About the Scholarship Fund

scholarship

Overview

Chapter 60, Section 3C of the Massachusetts General Laws allows any Massachusetts city or town to establish a local Scholarship Fund for the purpose of providing educational financial aid to deserving residents.

Communities that establish a Scholarship Fund are authorized to implement a voluntary check-off and donation program through the distribution of their municipal tax bills amd/or motor vehicle excise tax bills. Funds collected through this program must be managed by a local Scholarship Committee composed of the city or town’s Superintendent of Schools and no fewer than four residents chosen from the community at large.  

Each Scholarship Committee is responsible for the selection of scholarship recipients and award amounts based on local criteria and state requirements. State requirements include the following:

  • Scholarship recipients must be residents of the city or town at the time the financial aid is first awarded and have been accepted to pursue education beyond the secondary-school level at an institution deemed accredited by the committee.
  • The committee must take into consideration each recipient’s financial need, character, scholastic record, and involvement in community work, as well as extracurricular school activities

Town Scholarship Fund Committee

The Town Scholarship Fund was established in 1989 by Town-meeting vote.

Mission

The mission of the Scholarship Fund Committee is to provide a voluntary check-off and donation program for the purpose of raising scholarship funds and to maintain a perpetual local trust for supporting and expanding post-secondary educational opportunities for all Weymouth residents, regardless of race, color, creed, age, or sex.

Composition

The Scholarship Fund Committee is a nine-member body consisting of the Superintendent of Schools (or his or her designee) and eight members of the community appointed by the Mayor.

Each year, the committee elects a Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, and any other officer deemed necessary by the committee.

Rules and Regulations

The Scholarship Fund Committee is governed by its own bylaws, which from time to time may be amended by majority vote.

No officer, committee member, or employee of the Town may receive compensation from the Town Scholarship Fund.