Need a scholarship? Kaiser Permanente offering $100,000 to Hawaiʻi seniors pursuing healthcare career

Kaiser Permanente’s Health Equity Scholarship Program is offering scholarships to 2022 graduating Hawaiʻi high school seniors who are pursuing a career in the healthcare field.

The deadline to apply for a $2,500 scholarship is March 1. Scholarship recipients will be announced in June, with awards distributed in the fall of 2022.

Up to $100,000 in scholarships will be awarded to graduating high school seniors who plan to enroll in an accredited, public or not-for-profit, four-year university or community college for the 2022–2023 academic school year.

Students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 weighted scale and demonstrate an interest in pursuing a clinical (physician, pharmacist, practitioner, nurse) or non-clinical (accounting, business administration, finance, human resources, marketing, operations, public policy) career in the health care industry.

Preference will be given to students with demonstrated financial need and/or are from underrepresented communities.

For the 2021–2022 school year, scholarships were awarded to 20 students from across Hawaiʻi. They are attending the University of Hawaiʻi and community college campuses across the state, Chaminade University, Princeton University and other mainland schools. Eighty percent of past recipients are Native Hawaiian students, and 75% of recipients are the first generation in their family to go to college.

According to a 2021 Nursing Education study, three of Hawaiʻi’s five counties – Kauaʻi, Maui and Hawaiʻi – are among the top 15 counties in the nation with the highest primary health care worker shortages. Opportunities that encourage students to pursue careers in health care will help remove barriers that may otherwise discourage students from clinical professions.

To learn more about Kaiser Permanente’s Health Equity Scholarship Program and to apply, visit kp-health-equity-scholars.hsfts.net.