Going to college entails a lot more than a desire to learn and some suitcases — unless those suitcases are packed with cash. As college costs continue to skyrocket, the need for financial aid is more crucial than ever. For the students of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, there is a loud response to that need.

Under the Tabernacle roof in Oak Bluffs tonight, 594 scholarships totalling more than $850,000 will be awarded to graduates and post-graduates of the high school — hard proof of the impressive scholarship network that the Island has to offer. Of the total, $530,000 will go to 118 graduating seniors in the form of grant money and need-based financial aid.

“There’s just an incredible outpouring of support from the various community groups and sponsors,” said Michael McCarthy, guidance director at the regional high school. And he knows that the awards are going to a deserving group of students. “There seems to be a scholarship for everything,” said Mr. McCarthy. “They reflect a gamut of talents. We want to encourage students to pursue those talents.”

A scholarship committee at the regional high school selects several recipients for in-house awards across departments. Other awards are determined by sponsoring community groups and the Martha’s Vineyard Permanent Endowment Fund.

Through troubled and favorable economies alike, these organizations manage to summon support for Island students. “The local organizations do an amazing job fund-raising,” said Mr. McCarthy. “Even in years when the yield from major sponsors has dropped, the total yield hasn’t.” In fact, he said, this year’s total is slightly up from last year’s.

Emma HallBilsback and Antone Lima, both graduating seniors at the high school, each received a Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship in March. Ms. HallBilsback will soon board a plane for New Zealand to spend a year in an immersion program that focuses on sustainable farming, followed by undergraduate school at Hampshire College. The fellowship will fund Mr. Lima’s education at the University of New Hampshire, where he will pursue environmental engineering as the first step to his hopes for improving waste management and sustainable energy on the Island.

Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School director Bob Moore added his own words of praise for the scholarship program. “The Island is very generous in generating money and support for young people’s education,” Mr. Moore said. Charter school students from this year’s graduating class received a total of nine scholarships from Island organizations, including the Dukes County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, the Chilmark Firefighter’s Association, the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby and the Martha’s Vineyard Permanent Endowment Fund.

Scholarships are not limited to college-bound students. According to the regional high school’s guidance department, many awards will help graduates pay for trade school, community service projects and other special programs. No matter what course graduates plan to pursue, sponsors will have a hand in making it happen.

“The kids are always so thankful to receive the help, and the support really helps them achieve their goals,” said Mr. McCarthy. Some students have a general direction in mind, and others are already planning the details of their futures.

And then there are the students who have made continual use of the scholarship network and still recognize its unmatched generosity. Mark Reppert, regional high school class of 2009, exited the Tabernacle at his own Class Night with $5,800 in scholarship money — awarded for his strides in the classroom and in his middle-distance events for the track and field team. Mr. Reppert spent a year at Manhattan College in New York before transferring to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is currently a marketing student in the university’s business school.

He is one of a number of post-graduates benefitting from the renewable awards program offered by the Permanent Endowment to follow up with certain students throughout their college years. “When we start to support a student’s effort, we like to see them through,” said Kerry Alley, chairman of the scholarship committee for the Permanent Endowment. “The whole thing is a testimony to the generosity of the entire Island community,” he said.

Mr. Reppert, who still receives the Elmer Hobson DeLoura Scholarship through the renewable program (students can reapply each winter), has created a well-rounded college experience for himself. He ran two more years of track, landed an internship with a service group that sends previously owned shoes to Africa, and is a member of an awareness group that focuses on everyday sustainability. He will soon depart for Buenos Aires for a study-abroad program.

And while so much effort goes into supporting students and their wide-ranging endeavors, the generosity is not a one-sided enterprise. Mr. Reppert describes the support network for students on the Island as simply “off-the-charts.”

“I’d still like to thank everyone who has given to the scholarship programs, whether it’s donating or fundraising or volunteering — any type of involvement,” he said. “Those living and those passed, just thank you.

“Every little bit counts.”