Why a scholarship for students living with HIV?

When you meet someone living with HIV, there is usually much more going on in their lives than just their HIV status. Many have experienced direct and systemic racism, homophobia, transphobia, homelessness, substance misuse or abuse, and many other socioeconomic disparities that have prevented them from attending college. When someone is having to manage these parts of their lives as well as managing their HIV diagnosis, it’s honestly sometimes too much for an individual.

However, the HIV community is a special community. The people who make up that community are determined, passionate, and driven. They are empathic, understanding , and listen to those around them. They know how to turn the impossible into reality. This is why when people living with HIV become students living with HIV, they get it done, but without the financial support, this reality is no more. This is where we come in with the HIV League Scholarship, the only national scholarship for students living with HIV.

Students living with HIV are men, women, and gender-fluid. Students living with HIV are all sorts of queer. Students living with HIV are cisgender and transgender. Students living with HIV are young and old. Students living with HIV are Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and everything in between. Students living with HIV continue to seek out ways to invest in their long-term futures, hence their drive and passion for higher education. We are proud to invest in the HIV community because we are not only investing in HIV lives, but we are also investing in the lives of those who identify with so much more than just their HIV status.