​See how the Pilot Scholarship Houses provide “a home away from home” for college students in Florida.

Our local Scholarship Houses – Williams and Mary Ellen Thomas (MET) – are located in Gainesville, FL.  They are supported by the Pilot Scholarship House Foundation (PSHF), Florida District Inc., which has benefited hundreds of students to attend Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee State College in Tallahassee, the University of Florida and Santa Fe College in Gainesville and Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers since 1962.

​

PSHF is able to make a difference thanks to a unique partnership with the Southern Scholarship Foundation (SSF), the organization responsible for the processing of scholarship applications and maintaining the Pilot Scholarship Houses and other scholarship houses at or near select Florida college campuses. The PSHF currently assists approximately 100 young women and men each semester toward their goal of a college education.

Each Pilot Scholarship House is home to 16 to 23 students. Management of each house is by the students themselves, though there is a House Manager who supervises each house and is an upperclassman selected by the Southern Scholarship Foundation.

​

In this cooperative living arrangement, residents take turns planning meals, shopping, cooking and cleaning up after the nightly group dinners. Household duties are assigned and performed by the students weekly. The budgeted cost of food and utilities is shared among the residents, with an average house services bill per student of approximately $1200 per semester. This rent-free housing saves each student close to $13,200 each year.

​

Our support of these students, some of whom are homeless and/or come from other countries, is a very important part of the Friendship and Service we exhibit as the Pilot Club of Jacksonville.