Scholarships for Asian American students: Where to start and how to win

Upakar supports the educational and career aspirations of the Indian American community. Upakar provides scholars either $10,000 for over four years at a university ($2,500 per year), or $2,000 for over 2 years at a community college ($1,000 per year) and can receive $5,000 over 2 years at university ($2,500 per year). Applicants must currently be a graduating high school senior living in the USA. They must plan to enroll in an accredited, not-for-profit, four-year university or two-year community college, during the Fall of a scholarship cycle. Applicants must have either been born or have one parent born in the Republic of India. They must be either a U.S. citizen or a U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card) holder. Applicants must have a prior year Family Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on the IRS form 1040 of less than $125,000. The scholarship process is competitive. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

Mr. Edward C. Tang established this award in 2007 to provide financial assistance to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) for post-secondary education. This scholarship is to help LGBT youth proudly achieve educational pursuits and dreams without shame. These scholarships are renewable for a maximum of three additional years, for a total of four years, provided each student annually meets the renewal requirements. Applicants must be self-identified as Asian/Pacific Islander (at least 25 percent Asian/Pacific Islander ancestry), lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and involved in the LGBT community. They must be a graduate of a high school in one of the nine Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Napa, Sonoma or Solano. Applicants must submit two letters of reference only. One letter must be from a teacher or academic advisor; and one letter must be from a work or volunteer supervisor, a youth leader or personal acquaintance. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

The A.T. Anderson Scholarship will be awarded to undergraduate and graduate students in any STEM field. The AISES A.T. Anderson Scholarship program supports students pursuing a degree in a STEM field who are of American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, First Nation, and other indigenous peoples of North American heritage. Applicants must be a current AISES member. Two letters of recommendation are required. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

The brutal attack that killed Vincent Chin occurred late at night with few people around, but its reverberations spread across the country and have lasted for decades. Asian Americans came together to demand justice and found a common voice and purpose. Yet questions remain and justice goes undelivered. The Vincent Chin Memorial Scholarship honors the legacy of Chin thanks to the generosity of Joe Grimm, a former newsroom recruiter and staff development editor for the Detroit Free Press. This scholarship will be awarded to a student journalist for an insightful essay related to Vincent Chin's life, death and legacy. Other selection criteria include academic and journalistic achievement, financial need, commitment to journalism and a sensitivity to AAPI issues. Applicants must be enrolled at an accredited college or university (including junior and community) in the United States or one of its territories. They must be currently taking or planning to take journalism courses and/or pursuing journalism as a career. Applicants must demonstrate the following: journalistic excellence by submitting current works (digital, photography, video/audio), a strong interest in pursuing journalism as a career, and a commitment to community involvement. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

The AALAM/Dow Fund Scholarship is awarded each academic year to an Asian American law student who demonstrates leadership potential, a commitment to making a contribution to the Asian American community, and an interest in pursuing public interest positions and other indicators of excellence, whether personal, professional or academic. Priority consideration will be given to law students who have secured a public interest position for the summer, but it is not necessary to have a position lined up in advance of submitting an application. Applicants must be enrolled at a law school in Massachusetts or another New England state, graduating in 2026 or 2027. They must be current and active members of AALAM. Applicants must submit a full law school transcript. 2Ls should include 2L grades as well as 1L grades. If grades are not yet available by the submission date, students may choose to supplement their application and submit their transcript when available. Applicants must also provide their basic biographical information such as name, phone number, address, law school and graduation year. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

The Ken Inouye Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a college journalist of color and is aimed at increasing ethnic diversity in newsrooms. Ken Inouye was a 22-year-old cameraman for the International News Service, covering the Korean War, when he was killed aboard an Army aircraft. Students from Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties who have completed at least their freshman year of college, as well as graduate students from those same counties, are eligible to apply for all scholarships. Students enrolled in college in another state who have graduated high school in Los Angeles, Orange or Ventura counties may also apply. Applicants must submit proof of enrollment or acceptance in a journalism program at a two-year or four-year college or university. Students completing pre-journalism programs must provide proof they have been admitted to a journalism program. Students must have completed at least their freshman year in college and have at least one semester to complete in a journalism program after the award of the scholarship. Graduate students in journalism programs are eligible. Applicants must submit a resume that should contain a record of their school and/or professional journalism experience. This should also include journalism honors and awards, and scholarships or achievements in any field. Applicants must also submit their work samples with their application online via email, scanning, attaching and/or providing links to their work samples in acceptable formats. For Text submissions, at least three samples of the applicant's best published work must be provided. For broadcast, multimedia and photo submissions, five samples of published work are required. Applicants are also required to provide a letter of recommendation from one of their journalism professors or instructors. The instructor can email a letter directly to SPJLA. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

