Scholarships
Promoting Your Educational Success
One of the biggest challenges of earning a degree is figuring out how to finance it. At City University of Seattle, we’re dedicated to promoting your success in education and in your career by offering a variety of scholarships based on merit and need. It’s our goal to help you find the resources you need to pay for tuition and reach your goals. Explore our scholarship offerings below!
Scholarships are reviewed for each of the four quarters of an academic year from July 1 through June 30. Applicants will be notified of awards via CityU email.
If you have specific questions about scholarships, email CityU’s Financial Aid Office.
Notifications for scholarships are sent out by the first of each quarter:
- Summer Quarter: July 1
- Fall Quarter: October 1
- Winter Quarter: January 1
- Spring Quarter: April 1
U.S. Domestic Program Scholarships
All U.S. domestic students may apply for this scholarship. This scholarship must be used for tuition only and will be awarded on a financial need basis.
Scholarship award
Average award $500, up to $2,500 per quarter
Number of awards
Varies per quarter and academic year
All U.S. domestic students with at least 40 undergraduate or 12 graduate credits and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 for undergraduate or 3.75 for graduate may apply.
Scholarship award
Average award $500, up to $1,000 per quarter
Number of awards
Varies per quarter and academic year
Eligible applicants for this scholarship those admitted and enrolled in a CityU Technology and Computing degree or certificate.
Scholarship award
50% tuition for remainder of program
Number of awards
10
- 3 – Women
- 3 – African American
- 3 – Latinx
- 1 – Native American or Native Hawaiian
Open to U.S. domestic students who are employed at a Washington Bankers Association member bank, subject to employer verification at the time of application, and/or have an ABA membership.
Scholarship award
Up to $2,500 per calendar year
Number of awards
25
Open to Seattle Promise students transferring from qualifying Seattle colleges within the Seattle Colleges System.
Scholarship award
Up to $10,000 maximum, $1,250 per quarter
Number of awards
No limit
This scholarship opportunity is designed to support the inclusion of diverse teachers and the students working to become teachers and administrators.
Scholarship award
$2,000
Number of awards
8
This scholarships opportunity is designed to attract highly committed, capable, and diverse cohorts of students who will enter key professional roles in the state’s behavioral health sector via CityU’s Master of Arts in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling or Master of Arts in Counseling: Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling program.
Scholarship award
Up to $51,500 over two years.
Number of awards
No limit for 2023-24.
This scholarship is for students admitted and enrolled in an eligible teacher certification program.
Scholarship award
Up to $5,000 for tuition only and $400 for testing fees
Number of awards
Varies per academic year.
All U.S. domestic students transferring with at least 45 credit hours within the last 18 months from a Washington State Community or Technical College.
Scholarship award
15% discount from tuition
Number of awards
No limit.
U.S. Domestic Program for International Students Scholarships
CityU offers merit scholarships to international students who have achieved an outstanding academic record within their last school year.
Scholarship award
Average award $500, up to $1,000 per quarter
Number of awards
Varies per quarter and academic year
CityU offers merit scholarships to first-time CityU international students who have achieved an outstanding academic record within their last school year.
Scholarship award
$5,000
Number of awards
Varies per quarter and academic year
CityU offers merit scholarships to first-time CityU international students who have achieved an outstanding academic record within their last school year.
Scholarship award
$2,000
Number of awards
Varies per quarter and academic year
This need-based scholarship is for international students who have completed at least three consecutive quarters of full-time study at CityU.
Scholarship award
$3,000
Number of awards
12
Canadian Program Scholarships
If you are a student attending City University in Canada, please visit their Scholarship Page to view scholarship opportunities.
Other Scholarship Resources
We have compiled a list of external scholarship and grant resources which we offer as an additional reference for students. These resources are not affiliated with the university.
Scholarship FAQs
Scholarship applications update on the www.cityu.edu/scholarships website in May for the upcoming Academic Year that starts with summer quarter. Students can submit applications at that time for the next quarter. Once a scholarship deadline expires, applications will open up for the next quarter. For example, in May applications can be submitted for summer quarter and when that deadline expires, applications will open up for fall quarter.
Yes, if you meet the eligibility criteria for multiple scholarships, you can apply for each eligible scholarship. If you are also awarded multiple scholarships, they will be applied to your school account to cover your tuition charges.
If you submitted a scholarship application and did not receive an automated confirmation email, please reach out to scholarships@cityu.edu to ensure your application was received.
Scholarships are separated on the www.cityu.edu/scholarships website by the program and who is enrolled in the program.
- If you are enrolled in a U.S. domestic program in-person or online (regardless of where you live), then you would apply for the scholarship(s) under the U.S. Domestic Program Scholarships.
