Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to be Native American to qualify for an AAIA scholarship?

Yes. All applicants must be enrolled in their tribe and at least ¼ Indian blood (Allogan Slagle Scholarship excepted) in addition to other criteria.

I am a part time student. Do I qualify?

All AAIA scholarships are for full time students at an accredited institution only.

Do I have to be from a specific tribe or region of the country to qualify?

No. AAIA scholarships are open to students from all federally recognized and non-recognized tribes in the continental US and Alaska.

Do I have to be attending a certain kind of school to qualify?

AAIA funds several types of schools – universities, community colleges, tribal colleges, technical colleges, and private colleges. All schools must be accredited. Students must be working toward an Associate’s degree or higher. We do not fund certificate programs but if you are getting a regular degree at a technical school that is allowable. We do not fund seminary students, but if you are getting a regular degree such as nursing, education, journalism, etc. at a religious based institution that is allowable.

Do you fund summer school?

AAIA only funds fall and spring semester. If you attend school year round or on a tri or quarterly basis we evaluate your application for the months (approximately) between September and the end of May.

I am Indian from Central or South America. Do I qualify?

Unfortunately you would not be eligible. Only applicants from the continental US and Alaska are eligible to apply for AAIA scholarships, even if living in the US or having US citizenship.*

I am Indian from Canada. Do I qualify?

*Generally students from Canada are not eligible to apply for AAIA scholarships even if living in the US or having US citizenship. The exception would be if you are from a boarder tribe and there is a known relationship between the tribe on the US side and the Canadian side. Proper documentation is required. Call the scholarship office to discuss your individual case.

What documentation is required?

See the Application/Required Document Check Sheet and the Explanation of Required Documents for details. Please send only the requested documentation. Additional documentation will not be reviewed and may hinder the review process.

What is a CIB?

Your CIB, or Certificate of Indian Blood, is a federal document obtained from the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). This shows what tribe or tribes you are from and the percentage of each. See the How Do I Get a Certificate of Indian Blood? under the Frequently Asked Questions section under the Resources tab on this website.

What about blood quantum?

Check your Blood Quantum. Each year we receive numerous applications from students who do not qualify for our scholarships due to insufficient blood quantum. Blood quantum is the amount of Indian blood that you possess. AAIA requires a minimum of ¼ Indian blood for scholarship qualification. For example, if one grandparent was 100% (full) then your parent would be 50% (½) and you would be 25% (or ¼) as long as your grandparent or parent was not married to another Native person. Note you do not have to be ¼ of any single tribe, but a cumulative total of ¼.

This criteria has been set by our all Native Board of Directors and is not flexible. Just because you are enrolled and have a CIB does not necessarily mean you qualify. (Note that your blood quantum goes down the larger the number is – 1/8 is less than ¼, 1/32 is less than ¼, 1/256 is less than ¼, 5/999 is less than ¼ …). Unfortunately we often receive applications from applicants who think they qualify when in fact they don't because they have done the math incorrectly. If you’re not sure, please ask someone. The application process is long. Please make sure you qualify before you put in all the time to complete the application process.

Blood Quantum/CIB Exception: The Allogan Slagle scholarship is for students from tribes that are not recognized by the federal government, therefore it is sometimes difficult to get a CIB. The Slagle scholarship is the only scholarship for which the CIB requirement can be waived, but other documentation is required in lieu of a CIB. Preferred documentation includes your Indian parents’ and Indian grandparent’s enrollment and letter from your tribal chairman vouching for descendency. If you have questions regarding this requirement or have difficulty obtaining such documentation, call our Rockville office to discuss an alternate solution.
If your tribe is does not enroll based on blood quantum call our office to discuss what documentation may be used in lieu of a CIB.

I heard I can get a blood test to prove Indian heritage.

Blood tests show markers on your DNA that indicate Native American ancestry, not specific tribal affiliation or blood quantum. Therefore, having a blood test done is not an acceptable form of proof of Indian blood for AAIA scholarship purposes.

What are the requirements in regards to transcripts?