The purpose of the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program (NHHSP) is to provide federal financial support for Native Hawaiians who are students at health professions schools, in return for a commitment to provide primary health services to the Native Hawaiian population in the State of Hawai'i in an eligible service obligation setting which meets the following requirements, in order of priority: (1) First, one of the five Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems (NHHCS). (2) Second, in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) in Hawai'i, or Medically Underserved Areas (MUA) in Hawai'i, or a geographic area or facility that is: located in the State of Hawai'i; and has a designation made by the Secretary, acting through the Public Health Service Act. Applicants must be enrolled in one of the following NHHSP-Eligible Health Professions: Clinical Psychology (Ph.D. or Psy.D.); Dentistry (D.D.S or D.M.D.); Dental Hygiene (B.S.D.H. or A.S.D.H.); Dietetics/Nutrition (M.S.); Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner (D.N.P., A.D.N., B.S.N., M.S.N., C.N.M. or N.P.); Physician (M.D. or D.O.); Physician Assistant (M.S.P.A.); and Social Work (M.S.W.). Applicants must be enrolled in a fully accredited health professions program located in a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Territory of Guam, the Territory of American Samoa, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia. Applicants attending schools outside of these geographic areas are not eligible. The NHHSP will apply the following statutory priorities for funding, in this order, to applicants determined eligible and qualified. First priority will be given to current or former NHHSP participants who are seeking, and are eligible for, additional support for the 2025-2026 school year or through the date of their graduation. Second priority will be given to any application submitted by an applicant with attributes that increase the probability that the applicant will continue to serve within Native Hawaiian communities beyond the period of obligated service. Third priority will be given to an applicant who is from a disadvantaged background. Applicants must create and submit a video recording of themselves answering the following questions: (1) What does "raising the health status of Native Hawaiians" mean to you? (2) What role will you have? (3) What are your responsibilities towards achieving "raising the health status?" Applicants must also submit two recommendations. It must provide a detailed description of the applicant's performance in school; education/work achievements; community/civic or other nonacademic achievements; ability to work and communicate constructively with others; and interest and motivation to serve Native Hawaiian populations through work experience, course work, special projects, research, etc. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

SAJA is committed to promoting high-quality journalism. The SAJA Scholarship Program helps students afford tuition and other costs associated with higher education to pursue their journalism degree. Applicants must be students continuing their studies in the fall of 2025 at a university in the U.S. or Canada. Applicants must either be of South Asian descent (includes: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and people of South Asian origin from the Caribbean) or demonstrate an interest in covering South Asia and/or the diaspora. Immediate relatives of SAJA Board members and judges are ineligible to apply. Applicants must submit a short statement describing their financial need, including student loans and a summary of all other financial aid they have received or hope to receive; and 2-3 clips (or, if the applicant does not have published clips, then 2-3 writing samples) of their published work. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.

LPA, Inc. has established the LPA Diversity in Design Scholarship to champion the design professions among students from underrepresented demographics. We believe diversity and inclusion are essential to innovation, belonging, and representation. To that end, we aim to foster a culture where students feel that anything is possible regardless of their starting point. Applicants must be high school seniors in states California and Texas. They must have been accepted in an undergraduate study at an accredited NAAB, LAAB, ABET, CIDA, NASAD, four or five-year college or university for the entire upcoming academic year. Applicants must be pursuing a degree in one of the following majors associated with the building and design industry: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Architecture/Design, Architectural Engineering, Structural Engineering, Building Science, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related degree. They must also be a student who has overcome significant challenges in their academic pursuit and/or belong to a group historically underrecognized or marginalized within the building and design industry. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Awards are renewable for up to three years or until a bachelor's degree or for four years or until a Bachelor of Architecture (BARCH) degree is earned, whichever occurs first. Awards may be renewed for the fourth year for a bona fide five-year undergraduate program upon sponsor review. Please visit the scholarship's website for more information.