- If you are an international student enrolled in a U.S. domestic program in-person or online (regardless of where you live), then you would apply for the scholarship(s) under the U.S. Domestic Program for International Student Scholarships. Your applicant status identifies you as an international student.
- If you are enrolled in a Canadian program in-person, then you would apply for scholarships under the Canadian Program Scholarships.
- Canadian international students are currently ineligible for Canadian Need-Based and Merit-Based Scholarships.
- If you live in Canada, but are enrolled in a U.S. domestic program, then you would apply for the U.S. domestic program scholarships
- Students may not be eligible for every scholarship listed under the program title. Please review the eligibility criteria before applying
We will use your first received application and then mark the subsequent applications will be marked as duplicates. If you want us to consider a certain scholarship application when multiple are sent of the same application, please contact us at scholarships@cityu.edu to let us know which one to use.
The Merit-Based Scholarship online application includes measures to notify you when you are not eligible for the scholarship. If you input criteria (such as cumulative GPA and/or credits completed) that is below the minimum eligibility criteria (e.g. you are a graduate student who has a 3.749 cumulative GPA when the minimum eligible criteria is 3.750 or higher), the online application will notify you that you are not eligible and will only give you an option to submit the application thus far. It will not move forward to the resume/essay section. If you think you are meeting the eligibility criteria and are still not able to move forward with the online application, please contact scholarships@cityu.edu.
It depends. The data is taken from the last completed quarter because the deadline for scholarships falls in the middle of an active quarter and not all students have received grades for their classes by the deadline date. If the credits/GPA from your current quarter made you eligible for the scholarship and you are not eligible without considering that information, then you are not eligible. If you have met the minimum criteria in previous quarters, then you are eligible regardless of what your grades/credits completed are from your current quarter. The application will let you know which quarter the information should be taken from.
CityU has limited funds to award students and all our scholarships are competitive. Many students applying are in similar academic and financial situations as you are. When that is the case, refining the other scholarship requirements (resume, essay, etc.) can help to set you apart from other students.
U.S. and U.S. International students share one pool of funds while Canadian students share a separate pool of funds. Within that, there are quarters where the top candidates are awarded scholarships and some quarters where the top candidates within the school (School of Education & Leadership, School of Technology & Computing, School of Business & Management and School of Health & Social Science) are awarded.
No, your picture should not be included on your resume. Including it can make your application ineligible as it opens up any potential biases when reviewing your resume.
- Plan ahead
- Don’t procrastinate
- Give yourself plenty of time to review and edit your responses
- Be aware of the deadline date
- Talk about your accomplishments
- State your need
- What is your financial situation?
- Do you work?
- Do you receive support from your family?
- Do you receive financial aid?
- Keep it simple
- Don’t use unnecessary words (i.e., don’t use three words when one will do)
- Don’t include unnecessary information just to “fill the page”
- Make it easy on your reader
- Have someone else read your responses for clarity (this can be a friend, co-worker, family, etc.)
- Write complete sentences and paragraphs
- SPELL CHECK – make sure words are used correctly (e.g.,: “two,” “to,” “too;” or “there,” “their,” or “they’re;” “its” or “it’s,” etc.)
- ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS
- Who are you?
- Why are you who you are?
- What are you doing?
- What have you done?
- Where are you now?
- Where are you going?
- How are you going to get there?
- Why do you need a scholarship?
- How will it make a difference?
- How did you make the decision to continue your education?
Scholarship notifications are sent out to all applicants by the first of the quarter regarding the status of their application and will be sent to the student’s school email address.
Congratulations! Your scholarship funds are disbursed in the first couple of weeks of the quarter by the Financial Aid Office. You do have to meet the enrollment criteria to be eligible for the disbursement, so if you enrolled after the initial disbursement are reviewed, then it will be reviewed again after the 100% drop/add date. If you are still not enrolled/enrolled in enough credits to meet the enrollment criteria of your specific scholarship after the 100% drop/add date, your award will not be released to your account.
No. All CityU scholarships are tuition-only. If your scholarship(s) exceeds the tuition amount for the quarter it was awarded in, the excess funds will stay on your account and can be applied to up to two additional quarter tuition costs.
Congratulations! Once your scholarship funds are applied to your school account, they will be applied to your school invoices and the funds from your personal payment will be credited back to you either by direct deposit or by a mailed check by that Friday. If not, please contact billing@cityu.edu.
There are outside resources here External Grants and Scholarships – CityU of Seattle that can be reviewed for additional funding. These resources have been vetted to ensure they are valid sources. For Canadian students, external or private resources are found here Scholarships – CityU in Canada (cityuniversity.ca).
For general scholarship questions:
Financial Aid Office
scholarships@cityu.edu
1.800.426.5596