The Scholarship Academy
Jessica Johnson, Executive Director
Economic Mobility

The Scholarship Academy’s (TSA) mission is to help low-income students secure resources to pursue higher education opportunities with minimum debt and, thus, create a healthier financial aid culture.
Year Founded: 2006
The Scolarship Academy’s vision is for students to enter college on a pathway to graduate with as little debt as possible. They are working toward this aim by:
- Promoting increased confidence and proactive engagement in the financial aid process.
- Engaging local leaders and volunteers in building a community of collective financial aid accountability.
- Bridging critical college funding gaps by increasing access to local, untapped scholarship resources.
The Scholarship Academy (TSA) launched with a Scholarship Boot Camp course targeting low-income families in Washington DC and Atlanta. From 2006-2009, TSA assisted each family in creating a realistic 4-year college funding plan, with a focus on entering college and addressing potential barriers to successful matriculation.
TSA shifted from supporting individual families in 2010, scaling their services to high schools and youth-serving organizations with the implementation of their 16-module curriculum. Using a series of counselor trainings, and most recently our Virtual Scholarship Center online course offerings, TSA continues to assist organizations in creating healthier financial aid cultures, where financial aid does not happen to low-income families randomly. Instead, they are supported in creating proactive financial aid plans with minimal debt.

Jessica Johnson
Executive Director