The Walentas Scholarship is the Jefferson Scholars Foundation's award for first-generation students, and it pays the same amount as the Jefferson Scholarship: the entire cost of attendance at the University of Virginia for four years, over $83,000 a year for a student from outside Virginia.
You qualify as first-generation if neither parent nor guardian has earned a bachelor's degree or its international equivalent. A parent part-way through a degree still counts, and an older sibling with a degree does not disqualify you.
Citizenship is not a requirement, so an international student can hold this award. The restriction is geographic: only schools inside the United States hold Walentas nomination slots, which makes this a route for international students at US secondary schools. If your school is outside the United States, your counsellor can nominate you for the Jefferson Scholarship instead.
The process mirrors the Jefferson competition and runs on the same 1 December nomination deadline, with its own regional committees, its own interview rounds and a final selection in late February. Walentas Scholars also attend a Scholar Summit before first year and receive the same enrichment funding.