A minimum of 2 years transcripts are required. Transcripts do not have to be official. They can be a copy of your official transcripts. Please include a copy of the back which explains alternative grading – P, X, Z… If you are a transfer student, your transcripts must include a letter grade, not just a “T”. If you are a graduate student and are in your first or second year of grad school, send your undergraduate transcripts, if you are a college freshman or sophomore, send your high school transcripts. Students with a GED please send a copy of your GED and any related documentation (test scores, prior transcripts). If you are sending your package early in the acceptance period and don’t have your spring grades yet still send 2 years worth of transcripts. If you make the initial cut your spring grades will be requested at a later date.

Who should my letters of recommendation be from and what should they say?

Letters of recommendation should be from professors, employers, pastors, teachers, coaches, and co-workers. They should not be from friends, family members or roommates. They should provide an honest assessment of your work ethic and work habits, reflect the nature of your personality, and highlight specific skills or projects.

What if I can’t get a letter of recommendation from the person I’ve asked by the deadline?

Don’t wait to get letters of recommendation. If you are unable to obtain a letter of recommendation from a specific reference ask someone else. Your letters of recommendation must be received with your application package. If the person is out of town and they will not be able to give you a reference by the deadline, please find another reference. Letters of recommendation should be to the organization you are applying to if at all possible. If you have to use a general letter of recommendation or one that is written to another organization, it should be less than 2 years old. Letters of recommendation do not have to be confidential. It is preferred that they are not confidential and not in sealed envelopes.

When are application packages accepted?

AAIA funds for the entire school year, not by semester. We have one acceptance period which changes slightly from year to year. We post information for the upcoming school year each February. We accept application packages between approximately the beginning of April to the middle of June. See the Acceptance Period button on the main scholarship page of this website each February for specific dates.

We receive hundreds of calls over the summer and into the fall from people looking for scholarship money. Almost all scholarship deadlines are January – April. This is the typical “scholarship season”. If you haven’t started looking by June you’ve missed the season. Unfortunately it is unlikely that you will receive funding from any organization for fall at this late date. Start your search early.

Are there exceptions to the deadline?

There are very few exceptions to the deadline. A couple of situations have occurred in the past few years where an exception was made. 1) A student was going to be out of the country when the applications were due. He contacted our office months prior to leaving and arranged to send in all except 2 pieces of required information before he left. 2) A student had a death in their family and had been away from school for several months and unable to obtain specific documentation. This person also contacted us months prior to the deadline and sent in most of the required documentation prior to the deadline.

All scholarship packages are to be received in our office by 5:00 pm Eastern time the day of the deadline, not postmarked on the deadline day. I cannot stress enough - Do not procrastinate. Each year we receive hundreds of applications after the deadline date that are not considered. Please start the application process early. Make sure your application package is reviewed. Make sure it gets to our office on time or it will not be considered. It’s sad to see students put so much effort into completing an application package or spend the money to send it via express mail, FedEx, or UPS only to have it not arrive in our office on time.

Can my application package be e-mailed or faxed?

Due to the number of applications and number of e-mails we receive, we require all applications be mailed. Mail is date stamped when received. E-mails can easily be lost in the shuffle.

How do I know if my application has been received?

Please do not contact the scholarship office to confirm receipt. We receive hundreds of applications per year and do not have the ability to go through all of the applications received to see if your application has been received.

Consider sending your application with delivery confirmation at the US Post Office. To the best of my knowledge, you need to send your package Priority Mail ($4.95 at the time of this posting) with Delivery Confirmation (.70). You can then call the number listed or visit the website listed and put in the tracking number to see when your package was delivered. This is the most efficient way for the student and for us.

Sending mail with return receipt or that requires a signature or sending you package via Fed Ex or UPS is not as efficient as delivery confirmation. If it gets delayed by the deliverer, gets delivered to the wrong office, or no one is in the office to accept your package at the time the delivery truck arrives. Do not wait until the day before the deadline expecting your package to arrive on time. We do not make exceptions for misdirected or delayed mail.

What if I know I am missing something from my application package? Should I send it anyway?

