Scholarship FAQ
Ready, Set, Transfer! is a district-wide program offered at the Seattle Colleges for students interested in pursuing a career in STEM. Read answers to frequently asked questions about the S-STEM scholarship.
GPA is not a factor for students who are still in pre-college math coursework, and who apply to the S-STEM scholarship. For more experienced STEM students in higher-level math classes, GPA may be considered during the S-STEM application process. Please note: S-STEM Scholarship students must maintain a GPA of 2.8 or higher to renew their scholarship each quarter.
We follow federal guidelines to determine your financial need. We subtract your Expected Family Contribution from the college's Cost of Attendance.
Click for details on the federal calculation of need.
No. Financial aid is administered by the college in a separate process. For our purposes, you only need to have applied for the FAFSA, as a complete FAFSA will allow us to determine your financial need.
No. The full-time requirement only applies to current scholarship recipients. Students pursuing scholarships must register for 12 credit hours or more to receive funding.
The scholarship award is capped at $2,500 or the amount of your financial need, whichever is smaller. In previous years, more than 90% of scholarship recipients have qualified for the full award.
Scholarship funds will be disbursed after the college determines your full-time status each quarter, starting in the quarter after you submit your application.
The S-STEM scholarship comes with few strings attached. For instance, it may be used even if you have maxed out your regular financial aid. If you have other scholarships or aid awards, we encourage you to discuss options with a financial aid advisor to determine the most advantageous use of the scholarship funding.
Full-time study is 12 credit hours or more.
No. You can take any classes that move you productively toward degree completion or transfer into a four-year STEM major.
Yes. In the summer, you can be a part-time student and still receive funding.
No. The scholarship does not fund students transferring directly into clinical and/or health-related programs.
No. The scholarship is not available to Running Start students.
The scholarship committee meets and reviews applications soon after the due date and announces the receipients within 3 weeks.
You may renew the scholarship each quarter until you successfully transfer. To maintain the scholarship, you must continue to meet the eligibility requirements including minimum GPA and full-time enrollment in STEM coursework.
No. The scholarship only funds coursework at the Seattle Colleges.
Yes. In cases where a needed course is not available at your college, you may use scholarship funds to pay for the course at one of the other colleges in our district. Please contact your campus RST coordinator to make arrangements if you need to take a course at a different college.
No. The scholarship only funds students seeking B.S. or B.A. degrees in STEM disciplines.
We anticipate awarding around 70 S-STEM scholarships at each college by 2022.
Not yet, but you can stay up to date with RST communications about future scholarship opportunities via this website and (for RST Academy members) the Canvas page.