JHSSF Launches “Finish Line” Awards With $40,000 in Additional Scholarship Funds to Help Past Recipients Obtain Their Degrees

September 2025

Recognizing an ongoing need in our community, the Justice High School Scholarship Fund (JHSSF) is launching new “Finish Line” Awards to support past scholarship recipients entering their junior years of college.

In light of escalating costs, recent scholarship recipients typically use all their awards in the first two years of college, and those committed to completing their degrees face increasing financial obstacles to finish and graduate. In response to this need, JHSSF launched a pilot round of supplemental funding, and last month awarded an additional $40,000 to 14 graduates from the JHS Class of 2023 to continue their studies and achieve their goal of a college degree.

Of the 14 recipients, 10 have family incomes below the threshold for federal Pell grants (71%). Eight attend colleges in Northern Virginia or Washington, DC, with the other six at schools in Virginia and Massachusetts. The applications revealed that these students are working very hard to obtain their degrees on top of outside employment and family commitments. Multiple recipients addressed the tension between working and focusing on their schoolwork. Virtually all recipients identified that their family obligations remain or had increased since graduation, citing their parents’ health and employment challenges and supporting younger siblings. Nearly half of the recipients reported having siblings who are also attending college this Fall.

Over the last 20 years, JHSSF has awarded more than 1,100 need-based scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $12,000 to graduating JHS seniors to fill the unmet need that remains between the college’s financial aid packages and what families can realistically provide. For more information about the all-volunteer JHSSF organization or the resilient students it supports, please send an email to hello@jhsscholars.org.