A highly educated American Indian population is vital for improving the economic sufficiency and prosperity of Washington’s American Indian communities.

To this end, Washington State, in collaboration with the American Indian Community and other private sector partners, established the American Indian Endowed Scholarship (AIES).

This program provides educational scholarships on a competitive basis to high-achieving, low-income students who have close social and cultural ties to an American Indian tribe or community. Recipients demonstrate academic merit and a commitment to serve the American Indian community in the state of Washington. There is a priority for upper-division and graduate students. Students can use the scholarships at public colleges and universities and accredited independent colleges, universities, and career schools in Washington.

Past recipients have careers in law, medicine, education, business, and resource management. All have returned, or plan to return, to their tribal communities and work on behalf of Indian peoples within the state.

The state initially appropriated $300,000, and those funds have been matched and exceeded by private donations. All donations and allotted funds are kept in a permanent endowment trust. The interest earnings of that fund provide for the annual scholarship awards. The interest generated from these allocations supports the scholarship. The current endowment corpus is valued at $608,267.

Representatives of the American Indian community have formed a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, known as the “Friends of American Indians in Education” (FAIE), to promote and coordinate fund-raising activities for the scholarship. The selection committee is composed of American Indian educators, tribal education administrators, and private individuals from the American Indian community in the state.

More information about AIES can be found on our partner site, readysetgrad.org.