Scholarship Policy Update 2025

History

Announced: [Date TBD]
Language locked: [Date TBD]
Voted on: [Date TBD]

Background

This is a vote to update the Scholarship policy to better serve our mission of creating an inclusive and accessible makerspace that reflects and enriches our diverse community. The proposed changes expand our scholarship criteria to explicitly support underrepresented groups, establish a dedicated Scholarship Committee, and implement a more structured and equitable selection process.

The updated policy aims to allocate scholarships based on a weighted criteria system that prioritizes both economic need and community representation. Additionally, it introduces longer scholarship terms and includes provisions for storage access and workshop participation to ensure recipients can fully engage with PS1's resources and community.

Language

[Language review document link to be added]

Once language is locked, it will be posted to this section. Language in this wiki page takes precedent over language posted in the document.

2025 Policy Updates

Scholarship Committee Structure

A dedicated Scholarship Committee will be established, consisting of:

One Board member or Director at Large
One MMT (Member Management Team) member
At least one Equity Analysts (members or volunteers)
One frequent member with no other volunteer associations
One other of any of the above positions to assure no deadlocks

Scholarship Allocation

The total number of scholarships will be changed from 15 static seats to a dynamic seat count capped at 5% of total paying membership.

Selection Criteria and Weighting

Applications will be evaluated using a weighted point system maintained and enforced by the Scholarship Committee.

Process Improvements

Applications will be anonymized before Board review and approval
Scholarship terms extended to 1 year
Recipients may opt in to free storage space, with option to share with other recipients
Scholarship recipients exempt from paid class fees
Applications will be dropped after one year if not selected (requiring yearly re-application)
Clear disclaimer about anonymity process included in applications

Storage and Resource Access

Free storage space available to all scholarship recipients (opt-in)
Storage sharing options available to maximize space efficiency
Full access to paid classes without additional fees

Results

Quorum: [Number TBD]
For: [Number TBD]
Against: [Number TBD]
Abstain: [Number TBD]