Making College Dreams a Reality

For more than a quarter of a century, Seattle University students have benefited from scholarships from the Costco Scholarship Fund. And, thanks to the generosity of many, this year’s Costco Scholarship Breakfast was another rousing success.

At the annual event, held on September 17 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, $7.1 million was raised for scholarships benefitting students from SU and the University of Washington.

“The idea of creating a scholarship that would increase the access of underrepresented communities to higher education was visionary and the quality of that vision is reflected in the fact that it’s thriving” more than 25 years later, says President Eduardo Peñalver.

Now in its 26^th year, Costco co-founders Jim Sinegal and the late Jeff Brotman created the scholarship in 2000 to support students from underrepresented communities in achieving their higher education dreams.

Through the Costco Scholars program the partnership between Costco and Seattle University has grown, strengthened by a shared investment in the next generation of critical thinkers and innovators. With the Costco Scholarship, Seattle University has been able to address the number one reason students are unable to graduate—unmet financial need.

This impact contributed to the university’s standing as the most economically diverse selective university in Washington state and the best private university in the state for social mobility, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Since its inception, more than $96 million has been raised for scholarships and more than 1,400 SU students have been Costco Scholars. Currently there are 283 scholars attending SU.

One of this year’s scholars, who spoke at the fundraising breakfast, is student Sophia Bajinya. Receiving the Costco Scholarship was truly a game changer for Bajinya, allowing her to fulfill her dreams of higher education.

“What truly changed everything was when I opened the financial aid letter and saw that I had received the Costco Scholarship. That moment? It felt like the world had finally opened its doors. For the first time, I knew college was for me,” she says. “Someone like me, a refugee girl who was once chased out of school for not having 23 dollars, was going to college.”