Lader Family Scholarship Program

A college student stands between her scholarship donors with her certificate in hand and a big smile on her face.

Lader Family Scholarship Program logo. Image is of a lighthouse graphic with a graduation cap/tassle on

The Lader Family Scholarship Program is open to residents of Illinois who are blind or visually impaired, as well as Chicago Lighthouse employees who are blind, visually impaired, have another disability, or are Veterans. Scholarship funds are to be used to defray the costs of tuition, books, assistive technology, or other educational expenses for students enrolled in post-secondary programs, including accredited certifications and Associate’s, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees.

Since its establishment in 2004, our Scholarship Program has awarded over 880 scholarships totaling approximately 1.1 million dollars in significant funds to help students pursue their dreams of college and post-graduate education. Scholarship funding may be used for education-related expenses, including tuition, technology, readers, books, classroom materials, on-campus housing and other educational items approved by the Scholarship Committee.

Scholarships range from $2,500 – $5,000. We ask that all those who receive a scholarship attend the scholarship ceremony on Thursday, July 31, 2025. 

For your application, you will need to provide the following:

  • Personal essay about your visual impairment or disability, background, educational aspirations and career goals.
  • Financial statement of need and how you plan to use the scholarship, if you are awarded
  • Our eye report form completed by a medical professional (Download Here)
  • Two letters of recommendation
  • Submission of official transcripts sent directly from the school or through a third party provider to Maureen Reid at maureen.reid@chicagolighthouse.org. (The transcript we receive must indicate that you have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher.)

Your application will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Financial need
  • Personal essay/character
  • Community and school involvement and career goals
  • Overall quality of application
  • Academic record
  • Academic rigor

 

Apply Here!

The deadline to apply is April 30, 2025.

Other Scholarship Resources:

 

 

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To learn more about additional scholarship opportunities not offered by The Chicago Lighthouse, please visit our Resource Guide.

For more information, or to request an accommodation to complete the application, please contact:

Maureen Reid
Scholarship Coordinator
(312) 997-3655
maureen.reid@chicagolighthouse.org
The Chicago Lighthouse
1850 W. Roosevelt Road | Chicago, IL 60608

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