Criteria for Applying for Scholarships

Starting May 24, due to travelling for graduations and weddings, we may be a few days behind in scanning in letters of recommendation and transcripts received on that day forward. As long as the postmark is May 26 or earlier, the information sent WILL be accepted.

Any citizen or permanent resident of the United States with a significant bilateral hearing loss is eligible for consideration by the Foundation, regardless of age, sex, race, geographic location or ethnicity. We generally require at least a 50 dB unaided hearing loss in both ears; applicants who have a cochlear implant are considered. If there are extenuating circumstances documented in the application, we may consider applicants with lesser hearing losses. Criteria used for selection of scholarship recipients ensure that the mission of the Foundation is supported. Financial need will increase the chance of being awarded funds but is only one of many criteria that are taken into account.

Scholarships will be considered only at accredited non-profit schools physically located in the United States, and all funds awarded by the Louise Tumarkin Zazove Foundation will be paid directly to schools on a semester or quarter basis (depending on the school). Once we select a grantee, we hope to provide the scholarship to that person through their senior year of college, provided two things occur:

The Foundation receives a copy of the student's grades every quarter or semester to verify the grantee is doing well in school
The Foundation gets a copy of the student's tuition statement every semester/quarter plus a copy of the first two pages of their family/individual tax form every year

Providing the scholarship for four years is not a guaranteed commitment, however, and will be at the sole discretion of the Foundation. A decision will be made on a year-to-year basis for each student.

Funds will be awarded only for tuition expenses. Although undergraduate level of study will be strongly favored, the Foundation may on occasion consider applications for graduate or high school tuition or other appropriate situations. Let us be clear: No personal information received by us on an application form--or otherwise--is ever rented, sold, or otherwise distributed by our foundation.

The final decision regarding selection of scholarship recipients will be made by the Foundation's board of directors or by designees as directed by the board. A completed application form (done on-line by clicking on the application form icon, which is on the home page, the top of this page, or below), together with all other documents listed below, is required for the application to be considered. We ask that the items in #4, #5 and #6 below be scanned and directly uploaded onto your application site (using the Upload Function on your application site that will be established when you submit an application). Transcripts and Letters of Recommendation should be mailed to:

The Louise Tumarkin Zazove Foundation
c/o Philip Zazove
11475 Pleasant View Dr.
Pinckney, MI 48169

Scholarship applications are accepted between January 1 and May 26. To apply for a scholarship, you must establish your own application site on our internal application page. This is easily done by clicking on the following icon: scholarship application. You will be guided in a few simple steps how to establish your own application site. Then you can fill out an application and modify it until the closure date (May 26) at your discretion. You can also upload some supporting documents and see the status of your application at any time, including who has sent in letters of recommendation. Please be aware that it may take several days after receiving transcripts and letters of recommendation for us to upload it to your application.

Documents required for an applicant to be considered include, but may not be limited to:

A completed scholarship application form. This can be accessed by establishing your own application page on our internal application site by clicking on scholarship application.
A copy of the applicant's high school and/or college grades sent directly by the school to the Foundation at the above address (these cannot be uploaded onto your application site).
At least three letters of recommendation by teachers or others qualified to comment on the educational potential of the applicant, written on the letterhead of the person making the recommendation, each to be mailed by the letter writer directly to the Foundation. If the applicant knows others in a position to write you a recommendation, such a letter would be of interest to our committee. Those letters must be mailed directly to us too and cannot be uploaded onto your application site.
Documentation of the severity of the hearing loss (an audiogram or other verification by a qualified professional). This should be uploaded directly onto your application site. If there are multiple pages, please upload as one .pdf or .jpeg document. Please keep this as a separate file, i.e., do NOT combine this file with the copies of your tax forms or other information.
The first two pages of the previous year's federal income tax form of the applicant's family. Please send both parents' income forms if they are separated. If you are totally independent of your parents, then please upload the first two pages of your own tax form. This should be uploaded directly onto your application site. The two pages should be combined in one .pdf file or .jpeg document. Please keep this as a separate file, i.e., do NOT combine this file with your audiogram or other information.
Any special circumstances by or about the family. This can be either directly inputted at the end of your application, or can be uploaded onto your application site.

The above should be submitted no later than May 26th for the upcoming school year, whether uploaded or sent by the United States mail. Any material sent by the United States Post Office must be postmarked no later than May 26th. The May 26th deadline is strictly adhered to, even for documents over which applicants have no direct control such as school transcripts and letters of recommendation. If you apply for a scholarship, please make it clear to your school(s), all persons writing your recommendation letters, and any person or organization (such as scholarship.com) that may be unploading information for you, that there are no deadline extensions.

Your application site allows you to see everything that's been received in support of your application - including if we've received your transcript and if we've received letters of recommendation (as well as who they are from). Therefore, you should be able to see if we have received a letter from someone, or if we have a transcript. It might take a few days for materials sent by U.S. mail to appear on your application site, so if it is the last few days before May 26th and you have any questions, please contact earl@ltzfoundation.org. Of course, if you have other questions not answerd by the information on this page or your application site, feel free to contact us then as well. Should your address, e-mail, or telephone number change after you have applied, please make the appropriate changes in your application so we can contact you if need be.

All applicants will be notified of the Foundation's decisions by July 31, and funds will be dispersed to the appropriate institution before the school year starts.

PRIVACY NOTICE: The Foundation takes very seriously the privacy of its donors, supporters and applicants. Therefore, we never rent, sell, or otherwise make available information about anyone to outside parties.