Outside Scholarships

The best time to begin searching for outside scholarships is no later than the fall of the year before you plan to use them. Scholarship applications are the most active beginning in January each year with deadlines as early as March.

Early deadlines allow donors to review the applications and determine their recipients in time to announce them at graduation ceremonies. Some scholarships are for younger students so there is value in looking for scholarships even sooner than your senior year of high school.

There are numerous outside scholarships available from a variety of sources. Students who apply for local scholarship opportunities tend to have a greater chance of selection since the applicant pool is typically smaller than in a national search. Either way, students are encouraged to apply locally and nationally for the best chance.

• Talk with your high school counselor or the financial aid office at your current college to see how and where they collect information about private and outside scholarships from local donors.
• Reach out to community organizations, places you volunteer, your parents’ employer, or your own employer.
• Contact the program (for the major of your choice) at the colleges you are considering to see if they have additional scholarship opportunities.
• Apply online using scholarship search sites
  • Remember to avoid scholarship search sites or organizations that attempt to charge you a fee. There are many FREE scholarship resources and paying for help is not necessary.
• Even if you are concerned about your grades or test scores, it is still worth applying as some scholarships use other criteria to determine eligibility.

Outside scholarships are scholarships students bring with them to Seattle University. On the award letter these scholarships are labeled "Private Outside Scholarship".

If the student has received a scholarship from an outside donor that is not included on their award letter, they should notify the Student Financial Services Office as soon as possible so it will be considered when determining eligibility for other financial aid and revising the award if necessary.

If the Student Financial Services Offices receives a check from an outside scholarship's donor that requires the recipient's endorsement, an email will be sent to the student's SU e-mail address telling them to come to Student Financial Services to sign the check.

The following information may be helpful for students and scholarship donors:

• Report the amount of the scholarship for the entire 9-month academic year, even if it will be sent in separate, quarterly payments.
• Unless the donor specifies otherwise, scholarships are disbursed equally over all three quarters: fall, winter and spring.
• If the scholarship check is sent to the student rather than to Seattle University, they should notify the Office of Student Financial Services of the amount of the scholarship as soon as it is known.
• If the donor requires enrollment verification, the student may obtain an Enrollment Verification document from SU online by navigating to the 'Students Menu' and under 'Academic Profile section selecting 'Enrollment Verification'.  Be sure to then select 'Real Time Verification' to view a document that student can save as PDF or print. 
• Scholarship checks should be made payable to "Seattle University" with the student's name and SU ID # clearly noted, and mailed to:
  
  Seattle University
  Attn: Student Financial Services
  901 12th Avenue
  PO Box 222000
  Seattle, WA 98122

If the donor requires that Seattle University bill them prior to releasing the scholarship funds, please provide:

• The student's written permission for Student Financial Services to provide the requested billing;
• The name of the donor and/or contact person;
• The address where the invoice should be mailed;
• Any instructions the donor has given about what should be included on the invoice; and
• Whether the donor needs quarterly invoices or a single invoice for the entire year.