For many students the biggest obstacle to a higher education is money. The Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship Program aims to help remove this obstacle by providing deserving students of all ages with scholarships that can be used to pay for college or graduate school. The first scholarship was awarded in 2001 and since then the scholarship program has been awarding money to help students pay for school.

The Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship is a merit-based program which means financial need is not considered. The selection of the winner is made by an independent panel of judges and is based primarily on the quality of the submitted personal statement. Past academic performance (e.g. grades and standardized test scores) are not considered. The goal is to create a level field where students have complete control over their applications and are not given an advantage or disadvantage based on financial or academic circumstances.

The Scholarship Program is named after Gen and Kelly Tanabe who are the award-winning authors of fourteen books on admission and scholarships. Together the Tanabes were accepted to all of the Ivy League colleges and won more than $100,000 in merit-based scholarships to graduate from Harvard debt-free. They tour nationally speaking about college planning and have served as expert sources for USA Today, The New York Times, CNN, and U.S. News & World Report.