During FSU's Great Give, Southern Scholarship Foundation’s goal is to provide two students who have experienced housing insecurity a rent-free home for one year in their journey to graduate from FSU. Many SSF residents have struggled with shelter, and some have experienced housing instability throughout their life, moving from apartment to apartment, sleeping in vehicles, or traversing friends’ couches. Prior to living in SSF’s houses, 25% of residents faced housing insecurities.

Southern Scholarship Foundation (SSF) provides rent-free, cooperative living housing for students who lack financial resources, demonstrate excellent academic merit, and exemplify good character. SSF was founded in 1955 by Dr. Mode Stone, the Dean of Education at FSU, and the Foundation has now served close to 10,000 students over its 69-year history.

In SSF’s living and learning community, cooperative living teaches valuable life skills and offers a support system. SSF residents pay for their food and utilities only, while being accountable to manage the household budget, cook and clean with each other, and take on leadership positions. They cook and eat dinner together four nights a week and there is always a full pantry of food. SSF operates 16 houses in Tallahassee, and 10 additional houses throughout Florida. Compared to other housing options, like dorms, SSF saves each resident approximately $13,000 annually, making a college education affordable and attainable. In 2023, 84% of SSF residents graduated with $0 in student debt!
The cooperative living and leadership experiences stretch into lifelong impacts. As one recent SSF alum wrote, “I learned so much about relationship building with people from different backgrounds and learning how to interact and socialize with people from different places in the world!"