photo: female walking past campus gates at 4th Street/El Paseo de San Antonio entrance

Scholarships

Scholarships come from a number of different sources, including SJSU, private donors, alumni, and private industry. Awards are generally based on scholastic achievement and financial need. All students are encouraged to apply for as many scholarships as possible, to lessen their need for loans or part time work to attend school.

Students who want to apply for SJSU scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year can do so online through the Spartan Scholarship Application .

SJSU has over 900 general and departmental scholarships available, ranging from $100 to $1,000 per year. About one-half of these are awarded by the Financial Aid Scholarship Committee, and the other half by various academic departments on campus.

To be eligible to apply, students must have at least 8 graduate or 12 undergraduate units completed at SJSU with a GPA of 3.0 or better. A few scholarships have a lower GPA requirement, and state the minimum criteria. The deadline to apply is around March 2 each year, for the upcoming fall and spring semesters. Students are also encouraged to file the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) by March 2. Students can apply online at www.fafsa.ed.gov .

Various academic departments on campus advertise their scholarships through the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, as well as through their own literature and bulletin boards. Students are strongly encouraged to keep in close contact with their major department for scholarship information. These scholarships each have their own specific criteria, deadlines, and application instructions. For information about the scholarships administered by SJSU's academic departments, students should contact their departments directly.

As mentioned above, scholarships come from a number of different sources. It can take some time and effort on your behalf to research them all. There are businesses that offer to do this work for you for a fee, but we do not recommend these services. Scholarship information is available for free from FastWEB (Financial Aid Search Through the WEB ) and has a database of over 400,000 scholarships.

Note that when you apply for a scholarship, the application and other materials you submit will represent you to the scholarship committee. It is important that you spend time on your application to do the best job you can. For some helpful hints on applying for scholarships, see our Tips on Applying for Scholarships.

Did you know

Financial Aid & Scholarship Office
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0036
408-283-7500
fao@sjsu.edu
Fed. School Code: 001155

Financial Aid Map Location