Each year, Santa Clara competes with other top universities to recruit a community of exceptional students. Unfortunately, many of the most talented students choose other institutions due in large part to financial aid offerings. In 2019 alone, 63.6% of Santa Clara students had an average of $16,439 in unmet need once all financial aid and scholarships had been applied.
Making a Santa Clara University education affordable is important to our mission as a Jesuit institution and vital to the growth of our national reputation. With the help of our donors supporting scholarship funds, we can help high-achieving students earn their degree regardless of their ability to pay.
General Financial Aid Scholarships
To recruit and admit a community of exceptional students, Santa Clara must compete with other top universities that can often provide greater financial aid— even meeting full financial aid. As a result, many of the most talented students choose other universities offering more.
Supporting our general financial aid scholarships helps to ensure an affordable SCU education to all students, regardless of financial circumstances.
Alumni Family Endowed Scholarship Fund
Funded through the generosity of alumni, the purpose of the Alumni Family Scholarship is to help families of undergraduate alumni meet the cost of tuition at Santa Clara and continue the tradition of an SCU education. Awarded annually to children or grandchildren of undergraduate alumni, recipients are selected based on financial need, academic achievement, and extracurricular activities.
LEAD Scholarship Fund
Through a donation to the LEAD Scholarship Fund, you can help first-generation college students experience all that Santa Clara University has to offer. This scholarship fund supports LEAD Scholars' educational costs at SCU, including tuition, fees and other educational expenses.
Inclusive Engineering Scholarship Funds
In recent years the School of Engineering has launched new initiatives to expand and strengthen inclusive engineering efforts, including supporting access and affordability through targeted scholarship funds: the School of Engineering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Scholarship Fund; the Black Engineering Excellence Scholarship Fund; the Latinx Engineering Excellence Scholarship Fund; and the Women in Engineering Excellence Scholarship Fund.
Financial Aid for Jesuit School of Theology Students
By increasing the scholarship funds and living stipends available to students in Santa Clara University’s Jesuit School of Theology doctoral and master’s degree programs, we will not only attract, matriculate and retain the very best religious and lay students in the world, but we can relieve some of their financial strain so they can focus wholly on their scholarly and ministerial formation. With donor support, the Jesuit School of Theology will continue, through the students we educate, to help meet the needs of the contemporary Church and the many diverse communities it serves.
Investing in Tomorrow's Lawyers Today
Together, with the generous support of alumni, parents and friends, we can make the elite professional degree of a Santa Clara Law education more affordable, our student-body more diverse, and the law school more attractive regionally and nationally to prospective students. Your support will make a significant impact.
Fr. Coz Scholarship Fund
In 2007, several Santa Clara alumni established an endowed scholarship to honor Fr. Richard Coz, a Jesuit priest and Santa Clara professor from 1963 to 1995. The Fr. Coz Scholarship is awarded annually to undergraduate juniors and seniors who have a legacy connection, participate in club sports, or are involved with study abroad and immersion trips. Volunteer and spirit leaders in athletic competition are also considered.
Endow Your Own Scholarship
Endowed scholarships can be established in honor or memory of a special family member, friend, or professor, and provide a steady and reliable stream of support for the University. These funds, created through donations or legacy gifts, are restricted so that the principal is invested and the annual distributions are used to fund scholarships for deserving students. When you give to or establish an endowed scholarship, you are making a personal impact on the lives of our students now and for generations to come.
Contact Kelly Beals, Assistant Vice President, Individual Giving, at kbeals@scu.edu or (408) 551-3463 for more information.
Don't see the scholarship you're looking for? Use the "Specific Designation" field on our giving page to provide the name of the scholarship to which you wish to give.