Scholarships at College of Charleston

The Albert Simons Memorial Scholarship is available to art history or historic preservation majors at the College of Charleston. You must be a full-time student and have a minimum 3.0 GPA to be eligible for this renewable award.

The Alumni Association Scholarship is available to students at the College of Charleston who are the children and relatives of alumni.

Travel abroad for the student of the French culture; 2.5 GPA or higher; traveling to France on a program approved by CofC faculty

Travel abroad scholarship; must submit an essay; minimum 3.2 GPA; financial need; preference to students in Honors College. Walter M. Cain ‘82 and his siblings Randy Cain ’80 and Irene Cain Simoneaux ’84, attended the College after attending high school in Florence, SC. Their parents were missionaries to Japan who helped make the experience and understanding of cultures outside their own a significant part of the family’s dynamic and legacy. Walter and his siblings were scholarship recipients at the College and were also active in campus leadership through a variety of service and honor fraternities. Walter spend his junior year as an exchange student at Kansai Gaidai in Japan, a base for one of the first international exchange programs sponsored by the College of Charleston. The Cain Family International Scholarship is intended to assist in the learning of languages through total immersion and cross-cultural experience.

Students participating in Study Abroad

The E.E. Towell Scholarship is available to incoming freshmen majoring in chemistry or biochemistry at the College of Charleston. This award is renewable.

Elizabeth R. “Beth” Reid was born in Winnsboro, SC. Beth was a scholar and accomplished athlete who earned a degree in Physical Education from the College of Charleston, where she played on the women’s basketball team. She went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Guidance Counseling from Winthrop University. Beth was an educated woman who believed in and fought for education for all and made that the central theme of her life. She served dutifully and passionately as a teacher, coach and guidance counselor at Great Falls High School. While coaching at Great Falls, Beth was selected as a coach for the South Carolina North-South All Star Game. She returned to her native Winnsboro as a guidance counselor and later Head of School at Richard Winn Academy. While coaching at Richard Winn, the girls’ varsity basketball team won a State Championship. Beth was later inducted into the Richard Winn Athletic Hall of Fame. Beth was also director of Elementary and Middle School Education at the South Carolina Virtual Charter School. She served as the chairwoman of the Fairfield County School Board. Under her leadership, the school board opened the Fairfield Career and Technology Center, providing a valuable resource and investment in the future. While school and advocacy were her passions, adventure was her pastime. Her partner in life and in adventure was her husband, Hubert M. Rentz, aka Herb. Herb graduated from The Citadel and later received a graduate degree in Education from Winthrop University. Herb served in the US Army where he retired after twenty years of service with the rank of Lt. Col. Beth and Herb met while teaching at Great Falls High School and both shared the same passion for education, competition and helping others. Together Beth and Herb operated a canopy tour and designed mountain biking traib at Carolina Adventure World, completed marathons, hiked on the Appalachian Trail, kayaked and spent many moments as possible on the beach at Sullivan’s Island. Beth passed away in 2017. She was and will remain an inspiration to those who were lucky to surround her. Heb continues to live by Beth’s motto “Keep Going”.

The Fine Arts Scholarship is available to a rising junior or above concentrating in Art History at the College of Charleston. This award is renewable for 4 years.

This Endowed Scholarship has been created in Dean Fran Welch’s name by Kathy and Steve Parks. Kathy met with Dean Welch, when the dean was serving as the Dean of the School of Education, Health and Human Performance (EHHP) at the College of Charleston. Throughout the next decade, Kathy became involved in roles at the College, in a volunteer capacity, serving on the Teacher Leader Program as a Teacher Mentor and serving as board chair of the EHHP’s Development Council. Simultaneously, Kathy also served on the board for Kids on Point. These programs, two directly related to EHHP and the latter a partnership, Kathy saw, firsthand, the need for male role models in the classroom. Out of immense respect and thanks for the years of Dean Welch’s efforts in education and the Call Me MISTER Program, the Fran Welch Teacher Education Endowed Scholarship was started. Making sure it is endowed allows its impact to be felt immediately. Steve, Kathy and their three grown children have lived in the Charleston area both part and full-time since 1995. All have attended college in other areas of the country. By choosing the College of Charleston, it allows them to give back to their “hometown.”

The Girardeau Scholarship is available to full-time art history and historic preservation students at the College of Charleston. You must have a minimum 3.0 GPA to be eligible for this award. This award is to be used for travel/study abroad.

The Harry Freeman Scholarship is available to incoming freshmen at the College of Charleston who are children of alumni. You must be majoring in biology to be eligible for this award.

The Hispanic Studies Advisory Board, which was established in 2018 and is comprised of alumni, parents, and friends of the department, established this fund to support students utilizing their language skills in an immersive study abroad experience.

The primary purpose of this partial, financial need and merit-based scholarship is to facilitate current Hispanic Studies undergraduate students’ participation in the departmentally sponsored programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina (in the spring) and Santiago, Chile (in the fall). The donor, Esther B. Ferguson, is a native of Hartsville, SC and a lifelong philanthropist and community leader who holds six honorary doctorate degrees, to include her most recent in 2016 from the College of Charleston. Mrs. Ferguson was the catalyst behind the decision to donate her and her late husband James Ferguson’s historic properties in Trujillo, Spain to the College in 1996. Over two decades later, the properties in Trujillo serve as the hub of the College of Charleston’s vibrant study abroad programs there, where each spring and summer students and faculty from the College enjoy rich, immersive, and unforgettable academic and cultural experiences. Mrs. Ferguson is a former board member of the Gibbes Museum of Art and currently serves as an advisory board member to the College of Charleston’s Department of Hispanic Studies.