All required documents must be received together in one package otherwise your package is considered Incomplete.

Students whose application packages contain all required documentation get first and full consideration.
Applicants missing one document get secondary consideration. Students making the initial cut must provide the missing document prior to further review.
Applicants missing more than 1 document will not be considered.

How do I know if my package is considered complete?

It is the students’ responsibility to keep track of what was sent. We recommend students keep a copy of their application package and the list of required documentation in case there is a question. As a courtesy, if an application is grossly incomplete we make an attempt to e-mail or send a post card to the student notifying them their application package was incomplete therefore allowing them time to re-submit an entire complete package if they choose to do so. We do not have the ability to tell applicants what documents are missing.

I sent all my documentation but I received a notice saying my application package was incomplete.

Sometimes students think they sent everything only to discover that they still have it in their possession, or they missed something on the list, or misunderstood a requirement and sent what they thought was the correct document when actually something else was required. If you don’t understand a requirement or if we haven’t explained something thoroughly, please contact us. If you don’t have a document, please don’t just leave it out of your package. Contact us and ask us what to do. We may have suggestions.

Helpful Hint: Print out the check sheet and check off the items as you put them in the envelope. Work on a clear table. It’s easy to misplace a single paper among other papers that are scattered on the table. Make sure you’re sending the correct documents for the correct scholarship. You’re probably applying for several scholarships at the same time. It’s easy to get them confused. You may have thought you sent all the documents for our scholarship, but sent it to another organization or you may have sent documents for another organization to us.

Keep a copy of your entire scholarship package. If you are asked to send it again or if we have a question, you can access the information easily.

We make mistakes too. Help us. We receive thousands of documents in our office during the scholarship season. We try to be very careful, but occasionally documents get lost. Sometimes the document may have been received, but not accounted for when we do the intake on your application package. The main reason for this is inside envelopes and the paper size is not the same. Many people send their transcripts and letters of recommendation in sealed envelopes. Since we do not require official transcripts or confidential letters of recommendation you can take them out of the inside envelope. If your school sends your transcripts in a sealed envelope, please take it out and unfold the document and put it in the stack with the other documents. If the person writing your letter of recommendation puts it in a sealed envelope, again, please take it out and put it in the stack with your other documents. We are very careful to double check mailing envelopes when opening your package and putting your file together, but unfortunately since inside envelopes are generally not the same size as the rest of the documents they sometimes either fall out or get stuck between pages and can get misplaced. Unfolding everything and putting it in one pile with pages that are all the same size helps to ensure you and us, that all of your documents are included and will be reviewed. It is also helpful if you do not staple individual documents.

Can I send in a document separately from my application package?

We receive hundreds of pieces of mail separate from the students’ application package – application pages, letters of recommendation, transcripts... We do not have the staff to piece together student application packages. These documents are not considered. If you send in your application and know you are missing one document, if you make the initial cut the missing piece of information will be required at that time. Do not send the missing piece of information separately. Only do so if requested.

What are the chances of receiving an award?

AAIA is funded through the generosity of our donors. Competition is tough. We generally receive between 500-1,000 applications per year. The largest pool of applicants is undergraduate women, then undergraduate men, followed by graduate women then undergraduate men. Students from non-recognized tribes are considered separately and fewer applicants apply for this particular scholarship. In recent years we have awarded roughly 80-120 scholarships per year.

When do you make decisions about who is awarded?

Our target date is Labor Day, although sometimes it may be the beginning of October before all of the awardees are notified.

How will I know if I get awarded?

If you are not contacted for additional information after you send in your application package, you unfortunately did not make the initial cut. Due to staffing limitations we do not send regret letters.

If you made the initial cut, you will be contacted by e-mail or phone for additional information. This does not guarantee that you will be awarded. If you are awarded you will be notified by mail at the address listed on your application as “Your Address While At School” if one is listed. Otherwise you will be notified at your permanent address. Recipients will also be posted on our website under the Recipients 2010-2011 tab as they are awarded. Please keep a copy of you award letter handy. It will have the terms of your award as well as our contact information – phone, e-mail, fax and address.

