Scholarships

General Information

The UW School of Medicine’s (UWSOM) need-based scholarship application will be open in May 2023 for the 2023-24 academic year. Scholarships are awarded on a yearly basis and all students need to reapply each year. Incoming students should only apply after they accept their admissions offer. 

Scholarship eligibility is evaluated based on parent tax information, which is why you must include parent data on the FAFSA. See below for exceptions. Since students do not work while in medical school, if UWSOM Financial Aid only reviewed student information, everyone would be eligible for a scholarship. We use parent data to determine eligibility and to distribute the need-based scholarship funds in the most equitable manner. 

UWSOM Financial Aid realizes all medical students are considered independent for federal loans (Unsubsidized Stafford and Graduate Plus). Adding your parent data will not count as a resource for determining federal loan eligibility. 

For the 2021-22 academic year, approximately 355 students received a UWSOM scholarship. The exact amounts are subject to change each year.  

Below is a list of exceptions that would result in you receiving a smaller scholarship amount if you qualify for a UWSOM scholarship: 

  • If you are a Washington student receiving a grant, your grant will be included in your scholarship total.  
  • If you rejected all of your loans, your scholarship may be reduced. 
  • If you are only attending 1-2 quarters of the academic year, your scholarship may be reduced. 

Watch the recording from the May 5 UWSOM Scholarship Overview and Q&A Session (this video was from a few years ago).

 

2023-24 Timeline

  • May 1, 2023: Scholarship application opens 
  • June 30, 2023: Scholarship application closes
  • June – October: Applications are reviewed by UWSOM Financial Aid 
  • December 2023: All students are notified whether they qualified for a scholarship

For incoming students admitted after May 1, see Information for Incoming E-23 Students below.

 

Application Requirements

Please complete both steps. Incomplete applications will not be considered for a SOM scholarship. 

  1. Include parent information on the 2023-24 FAFSA  
    1. If you have already submitted your FAFSA, you can go back and add parent 2021 tax information at any time on the FAFSA website. Parent information must be added to your FAFSA before May 31. 
  2. Submit the two-part scholarship application through Academic Works  
    1. Part 1: General Application
    2. Part 2: SOM Scholarship Detailed Application

As of the 2021-22 academic year, UWSOM Financial Aid no longer requires all students to submit physical copies of their parents’ tax returns. However, we may need to request specific tax documents in certain situations to verify FAFSA information. If we need tax documents from you, we will email your UW email address from somfao@uw.edu between June and October. If you do not submit the requested tax documents, your application will be considered incomplete. 

  • Admitted before May 1: Your application is due June 30. 
  • Admitted after June 1: You will still have one month to submit your scholarship application and update your FAFSA with parent tax information. Your scholarship application will be due one month after you receive access to your UW Net ID. If you cannot access the application after you have access to your UW Net ID, email somfao@uw.edu.

If any of the situations below apply to you, you do not need to add parent information to the FAFSA. 

  • Both of your parents are deceased 
  • You were emancipated from your parents at a young age  
  • You were in foster care or a ward of the court 

You still need to complete the appeal survey by June 30, 2023. You may be asked to submit additional documentation.

Students may submit an appeal each year to exclude parent tax information from their scholarship application. If you submit an appeal, you still must include your parent information on the FAFSA, unless you met an exception above. Appeals will not be considered if you do not include parent information on your FAFSA. 

Below is a list of situations for which you can appeal to exclude parent tax information: 

  • An appeal was approved in a prior year and your financial situation is unchanged 
  • Parent tax information has changed significantly since 2019, including changes due to COVID-19 
  • Parent marital status has changed since 2021 
  • You are over 30 years old and have supported yourself independently for at least six years 
  • You are married and/or have children and have supported yourself independently for at least six years 

 If your appeal was approved in a prior year, you must re-submit an appeal for the 2023-24 academic year indicating your financial situation has not changed. 

To submit an appeal, complete this survey by June 30, 2023. 

Parent unwillingness to provide tax information in and of itself is not grounds for an appeal.

I qualified for a scholarship, what happens next?

Scholarship funds will be assigned to Autumn, Winter, and/or Spring quarters. The scholarship will be added under “Resources” on your financial aid page on MyUW.  

All funds, including loans and scholarships, are processed through your student aid account on MyUW. Tuition and fees are always covered first and any remaining funds are sent to you via direct deposit as a lump sum. If scholarship funds are used to repay loans within the quarter it is disbursed, it is as if you never received that loan amount. You will not be charged interest or origination fees. 

Certain scholarships require thank-you notes to be sent to the donor. The UW Advancement Office will contact students needing to write thank you notes. Students need to send these to their donors as soon as possible. Scholarship funds may be held until thank you letters are received. 

 

SOM Scholarship FAQs

Until we review your parent information on the FAFSA, it is not possible to determine your eligibility. 

Your financial aid award cannot exceed your Cost of Attendance. If your budget is fully met by loans, UWSOM Financial Aid will reduce the highest interest loan first. 

Medical students are considered independent for federal loans (Unsubsidized Stafford and Graduate Plus). However, for scholarship eligibility, we use your parents’ tax information to distribute our need-based scholarship funds in the most equitable way. If we only considered student information, all students would be eligible for a scholarship due to not working while in medical school. 

No. Your eligibility for federal loans (Unsubsidized Stafford and Graduate Plus) is only based on your information. 

You will receive two confirmation emails – one for successfully completing a General Application and one for successfully completing a UWSOM Scholarship Detailed Application. These emails are sent from Academic Works – our scholarship application system. 

If you are a Washington student receiving a grant, we include the grant in your scholarship total. Below is the breakdown for the 2021-22 academic year: 

Rank  Grant Amount  SOM Scholarship Amount  Total Funds Received 
MS1  $4,500  $7,500  $12,000 
MS2  $4,500  $9,500  $14,000 
MS3  $4,500  $11,500  $16,000 
MS4  $4,500  $11,500  $16,000 

 Most students who qualified for a grant in 2021-22 received $4,500. You could have received less if you attended fewer than 3 quarters or fell below 12 credits in a quarter. If you received less than $4,500 in grants, you would have received a higher scholarship to equal the total funds received. 

Email somfao@uw.edu. We do our best to respond to all student questions within 5 business days. 

 

Outside Scholarships

If you receive an outside scholarship, instruct the organization to include your name and student ID number in the memo line of the check.

Checks should be sent to: 

University of Washington School of Medicine
Attn: SOM Financial Aid
Box 357430
1959 NE Pacific Street, HSB T-557
Seattle, WA 98195-7430

 

Current Outside Scholarship Opportunities

Military Scholarships

 

Annual Scholarships

 

Scholarship Databases

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