Assist a CofC student with costs associated with studying abroad in Australia; 3.0 GPA or better; preference to students with financial need and active/avid surfers. The Joe Milligan Australian Scholarship Fund was created in memory of Joe by his close friends, Ms. Catherine O’Connor and Ms. Katie Clark, and by his parents and sister, George and Juliet Sears Milligan and Juliet Katherine Milligan. Joe grew up in Orlando, FL not far from the beach, where his passions for life and for surfing were nurtured. He attended the College of Charleston from 1997-2000. His adventurous spirit led him to Australia, where he studied at the University of Newcastle and graduated from Bond University with a degree in business communications in 2002. During his travels, Joe was known for his passion for surfing and his love of Australia. He not only gained the invaluable experience of studying abroad, but he also touched the lives of countless friends the world over. On October 12, 2002, Joe’s life tragically ended in a terrorist attack in Bali. By creating this scholarship, Joe’s family and friends hope to encourage students to live a life of curiosity, compassion and adventure as Joe did, exemplified by his words: “Take care of yourselves and each other, and always remember my motto: It’s okay to work hard, as long as you play harder.”

Dr. John L. Covington and Professor Robert J. Lukey were a married couple. Theirs was a relationship of deep commitment and enduring love that spanned almost 36 years. It was cut short when John died in 2020 after a 15-year battle with scleroderma. They had a passion for travel, for the arts, for healthcare, and for education. John was a dentist who graduated from the College of Charleston in 1984 and from MUSC Dental School in 1988. He ran the Sexton Dental Clinic in Myrtle Beach. Robert was a graduate of the University Pretoria, The New School for Social Research in New York, and The Citadel in Charleston. He was the arts & sciences department chair at Johnson & Wales University in Charleston. They had no children, but with this scholarship, they aim to “adopt” promising young people and to help foster their education. Both John and Robert were deeply committed to helping others regardless of age, race, religion, origin, and, most importantly, of sexual orientation/identification. It is their fervent wish that the student who recieves this scholarship shall have similar values and shall have expressed those prior to recieving the scholarship.

The Lindstedt Scholarship is available to full-time junior and senior students at the College of Charleston. You must be majoring in historic preservation and community planning and have a minimum 3.0 GPA to be eligible for this renewable award.

Support students traveling to Spain; preference to students with financial need. The Nancy Elizabeth Brown Study Abroad in Spain Endowed Scholarship was created in memory of Nancy Elizabeth Brown, who attended the College of Charleston and graduated in 1999 with a B.A. in Spanish. While studying at the College, she spent a semester abroad in Spain and was able to visit seven other countries during that period. This fund was established at Nancy’s direction so that other students might benefit from studying in Spain.

The School of the Arts Gala Scholarship for HPCP is for students who declare a major in Studio Art.

Students selected must have completed his/her second year at the College, and Maintain a 2.5 GPA Completed at least three courses (9 hours of instruction) in business Completed at least four courses (12 hours of instruction) in a foreign language Received recommendations from Business and Language faculty Recipients must prepare a budget of his/her anticipated expenses to be incurred in travel as well as reasonable allowances for living and incidental expenses during the course of study. The budget will include a contribution of at least 10 percent of the total expected cost from the student. Recipient must spend a term in the study of business and/or marketing in a foreign country (to be approved by the College) and, at the conclusion of the course, shall submit a paper dealing with some area of business in the country in which they have been exposed. Recipients shall also submit a final budget reflecting all expenses actually incurred during the course of study. All recipients shall execute, prior to the foreign travel, an appropriate release by which they assume all risk of sickness and/or accident and agree to make no claims against either the College or the Sheffield family.

Carl “Al” Taylor, Jr. and his wife, Ione, are establishing this scholarship to help support students majoring in Geology at the College of Charleston. Al graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of Charleston in 1979 with a degree in Geology. During his tenure at the College, he benefited from an academic scholarship in the physical sciences which enabled him to focus on his studies. In 1982, he graduated with a Master’s in Geology from the University of North Carolina. Al has more than 30 years of experience as a geologist in domestic and international petroleum exploration, ranging from frontier exploration to well-site management and reservoir operations. Ione Taylor earned her bachelor’s degree at Guilford College and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Geology at the University of North Carolina. Most recently she served as the Executive Director for Earth and Energy Resources Leadership at Queen’s University. Their son, Carl, earned a dual Master’s in Environmental Science and Public Administration from the College of Charleston in 2016. He currently works for the Lowcountry Land Trust in Charleston, SC. Their daughter, Lindley, earned a Master of Fine Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2014 and is a motion graphics artist and animator with Gannett Company in McLean, Virginia.

The School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, in conjunction with the John Edwin Mroz Global Leadership Institute, has scholarship money available for study abroad. In order to qualify for scholarship funding, you must have either a declared major or minor in a program in LCWA and at least a 3.0 GPA.