The 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship application is now available for all students who will graduate from either Austin or Scottsburg high schools, or Grace Christian Academy, by the end of June 2025. The scholarship program is available through the Scott County Community Foundation. All applications must be submitted online. The link to the application can be found in the Scholarships and Grants menu (Scholarships sub-menu) on the Community Foundation’s website, www.scottcountyfoundation.org.
The online portion of the application will be due on Friday, Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. Applicants will then be required to write and submit two additional essays in person at Mid-America Science Park, with choice of Sept. 17 or 18 from 6-8 p.m. Students will receive one writing prompt in advance, and one extemporaneous topic will be given during the night of the essay. Students may attend either session to write their essays regardless of where they attend school.
Finalists will be interviewed, with the nominations submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana for final selection. Scholarship recipients will be notified in December.
The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program (LECSP) will provide 147 scholarships statewide. LECSP scholarships may be used for otherwise reimbursed full tuition, required fees, and a special allocation of up to $900 per year. The special allocation may cover the costs for required books and required equipment for four years of undergraduate study on a full-time basis leading to a baccalaureate degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university.
Forty-three local students have been named recipients since the program started in Scott County in 1998. More than 5,300 Indiana students have received Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships since the program’s inception. The primary purposes of LECSP are to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana, to increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities, and to encourage and support the efforts of current and past Lilly Endowment Community Scholars to engage with each other and with Indiana business, governmental, educational, nonprofit and civic leaders to improve the quality of life in Indiana generally and in local communities throughout the state. Independent Colleges of Indiana has administered the LECSP since 1997.
The Scott County Community Foundation is located at 60 N. Main St., Scottsburg. For information, call 752-2057 or email info@scottcountyfoundation.org.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. The Endowment funds significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
Since 1997, Independent Colleges of Indiana has administered the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program statewide with funding provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1948, ICI serves as the collective voice for the state’s 29 private, nonprofit colleges and universities. ICI institutions employ over 22,000 Hoosiers and generate a total local economic impact of over $5 billion annually. Students at ICI colleges have Indiana’s highest four-year, on-time graduation rates, and ICI institutions produce 30 percent of Indiana’s bachelor’s degrees while enrolling 20 percent of its undergraduates.
