and winner stories were compelling, and it was difficult to choose just three for the financial grants.”

Andy Cohen was on the panel of caregiving experts who selected the winners. Other #CaringScholar judges included:

  • Brooks Kenny — a strategic adviser for the Lotsa Helping Hands care calendar website, consultant to nonprofits and companies doing good, and speaker on caregiving topics
  • Sherri Snelling — CEO and founder of The Caregiving Club, executive director of Thought Leadership for Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), and a caregiving author
  • C Grace Whiting, J.D. — director of strategic partnerships at the National Alliance for Caregiving, communications professional, and licensed attorney

“We appreciated the participation from all of the students who shared about their caregiving experiences, the universities and colleges who helped get the word out to students on their campuses, and the expert judges who reviewed the scholarship submissions and helped choose the winners,” Cohen said. “We designed this program to be a source of support for those challenged by the responsibilities of caregiving while pursuing a degree in higher education, and we look forward to continuing to offer these types of grants for caregivers.”

With such a successful turnout for the inaugural #CaringScholar round, Caring.com has announced a second round of grants for January 2016. The deadline to apply is December 31, 2015 (11:59 p.m. PDT). For more information about the Caring.com Student Caregiver Scholarship, please visit https://www.caring.com/caregivers/scholarships-for-student-caregivers/.