By helping pay for college, we empower the brightest individuals to become who they were always destined to be.
The D’Addario Foundation annually awards 10 college scholarships, each renewable for up to 4 years. This means that at any given time we are supporting 40 students who are enrolled in degree-seeking programs. Upon accepting these scholarships, students are named D’Addario Foundation Ambassadors and become part of a network of peers from around the country.
Our scholarships are intended to support young people who grew up learning music in our grantees’ programs. To be eligible, a student must be in 12th grade at the time of application and be an active participant in or alumni of a D’Addario Foundation grantee in the United States.
We are moved by each and every scholarship application. When making final decisions, the scholarship review committee takes a number of factors into consideration and prioritizes those who will be the first in their family to attend college. To date, 75% of our scholarship recipients are first-generation college-goers.
D'Addario Foundation scholarship recipients are ambassadors of our work and embody the lasting positive change that results from a robust education in music. Here are the 2025 recipients.
Alejandro Ganaza
Columbia University
Economics, Political Science
Angelica Zamora-Reyes
Mount Saint Mary's University
Pharmacutical Sciences, Nursing, Business
Autumn Walker
University of Rhode Island
Environmental Studies
“This is just a quick note to say how profoundly grateful we are for your thoughtfulness in creating the D'Addario scholarship program. This means so much to the 3 UpBeat students that have been awarded scholarships. We are very moved that D'Addario appreciates the fact that, while music can bring so very much into all our lives, there are very real obstacles that can prevent our students from continuing their journeys into adulthood. Your scholarship support is making a huge difference. Thank you so very much.” - Liza Austria, Founding Director, UpBeat NYC
"Coming from a city where there is a lot of poverty and public schools are underfunded, I can speak first-hand how it’s sad that so many kids do not have access to music education. Through my music program [Play On Philly] I’m seeing how much music education can change a student’s life, by giving them something to be passionate about and creating a safe space. It means a lot that foundations like the D’Addario Foundation reach out to students and give them something like music to immerse their time in, because so many of them need it." - Zora Nelson, NYU
All of these young people have some kind of potential in them. And if we don’t invest in them as a nation, regardless of where they come from or what color they are, if we don’t invest in them, we lose. Imagine this talent bottled up in these kids unexplored, un-invested. There are millions of kids like this in this country who do not have the resources to become everything that they could be. And shame on us if we can’t do this better. But fortunately, these programs are doing the job that sometimes the bigger society fails to do.
- Michelle Obama
This scholarship is intended for students participating in current D'Addario Foundation grantee programs. Qualified programs will receive information on how their students can apply in the fall of each year.
By helping pay for college, we empower the brightest individuals to become who they were always destined to be.
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