Frequently Asked Questions

APIA Scholars is the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted to creating opportunities that provide access to higher education and resources that cultivate the academic, personal, and professional success Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students. These efforts aim to advance the conversation around access to education, elevate the voice of the AANHPI community, and empower AANHPI leaders to drive systemic change. 

APIA Scholars offers a range of scholarships and financial assistance to support AANHPI students who are underserved, with a focus on those who are living at or below poverty level, are first generation college students, and represent a geographically or ethnically diverse AANHPI community. Awards to our Scholars range from one-time $2,500 awards to multi-year $20,000 awards. Our vision is to provide scholarships to AANHPI students so they can cultivate their academic, personal, and professional success regardless of their ethnicity, national origin, or financial means. 

The 2025-2026 APIA Scholarship application will be open from Friday, November 15, 2024 to Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 5pm Eastern Time. During this application period, the online application link can be found at Asian Pacific Islander Scholarships – APIA Scholars. 

You should register your application account with a permanent email address you will have continued access to throughout the application and selection process (at least through fall 2025). High school seniors: avoid using your high school email address since it likely will be deactivated after you graduate. 

Application opens: Friday, November 15, 2024 
Application deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 5pm Eastern Time  
Scholarship recipients notified to confirm award: Spring 2025  

APIA Scholarships award amounts range from $2,500 to $20,000.

There are both one-year awards and multi-year awards available. Individuals who receive a one-year scholarship can apply for another scholarship in a future year. 

APIA Scholarships can be used towards a Scholar’s cost of attendance, including but not limited to: tuition and fees, room and board, and textbooks. Our scholarships are only paid and sent directly to a Scholar’s college or university, not to the Scholar themselves. 

The scholarship recipient is responsible for taxes, if any, that may be assessed against the scholarship award. We recommend consulting a tax advisor or financial aid counselor for more guidance. In general, tuition is considerable a non-taxable item. 

Yes! Please see our Application Resources page for our brochure and flyer. Both are available to be disseminated digitally or to be downloaded and printed to whichever group or organization might benefit. 

All applicants must:  

• Be able to describe their ethnicity, heritage, or ancestry in relation to the countries, territories, or lands in Asia and/or the Pacific Islands. 

• Be a citizen, national, or legal permanent resident of the United States. Citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau are also eligible to apply. 

• Be enrolling or continuing enrollment as an undergraduate student in a U.S. accredited college or university in fall 2025. Full-time and part-time degree-seeking students are eligible. 

Applicants who can describe their ethnicity, heritage, or ancestry in relation to the countries, territories, or lands in Asia and/or the Pacific Islands are eligible to apply. We welcome AANHPI students who are multi-racial or multi-ethnic to apply.  

Applicants must be a citizen, national, or legal permanent resident (green card holder) of the United States to apply. Citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau are also eligible to apply.

No. If you meet all eligibility criteria, including attending a U.S. accredited university or college in fall 2025, then you do not need to be living inside the U.S. to apply. 

If your scholarship has been fully disbursed, then yes, you may apply if all other eligibility criteria are met. This means recipients who will already be receiving funding for the 2025-2026 academic year, whether as a multi-year scholar or deferred scholar, are not eligible.  

Yes. APIA Scholars welcomes applicants of all family educational backgrounds, and we consider many factors when reviewing scholarship applications. 

Yes. While we have a focus on those who are living at or below poverty level, it is not required for you to have received financial aid from other sources to apply.  

Yes, if all eligibility criteria are met. APIA Scholars considers many factors when reviewing scholarship applications, and a student’s socioeconomic status is only one part of it.  

Yes, you can still apply. If you were to be selected as a Scholar, we would communicate with the school that your funds need to be used in full during the fall semester. You would also be limited to a scholarship that offers only a one-year award.  

Yes! Our scholarships are open to anyone who will be an undergraduate in the 2025-2026 academic year.

