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Native American Student Scholarships



Undergraduates and Graduate Scholarships are available.

Undergraduate Scholarships:

Alan P. Merriam Scholarship

Criteria: Native American student at The University of Montana who is an incoming freshman, undergraduate or graduate student. The recipient must be a full-time student, must demonstrate an expressed interest in Native American studies (long-range goals are relevant), and must show evidence of high academic potential. Financial need is not a requirement.

Alice M. Phillips Scholarship

Criteria: Native American student at The University of Montana. Recipient must be an enrolled member or child of an enrolled member of a Montana Indian tribe who has financial need and who is of good character. Preference will be given to Native American students who are committed to completion of University work, show an interest in the field of history, especially Montana history and who are of high moral character.

Anna Marie Lucas Scholarship

Criteria: Native American student enrolled full time at The University of Montana.

Bonnie Heavy Runner Award

Criteria: The purpose of the Bonnie Heavy Runner Scholarship is to provide annual award amount to Native American students enrolled in the School of Law and for Native American students enrolled in the Native American Studies Department. Preference shall be given to students with a current grade point average (at UM or from the school from which they are transferring) of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

Burt and Eva Spaulding Scholarship and Opportunity Endowment

Scholarship recipients can be undergraduate or graduate students. They must be deserving Native American students; it does not matter which tribe.

Carl McFarland Scholarship Endowment

Criteria: Native American students at The University of Montana who are Montana residents.

Dennis and Gretchen Eck Native American Scholarship

Criteria: Enrolled member of the Assiniboine tribe or children of enrolled members. The recipient must be enrolled for at least 14 credit hours at The University of Montana and maintain a 3.0 grade point average as an upperclassman or 12 credit hours and a 2.5 grade point average as a freshman. He or she must demonstrate professional potential and academic ability.

If no enrolled members of the Assiniboine tribe nor children of such members are identified, then other Montana Native Americans may be considered.

Don McGonigle Scholarship

Criteria: Enrolled member of an American Indian Tribe. Recipients must have a cumulative GPA of 2.7 or higher.

Earl Old Person Scholarship

Criteria: Enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe that meets the following criteria:

  • Proof of enrollment at UM;
  • Admission to UM for fall of award year;
  • A recent high school graduate, or transfer graduate from the Blackfeet Community College, or a high school graduate who has never attended college;
  • GPA of 3.0;
  • Involvement in extra-curricular activities including cultural activities; and
  • Submission of a 5-10 page essay that outlines the issues facing the Blackfeet tribe and how his or her education will help address these issues.

Francis and Florence Jones Greaves Native American Scholarship

Criteria: Entering freshman Native American students qualified and enrolling at The University of Montana. Preference should be given to Native Americans of Montana origin. Recipients may renew provided they make reasonable progress toward a degree and that they reapply for the scholarship. To the extent possible, the student's goals in terms of helping to advance Indian people should be a consideration in the selection of recipients.

Fred and Kay Voget Scholarship

Criteria: American Indian Students with preference to those who are Crow or Hidatsa Nation members or members of another Montana tribe.

George M. and Jane I. Dennison Scholarship

Criteria: Enrolled member of the Salish and Kootenai Confederated Tribes.
The recipient must:

  • Have been admitted to The University of Montana for fall semester of the award year;
  • Be enrolled for at least 16 credits;
  • Have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better;
  • Be involved in extra-curricular activities, including cultural activities, and
  • Submit a 5-10 page essay about issues facing the Salish Kootenai and how the applicant's education will address these issues.

George Pease Native American Scholarship

Criteria: Native American students with a blood quantum recognized by a majority of the tribes in Montana for tribal membership, who are residents of the State of Montana, and who have shown, in equal measure, scholastic ability and financial need.

Hileman Family Scholarship

Criteria: Native American student who is enrolled full time at The University of Montana. The recipient must show promise and determination.

Knute W. Bergan Scholarship

Criteria: Worthy Native American students who are an enrolled members, or a child of an enrolled member of any Indian tribe in the State of Montana.

Julia Hendrickson Staffanson Scholarship

Criteria: Student enrolled full time at The University of Montana. The recipient must be Native American and must be deserving as determined by the Native American Studies Scholarship Selection Committee.

Marion E. Garess Scholarship

Criteria: Native American student who is attending The University of Montana full time. The recipient must be a deserving student as determined by the Native American Studies Scholarship Selection Committee.

Native American Studies General Scholarship Fund

Criteria: Native American students who are enrolled full time at The University of Montana.

Owen D. and Ruth Stetson Speer Scholarship

Criteria: The recipient shall be Native American and from the Flathead Reservation. Further, the recipient should preferably be pursuing a degree in education, but if no such recipient is identified, any discipline may be considered. The scholarship may be renewed provided the recipient shows good academic progress.

Peter Left Hand Award

Criteria: Native American student who is from Montana. Selection will be based on scholarship and merit.

Ralph E. and Hulda M. Fields Native American Scholarship

Criteria: Native American students (according to tribal definitions). The awards are to be available to majors in the schools of forestry, journalism, law, and pharmacy.
With the following stipulations:

  • The recipient must be enrolled full time at UM.
  • At the time of application, each recipient must affirm to the donor and to the selection committee that the field he or she enters is his or her first career interest.
  • In the later event that a recipient wishes to change his or her course of study and apply this scholarship to another major offered by UM, his or her request to do so must first be considered by the donor and the selection committee.
  • The scholarships are renewable as long as the recipients are making reasonable and timely progress toward their degrees, and may in other circumstances be suspended or withdrawn by order of the donor and the selection committee.

Viola O'Connor Memorial Scholarship

Criteria: American Indian students of one half or more American Indian blood.

Graduate Scholarships:

Helen Roberti Humanities Graduate Scholarship for Native American Students

Criteria: Highly qualified Native American student seeking to pursue interdisciplinary Ph.D. studies in the humanities with a focus on Native American history, culture, or literature. The recipient will be eligible to receive the award for three years, depending on satisfactory progress through his or her Ph.D. studies.

Helen Roberti Native American Graduate Scholarship Fund

Criteria: Full-time Native American Graduate student enrolled in or accepted into a graduate or professional degree program at The University of Montana in law, education or a field with a Native American Studies focus of study such as anthropology, history or interdisciplinary. The recipient must have a record of high academic achievement and/or potential. The application packet must include the following:

  • two (2) letters of recommendation from former or current professors
  • five (5) page essay describing how your educational & career goals will involve representing and assisting Native Americans in the assertion of their rights, in their receiving a quality education, or in their acquiring other benefits available to other American citizens.
Kate and Russell Stark Memorial Fund

Criteria: The Kate and Russell F. Stark Memorial Fund is to assist and enhance the education of Native American graduate students enrolled at The University of Montana by funding an annual scholarship.

Sappenfield Scholarship

Criteria: Native American graduate student at The University of Montana. Preference should be given to a psychology major, but if there are no qualified psychology majors then a qualified student in another of the social sciences listed below, not in order of preference, may be considered: anthropology, communication studies, economics, geography, political science or sociology. The student should show promise for professional achievement or community service. The recipient should demonstrate an awareness or an interest in the improvement of conditions of Indians on and off the reservation.

Note: Scholarship criteria is set by the donors.