RICHMOND — The deadline for applying for—but also renewing—a Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship is March 1.

The applications must be post marked no later than March 1, or be in Richmond no later than that date, or they will not be considered.

Application packets and renewal forms are available at three Farmville locations: The Farmville Herald, at 114 North Street; the Eggleston Company, at 914 South Main Street; and the R. R. Moton Museum, at 900 Griffin Boulevard.

Both forms are also available at Southside Virginia Community College, at 200 Daniel Road in Keysville, as well as six other locations across the Commonwealth.

The application material is also available online at http://dls.state.va.us/brown.htm.

The application packets contain much information, including frequently asked questions and contact phone numbers for those wanting to ask additional questions of state staff.

The Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship program is aimed at the victims of Massive Resistance to public school integration in the 1950s and 1960s, individuals who were unable to complete their education when schools closed rather than integrate in response to the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board decision of 1954.

The scholarship fund, created by the General Assembly in 2004 and funded with $2 million—$1 million in state funds in 2004 and $1 million received in 2008 from the late John Kluge—can be used to pay for tuition at state public two and four-year institutions of higher learning, or accredited private Virginia colleges or universities, for an undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, or professional degree, as well as for a GED or high school diploma and career and technical training.

The funds may also be used to attend licensed non-profit proprietary schools which, in Virginia, means schools that will provide career, technical training. The non-profit requirement stems from Virginia’s Constitution, which will not allow public funds to be used for private career schools.

Summer school and CLEP, or College Level Examination Program, is also included.

Money for books used in classes may also be provided.

The scholarship funds are not sent directly to recipients but to the institutions at which they are enrolled, as with other scholarships.

Renewing scholarship awards is also important because successful applicants are not limited to a single scholarship award. They could, for example, complete a GED program and then a two-year community college degree program, or a two-year degree program and then transfer to a four-year institution of higher learning.

Applicants must demonstrate that they are Virginia residents and that they have applied for, or have been accepted for admission, or are currently enrolled in an educational program that meets the qualifications of the scholarship program.

Help is available, however, for those who have not applied for admission and are uncertain about what type of educational program they should pursue. The application form allows applications to indicate they would like help making that decision.

The General Assembly removed the program’s expiration date three years ago and so the Brown Scholarship Program will continue until repealed by the legislature or all the money is spent.

More than 100 scholarships have been awarded and the program saw its first graduating class of college degree recipients in May of 2007.

(Brenda Edwards, of Virginia’s Division of Legislative Services, can be reached at 804-786-3591 or by email at: bedwards@dls.virginia.gov).