By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Thanks to a $100,000 donation from Knights of Columbus to the Youngstown State University Foundation, a new scholarship opportunity was created for eligible students. Elena Slemons, development officer for the YSU Foundation, said the scholarship will be awarded to four students each academic year.
“This scholarship will be awarded through the Knights of Columbus [Youngstown] Council 274 along with the YSU Foundation, and it will be given to four students in freshman, sophomore, junior and senior [years],” Slemons said.
Students must be from a Catholic parish in Mahoning County to be eligible for the scholarship. Preference will be given to students who are related to members of the Knights of Columbus, both living and deceased.
“Based on the criteria, they must be from a Catholic parish in Mahoning County,” Slemons said. “They also decided to give preference to a student who … [has] a current or deceased family member that was a member of the Knights of Columbus with a minimum of a 3.0 GPA.”
Slemons said the scholarship will start in the 2027-28 academic year, and that students awarded it will receive $1,000 per academic year.
Students who are interested can apply for the scholarship on the YSU Foundation website and the Knights of Columbus website. The application will go live in fall 2026.
“For the Knights of Columbus scholarship … there will be a paper application that can be found on the YSU Foundation website,” Slemons said. “They can also find it on the Knights of Columbus website. Again, it has not gone live on their website yet. It will in the fall as well.”
The Knights of Columbus is a fraternal Catholic organization that works to support the church. Jim Harrison, finance secretary for the Knights of Columbus Youngstown Council, said that the Knights of Columbus have invested in education at YSU before.
“We basically support scholarships at the college level. We also give out the Columbus Day scholarship through Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and we also give out another scholarship through the festival at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel,” Harrison said. “We’re already invested in education at YSU.”
The Knights of Columbus regularly donate to organizations on YSU’s campus, including the Paula and Anthony Rich Center for the Study and Treatment of Autism and the St. John Henry Newman Center.
“Every year, we collect money through our ‘Measure Up Campaign,’ and we give a check to the Rich Center every year,” Harrison said. “We also work with the Newman Center that is at the YSU campus. We give them donations twice a year.”
The YSU Foundation handles fundraising for the university and has hundreds of scholarships available to students in need of financial aid.
“We are the fundraising arm of the university, and we help raise and establish scholarships for students,” Slemons said. “We have just over 1,100 scholarships.”
Students can fill out the foundation’s application for the 2027-28 academic year when it reopens this fall.