What is the minimum GPA?

AAIA does not require a minimum gpa per se. We do expect that students will continue to make satisfactory progress toward their degree. It's best to contact our Rockville office if you are getting less than a C in any one class.

Could I lose my scholarship?

If you are failing a class, have a low gpa, get sick, drop below full time, or you have other circumstances that may affect your eligibility status, contact our office immediately. There is nothing worse for a student than turning in grades at the end of the semester only to find that you won’t be funded for the next semester. And there’s nothing worse for us than to have to tell students we won’t fund them. We’re willing to work with you, but can only do so if we know there is a problem. We are accountable to the people who provided funding and may have to explain to them why a student failed.

We don’t like to take away funding if we don’t have to. And we understand that life happens. A bad grade, a bad professor, a bad semester… and sometimes poor academic performance has nothing to do with school per se. Think outside of the box. Call us as soon as you sense a problem so we can try to help. If two heads are better than one, then four heads are better than two – well at least in theory. Talk to your academic advisor, get tutoring, and try to figure out what options are available on campus to help you be successful. If we are assured that steps have been put in place to help you and you are likely to be more successful in subsequent semesters, it is likely that your funding will continue. If you do nothing, it may not. It may also jeopardize your ability to receive future funding from AAIA. Don’t just assume because you got a low gpa that your funding will automatically be discontinued. Talk to us.

What if I am receiving a scholarship and transfer to another school in the middle of the year?

If you transfer to another school in the middle of the year please contact our office prior to the beginning of spring semester. A new financial needs analysis will be needed from your new school. If we are unaware that you transferred you may not receive your check or your check may be sent to the wrong school.

Why didn’t I get funded?

As long as your application package was complete and you met all of the qualifications your application was reviewed. Although we cannot tell you exactly why you did not get funded, AAIA’s scholarship program, as with all of our programs, is funded through the generosity of our donors. Funding may vary from year to year, so we may have less (or more) to offer than the previous year. As you can imagine, there is a lot of competition for our scholarships. We generally receive between 500-1,000 applications. For the 2009-2010 school year we considered 539 applications and received over 100 more outside of the acceptance period that were not considered. Approximately 35 others were found to be ineligible.

Although we consider the entire application package, a strong essay is always a plus. I would encourage students to have several people who know you well (including friends, family, and professors) read your essay for content, spelling and grammar before submitting it. Include involvement in your community, plans to contribute to the Native community, military service, work in a non-traditional job, experiences that might be considered different from the majority of people may be helpful. Students also must have at least $750 in need for both fall and spring semester to qualify. In addition to the fact that you are competing with hundreds of other well qualified applicants, funding is also determined by our funding structure which changes from year to year.

Selecting recipients is a very time consuming and a very difficult process because we have so many qualified applicants. Although we have funded thousands of students over the years and generally fund over a hundred students per year, many students do not get funded the first time they apply. If you do not get funded, we encourage you to reapply the following year.

How many scholarships can I get per year?

One scholarship is allowed per student per school year.

Can I receive a scholarship for more than one year?

Students are eligible to apply on a yearly basis, but will still go through the competitive process. Receiving a scholarship one year does not entitle you to receive scholarships in subsequent years. We do not retain application packages of recipients in our office so you must re-submit all documentation if you are reapplying, even if you have received a scholarship in the past.

Is there funding available from other Native organizations?

See the Other Financial Aid link on the main scholarship page of our website. You will find links to other organizations that provide funding to Native American students as well as links to search engines. Some of the links are to scholarships for non-native students as well.

Students may also want to check with local civic organizations, churches, businesses in your field that may be willing to do a work payback program. If you are not 100% Native check for funding from your other heritage. There are many cultural organizations that provide funding (Latin-American Club, Polish-American Club, German-American Club). You may also be eligible for funding through specific social service programs, working mom programs, vocational rehabilitation programs, and state workforce development programs. If you are from another country and part Native American you might also check with your embassy to see if they have information on scholarship opportunities.