San Diego County has the longest local scholarship list we track in California: 79 scholarships limited to students there, from 19 local sponsors. Most run through a community foundation, where one application often covers many funds. We keep searching and add new local scholarships as we find them, so this number grows.
Each sponsor counted once, by kind. A community foundation often runs dozens of separate funds through one application, so it can be one sponsor with many scholarships.
| Who gives locally | Sponsors | Scholarships |
|---|---|---|
| Community foundations | 1 | 57 |
| Credit unions | 1 | 2 |
| Farm Bureaus | 1 | 1 |
| Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions and other service clubs | 3 | 4 |
| School district and school foundations | 1 | 1 |
| Memorial funds and other local groups | 12 | 14 |
| All local sponsors | 19 | 79 |
Most of the posted deadlines fall in March. Counted from the 3 scholarships here with a posted date. Local applications often open only a few weeks before they close, so the time to get ready is the fall before.
That is about 9 times as many as the typical California county, which has 9, and ranks 1st of California's 58 counties. On top of the local list, California students can look at 17 state scholarships and grants limited to the state but not to one county, and the national ones. Across California we have found 452 local scholarships in 58 counties. See every California county.
All 3 counties that border San Diego County have local scholarships in our catalog too. Some sponsors cover several counties, and a student who lives in one county and goes to school in another can sometimes apply on both sides.
A public four-year college in California averaged $8,637 in tuition and fees and $16,288 for a dorm and meals in 2022-23, about $24,925 a year before any aid, more than the national public average of $22,389. That is the newest federal figure published for every state, so today's prices run higher. The homepage works out what is left after California's own state aid for your student's grades and scores, college by college.
Answer a few questions and see how many of the 8,000+ scholarships we track fit your student, local ones included. Their own board, with every name, rule and deadline, is $149 for the school year.
See which ones your student fits30-day refund, no questions asked.
The names, rules and deadlines are the product. We read each one from the sponsor's own page and recheck it on a schedule, and that work is what the $149 board pays for. This page shows how much is out there so you can decide whether it is worth a look.
No. Most local scholarships add their own rules on top of where you live: one high school, a GPA floor, a planned major, a parent who is a member or a customer. The board asks about those once and shows the ones your student fits, with what each one still asks you to check.
Counted from our catalog on October 8, 2026. We add new local scholarships every week, so the numbers here usually go up.
Counts, amounts and deadline months come from each sponsor's own published rules and can change without notice. Totals add one winner of each scholarship; sponsors that do not publish an amount are not counted in the dollar total. A deadline month is from the most recent cycle we could find. College prices are estimates to plan with, not a quote. Confirm anything you act on with the sponsor or the college.