It’s no secret that college or other education after high school is one of the best paths to ongoing financial stability. That applies no matter where you fall on the vision spectrum. But college is expensive, and students who are blind or low vision incur additional costs that fully sighted people don’t have to think about, such as adaptive devices, access technology and transportation.
For decades, the Council has sought to ease the financial burden of postsecondary education by awarding scholarships to Wisconsin residents who are blind or low vision. The deadline to submit your 2026 Council Scholarship application is Wednesday, March 25. You can learn more about the program and submit your application on the Scholarship page of our website.
We’ve made an important change to our scholarship program this year. For the first time, we have opened the program to half-time postsecondary students in addition to full-time. We recognize that every student has a different academic journey, and more and more students with vision loss are taking classes on a part-time basis for a variety of reasons. Expanding eligibility to half-time students is consistent with our mission of supporting every Wisconsinite who is blind or low vision regardless of their life circumstances.
We also recognize that Council scholarships only cover a small fraction of the cost of postsecondary education. So we strongly encourage students to apply for other scholarships they may be eligible for. Here are a few to consider looking into:
- Vision Forward awards multiple scholarships every year, and the application deadline for their 2026-27 school year is May 15. You can find more information on the Vision Forward website at Vision-Forward.org/Information/Scholarship-Opportunities.
- The Wisconsin chapter of the National Federation of the Blind’s offers annual scholarships. The application deadline, typically in late February, has already passed for 2026-27, so keep this one in mind for next year. You can find more information on their scholarship program at NFBWis.org/2026-NFBWI-Scholarship.
- Another scholarship to keep in mind for the future is the American Council of the Blind’s scholarship program. As with the NFB scholarship, the application deadline has passed for the upcoming academic school year. Like our Council Scholarships, this scholarship is open to both full- and part-time students enrolled in postsecondary education. Applications are typically available in the fall. You can learn more at ACB.org/Scholarships.