Kaiser Permanente Northwest founded the Health Care Career Scholarship Program in 2008 to help students in Oregon and Southwest Washington achieve their dreams of becoming health care professionals. Since then, Kaiser Permanente has awarded more than $5.2 million in scholarships in the Northwest.
Scholarships were awarded annually to qualified seniors at 140 public high schools in the Northwest service area of Kaiser Permanente, which spans from north of Longview, Washington, to Eugene, Oregon.
Of the more than 1,511 students in the Northwest who have received more than 1,780 Kaiser Permanente Northwest Health Care Career Scholarships since the program’s inaugural year (2008 to 2009):
Nonrenewable scholarships in the amounts of $5,000 and $10,000 were awarded to the most qualified applicants from across all eligible high schools and returning scholars.
The scholarship program facilitated the entrance of diverse and/or economically or socially disadvantaged students into college and the health care professions.
Applications were evaluated based on the following criteria, with the majority of the evaluation focused on nonacademic information:
Scholarships totaling $550,000 were awarded to 69 high school seniors and 14 college students in 2021. Recipients were celebrated virtually through a recognition video.
For the past 13 years, we have been privileged to be a part of the community's educational journey. Through the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Health Care Career Scholarship Program we have provided over $4.2 million dollars in scholarships; supporting over 1,400 students. Following the 2021 scholarship cycle, we have made the difficult decision to sunset this scholarship program.
Although our regional program has concluded, we look forward to supporting students through our partnerships with United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Scholarships will open spring 2022 and information will be shared with high school teachers and counselors at a later date.
Results of a comprehensive external evaluation of the Kaiser Permanente Health Care Career Scholarship Program conducted by Education Northwest reveal that the scholarship is reaching diverse and economically/socially disadvantaged students, contributes to recipients’ motivation to attend college, and helps make it financially possible for them to attend college.
The evaluation spanned the scholarship program years 2009 through 2014. Learn more about the results of the evaluation of the scholarship program.