Any full ride scholarships for disabled people?

Congrats on deciding to go to college with the goals of getting into medical school to work on your own disease. That's a noble thing.

As you've discovered already there is not a lot of free money out there being doled out for disabilities from private charities online. And while you may find it futile to collect enough money to attend college for 4 years let alone 1 year, I honestly think you are going about it the wrong way.

First, let's get the terms right. Scholarships are usually merit-based so you have to compete with others based on something you've done like be good at writing, have good grades, high test scores or have proven and document impact in community service activities. Now if you have all of these things and more, you can effectively compete with other applicants. It's rare that you get free money because of a medical condition.

Second and more important is financial aid. Financial aid is something you work out with each college you apply to with their financial aid office or if you are using the Common or Coalition application portals you apply to multiple colleges there but you also must submit your FAFSA and CSS form (from Collegeboard) to determine what your need is or EFC (Expected Family Contribution). Whether you make $10,000 or $200,000 you fill out these form to let the colleges know your situation and they determine how to fund your education either with Grants (non-repayable lumps sums), Loans (either from the School or from private lenders), Work-Study jobs (where you work at the school up to 10 hours a week or so), or Summer work contributions plus any Federal or State grants (such as the PELL grant) or Supplemental grants. Whether you are able or disabled you must apply to the colleges and fill out all the requisite forms to find out a.) if you get in b.) what kind of financial aid package you are going to get.

I believe all colleges whether private or public are prohibited from discriminating any applicant based on race, gender, religion, orientation, or being able or disabled. You said you have epilepsy but I do not believe you must disclose your condition when you apply to college just like someone who has a mental health issue doesn't have to disclose whether they are ADHD or bi-polar. Up to 20% of more of the incoming Freshman at the UC schools have privately disclosed that they suffer from 1 or more ailment. Albeit, perhaps they may not have epilepsy however they fall into a wide range of conditions from blindness, hearing impaired, physical impairment, mental impairment, etc.

So besides your disability, the only thing you said about yourself is that you are 26 or about 8 years older than the typical freshman applicant. If you have not attended college before, you will have to complete all the requirements on the college applications from submitting your transcripts showing your coursework and GPA, writing any required essays, getting recommendations, listing your extracurricular activities, submitting any standardized test scores like the ACT or SAT.

If you have attended college before, then you will apply as a transfer student and follow all the requirements from the college you are applying to.

Once you successfully apply to a list of colleges, you will know this Springtime if you get accepted to any of them. In a parallel process, they will be evaluating your financial aid package. Most likely if you get accepted, soon to follow will be a financial aid package that comes as part of the acceptance. Since I don't know anything about your financial status, I don't know if you what you would qualify for. Most full-ride scholarships are limited to the poorest of the applicant and then full-ride is really just an antiquated term because it has changed to getting a financial aid package where 100% of your needs are met through as I said before, grants, loans, supplemental loans, jobs, work-study, etc.

Please keep in mind that CollegeVine is here as a resource for 1st-time college applicants who are currently Seniors in High School. This blog is answered mostly by 15-19-year-olds who are not experts but volunteer their time to answer questions. No one on here has specific experience in assisting people to get scholarships for disabled applicants.

One thing I would suggest is that you try to find online various community service organization that helps people with disabilities understand what their rights are to education and perhaps they have specific experience to guide yours through the application process both as someone with a disability and someone who is 26 years of age.

Best of luck with your college application journey.

Tbh there’s not a lot of full ride ones specifically for disabled but are merit or need based. I’m of the opinion that the best ones will be full ride ones sponsored by the school you want to go to. Also the schools that meet full need are super competitive though.

Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification as I’d be happy to help clarify!