Undergraduate Scholarships and Funding

Are you a prospective or current undergraduate major in Asian Languages and Literature, looking to help pay for school or language study? Students can find a number of financial aid opportunities through the Student Financial Aid Office. With the Husky Promise, the UW guarantees to cover the full cost of tuition and standard fees for qualified students who otherwise could not afford to attend.

Check out some of the links below for other funding options.

General Scholarships and Resources

UW Mary Gates Undergraduate Research & Leadership Grants

Mary Gates Research Scholarships are competitive scholarships intended to enhance the educational experiences of undergraduate students at the University of Washington while they are engaged in research guided by faculty. We hope that with research scholarships, students may focus more attention and time, deeping their inquiry into a discipline or project with a reduced financial burden. Students receive research scholarships to pursue research in a variety of disciplines. Learn more about research in the social sciences, arts, and humanities.

UW Undergraduate Library Research Award

The University Libraries recognizes the excellence and creativity of students through the annual Library Research Award for Undergraduates. The award is given to undergraduates who demonstrate outstanding ability to identify, locate, select, evaluate, and synthesize library and other information resources and to use them in the creation of an original course project. The award illustrates the mission of the University Libraries to enrich the quality of life and advance intellectual discovery by connecting people with knowledge and commitment to the educational mission of the University of Washington.

UW Honors College Scholarships and Awards

The Honors Program offers a number of scholarships that current Honors students may apply for. Many of these awards have been established and are supported by gifts from alumni, faculty, foundations and other stakeholders who recognize the value of investing in students who challenge themselves with Interdisciplinary and/or Departmental Honors during college.

UW Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships, and Awards

The Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards supports UW undergraduate students in developing the skills and personal insights necessary to pursue scholarships appropriate to their goals. The office also hosts an extensive database of funding opportunities and helps shepherd students through the nomination process. They have regular workshops and also offer one-on-one meetings with students.

JSIS Funding Opportunities (not limited to JSIS students)

The Jackson School offers a number of funding opportunities to UW students. Be sure to click on 'undergraduate' and note that some scholarships are only available to JSIS students.

Office of Financial Aid - Scholarships

The University of Washington-Seattle offers scholarships that cover a wide range of academic pursuits, musical and athletic talents as well as community service and research activities. Our scholarship programs are highly competitive as we have more talented students than we have scholarship funds. The best source of scholarship information for incoming freshmen is your own high school guidance office.

Childcare Assistance Program

 The Childcare Assistance Program (formerly known as Student Parent Resource Center) is designed to assist UW Seattle Campus students in covering the costs of licensed childcare for their children (ages birth – 12 years old) while enrolled in an eligible program of study.  This award is funded by Student & Activity fees paid by students attending the Seattle Campus.

Language-Related Scholarships

UW Study Abroad Scholarships

The UW Study Abroad office offers many scholarships for students. As long as you apply early enough, you will automatically be considered for their scholarships when you apply to a program. This web page also offers many other resources for study abroad financial aid. 

FLAS Scholarships (Academic Year and Summer)

FLAS Fellowships support undergraduate, graduate and professional students in acquiring modern foreign languages and area or international studies competencies. Students from all UW departments and schools are encouraged to apply. Supported languages include Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Vietnamese, and many more.

Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a national scholarship for awarded to US citizen undergraduates for study or internships abroad.

Boren Undergraduate Scholarship

Boren Scholarships provide up to $20,000 to U.S. undergraduate students to study abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded. For a complete list of countries, see the Boren website. 

Critical Language Scholarships

The Critical Language Scholarship Program provides fully-funded seven to ten week group-based intensive language instruction and extensive cultural enrichment experiences held overseas at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels for U.S. citizen undergraduate, Master’s and Ph.D. students. Languages supported include: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu.

Study Abroad in Japan Bridging Scholarship

The Bridging Project offers scholarships to American undergraduate students participating in study-abroad programs in Japan. Funding from private foundations and major U.S. corporations, through donations to the nonprofit US-Japan Bridging Foundation, makes it possible to award about 100 scholarships each year to assist students with the travel and living expenses they will incur while studying abroad in Japan for a semester or an academic year. Applications are accepted twice a year. $2500 scholarships for semester-long programs, $4000 for academic year programs to U.S. citizen undergraduate students for study in Japan.

After Graduation

Yenching Academy of Peking

The Yenching Academy of Peking University offers a Master's degree in China Studies. This specially designed, English-taught program aims to push the study of China beyond the boundaries of traditionally defined Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines. At the core of the program lies its emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the value it assigns to thinking about China's development from both Chinese and international perspectives. Fellowships for international Yenching Scholars are for twelve months, during the course of which they complete their coursework and may complete the thesis. A limited number of financial aid packages are available for those who wish to remain on campus for a second year. Degrees are granted upon the completion of all coursework and satisfactory defense of the thesis, and are awarded in January and July of each year.

Schwarzman Scholars

Designed to prepare the next generation of global leaders, Schwarzman Scholars is the first scholarship created to respond to the geopolitical landscape of the 21st Century. Whether in politics, business or science, the success of future leaders will depend upon an understanding of China’s role in global trends. The program aims to give  the world’s best and brightest students the opportunity to develop their leadership skills through a one-year Master’s Degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing – one of China’s most prestigious universities. Students will live and study on the campus of Schwarzman College, a newly-built, state-of-the-art facility, where all classes will be taught in English. Students will pursue degrees in one of three disciplines:  Public Policy,  Economics and Business, and International Studies.

Fulbright U.S. Student Program

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs. Designed for recent graduates.

Blakemore Freeman Fellowships

Blakemore Freeman Fellowships are awarded for one academic year of advanced level language study in East or Southeast Asia. Eligible languages are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Thai, and Vietnamese. You must have already graduated with a Bachelor's degree by the time the fellowship begins.

JET Program

The JET Program is a competitive employment opportunity that allows young professionals to live and work in cities, towns, and villages throughout Japan. Being a JET is an opportunity to work and to represent the United States as cultural ambassadors to Japan. Most participants serve as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and work in public and private schools throughout Japan; some work as Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs) as interpreters/translators.

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