Hawaii high school seniors and college students can begin applying for hundreds of scholarships to help pay for college.

The Hawaii Community Foundation — which manages hundreds of charitable funds — is accepting applications through Feb. 18 for more than 200 scholarship funds that last year awarded $4.7 million in scholarships to 1,300 students.

The funds are set up by donors that include individuals, families, businesses and community organizations.

To streamline the application process, the foundation matches applicants to eligible scholarships. The awards are open to students graduating high school as well as continuing college students.

“Basically what we do is provide one, common online application,” said Eric Laa, the Hawaii Community Foundation’s senior scholarship officer. “Instead of trying to apply for a specific scholarship that we administer, we take all of the information that they provide us, and we match them to one or multiple scholarships that they could be eligible for.”

He said nearly 1 in 3 applicants receive multiple awards, with the average annual award around $2,800. The average cost of tuition and fees nationwide for the 2015–16 school year was $32,405 at private colleges, $9,410 for state residents at public colleges and $23,893 for out-of-state residents attending public universities, according to the College Board.

The foundation’s 207 scholarship funds run the gamut, with most requiring applicants to demonstrate financial need and maintain good grades. Available scholarships benefit students pursuing specific majors; descendants of veterans; at-risk youth; students enrolling at specific colleges; and students of various ancestries, for example.

“We’ve got scholarships for students who want to stay home (in Hawaii) or go away, whether they go to community college or to a four-year. We’ve got scholarships for specific schools, scholarships for students that live or grew up on each of the neighbor islands,” Laa said. “If you can think of it or you’re going into it, we’ve probably got a scholarship for it.”

John Aiwohi, who at one time in his life was homeless and addicted to drugs, credits the scholarships he’s received through the Hawaii Community Foundation for helping him turn his life around.

Now 42, Aiwohi is earning straight A’s at Chaminade University, where he’s pursuing a degree in nursing on full scholarship.

“I’m just really humbled and grateful for Hawaii Community Foundation,” he said. “It has helped me pursue my dreams, and without them I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now.”

Aiwohi said he began to turn his life around four years ago, and was inspired to get into the health field by the multiple service agencies that helped him.

“I was homeless and addicted to drugs and alcohol for over 20 years,” he said in an interview. “My life was pretty much going nowhere. I was hopeless and had no direction.”

“I really just had enough, and I knew that I needed to find something that I was going to be happy with, a job that I could love,” he added. “I wanted to give back to the community, and so I wanted to do nursing to be able to help and work with the same agencies that worked with me when I was trying to get on my feet. I want to work with them, side by side this time, helping others.”

Vincent Shigekuni, who was an HCF scholarship recipient in the 1970s, said he set up an endowed scholarship fund through the foundation because of his own experience struggling to pay for college.

“It really made such a huge difference in my life. I really just about gave up,” Shigekuni recalled of his time at the University of Hawaii, when he worked three part-time jobs to support himself before receiving a scholarship.

With his wife, Alison, he recently set up the Albert and Dorothy Shigekuni Scholarship Fund in honor of his parents. The fund benefits students enrolled at a UH campus, with preference given to students who haven’t traveled outside Hawaii and students who participate in a study-abroad program.

“I hope that students that are in a similar situation that I was in … get an opportunity,” said Shigekuni, who does city planning for a private firm. “As someone who’s been there, just a small amount can make a big change in your life.”

For more information and to apply, go to hawaii communityfoundation.org/scholarships.

The University of Hawaii also is accepting applications online through March 1 for the more than 1,000 scholarship funds it administers. UH awarded $10 million in scholarships systemwide last year to more than 3,500 students.

Applicants can complete a single application for scholarships covering the 10-campus system at uhsys.scholarships.ngwebsolutions.com. To apply for scholarships specific to the UH-Manoa campus, see hawaii.edu/fas/info/ scholarships.php.

Meanwhile, applications for scholarships through the Pauahi Foundation — which supports the mission of Kamehameha Schools and gives preference to applicants of Hawaiian ancestry — will open Feb. 3. The foundation awarded $298,000 in scholarships to more than 300 students in 2013-14.