No. Students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree or higher are not eligible to apply. If you have received your associate’s and are pursuing your first bachelor’s degree, you are welcome to apply. 

No. Our scholarships are for undergraduate students only. 

If you will be a degree-seeking undergraduate student in fall 2025 and meet all other eligibility criteria, yes.

Students must be pursuing a degree-seeking (bachelor’s or associate’s) undergraduate program in fall 2025 to be eligible.

No. Please see the question regarding immigration/residency status eligibility.

Yes! Whether you plan to only receive an associate’s or continue to a bachelor’s, community college students are welcome to apply.

If you will have received your GED by June 2025, yes. 

Yes! We welcome non-traditional students of all backgrounds, if all other eligibility criteria are met.

If you will receive your high school diploma (or GED) by June 2025, then yes, if all other eligibility criteria are met. You will be considered as a graduating high school student for our purposes. 

Yes, degree-seeking students who plan to enroll in online courses at accredited institutions are eligible to apply.

Email us at applicant@apiascholars.org and we will work with you to create the necessary accommodation so you can access and submit the application by the deadline.  

Please send an email to help@mykaleidoscope.com and our partners at Kaleidoscope will be able to assist you. You can also get instant answers by clicking on the green Help button directly on the Kaleidoscope platform. To close the Help window, click on the green button again. 

Be sure to log back in with the same email address you used when you started your application. Your application will automatically save up through the last step, and you can edit it as much as you need to before the deadline. If there is a key error, such as an issue with your email address or phone number, then you can reach out to help@mykaleidoscope.com for assistance. As the deadline approaches, however, there may not be capacity to assist in this matter.  

Please double check your application and submit your application well in advance of the deadline to avoid any potential delays due to technical issues. Clicking “Submit” will complete the final submission of your application, after which you cannot go back and edit your application. 

You will receive an automatic email confirmation when you submit your application. You can also check your dashboard in Kaleidoscope to see if it was submitted.

No. The application has a firm deadline of January 15, 2025, at 5pm Eastern Time. Any application which is not completed in full by that time will be automatically disqualified.  

For the initial application, we do not require any documents. Applicants selected as scholarship recipients will be asked to complete a Scholar Confirmation Form and some of the scholarships may require submitting documentation, such as a transcript, to secure the scholarship. If a selected scholarship recipient does not provide the requested information during the scholarship confirmation process, the scholarship offer will be rescinded. Any documents sent to APIA Scholars before they are expressly asked for by APIA Scholars will be disregarded.  

We ask that you list your first-choice college or one of the colleges you are considering in this section. We understand that most first-time college students may not currently know where they will end up enrolling. If you advance to the next phase of the selection process, you will have an opportunity to provide an update if your college choice has changed.  

If you do not know what you will be majoring in, or if you are currently undeclared, please select “Undecided” from the drop-down menu. We realize your academic interests might change over a few months. Those who are selected as recipients will have the opportunity to confirm their academic major in the Scholar Confirmation Form they will be asked to complete.  

APIA Scholars considers many factors when reviewing scholarship applications and understands that for a variety of reasons not everyone may have had the ability to have extracurricular activities and/or work experience. We have a section of the application you can use to share information about a variety of activities, interests, and community involvement — including family responsibilities.  

You have up to 500 words for your essay. While there is no minimum word count, please note you should take more than a few sentences to thoughtfully answer. The essay is an important part of the application, and the area where APIA Scholars is best able to understand who you are as a whole person.  

Please see our Application Resources page for an application guide and tips for a strong application: Application Guide & Tips.  

APIA Scholars encourages you to talk to your school, college counselor, or a trusted teacher/instructor to help you navigate the application process if English is not your first language. We understand the difficulty that many of our communities face in learning English and take that into consideration as we review our applications. 

Please email applicant@apiascholars.org with as much detail as possible regarding your question or issue you are experiencing. We receive a high volume of emails when the application is open and will respond to your inquiry as quickly as we are able.