Health Care Scholars United
Are you a current or former health professional? This $3,200 scholarship will help you take your healthcare career to the next level.
Health Care Scholars United
In 2022, the United Health Foundation made a $100 million, 10-year philanthropic commitment to support the health care workforce. Health Care Scholars United provides scholarships to current and future healthcare professionals who want to obtain or grow their clinical skills and credentials. The Foundation’s goal is to support 10,000 scholars by 2033 and ultimately help improve healthcare access, experiences, and outcomes for all.
About the Scholarship
Applicants must be current or future health professionals pursuing a degree or certificate program to obtain or advance their credentials, with the intent to enter a clinical health career upon completion. They must demonstrate financial need and be enrolled in their program no later than Fall 2026. Eligible applicants should be in their final year of study and able to graduate by June 2027.
Individuals will not be excluded from eligibility based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.
Eligibility
Let’s see if you’re eligible:
- Demonstration of financial need
- Applicants must demonstrate financial need upon application.
- Pursuing clinical health careers upon graduation
- Be pursuing certifications or degrees in a clinical health career. Priority will be given to students seeking careers in pharmacy, rural health, behavioral health, maternal health, or primary care. Current physicians who are seeking additional certifications or degrees are not eligible.
- Planned to be an enrolled student in Fall 2026
- Applicants must be enrolled as a full or part-time post-secondary student (undergraduate or graduate) enrolled in an accredited program in the United States, in person or virtual attendance.
- Program completion
- Applicants must be enrolled or planning to enroll in their final year of degree/credential program at time of award. Applicants must plan to graduate by June 30, 2027.
- U.S. citizens
- For eligibility, students should be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or lawful permanent residents.
Certification programs must be through an accredited institution and must run on a standard academic semester calendar. Certification programs must be a minimum of one semester/term in length and applicants must be enrolled at the time awards are disbursed.
Awards can be used for license programs and will be made payable to the accredited college, university, or vocational-technical school. Awards cannot be used for license fees or exams.
Examples include but are not limited to: nursing, physician assistant, clinical psychologist, or clinical social worker.
Employees of UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, or an organization acquired by UnitedHealth Group, and their immediate family members are not eligible for this scholarship
Awards
How are recipients chosen?
To select recipients, the evaluation process considers a wide variety of criteria from the materials you provide. This includes:
- Community service: Your involvement in supporting the health and wellbeing of your community
- Demonstration of financial need
- Goal statement– Your future goals as a health care provider
- Overcoming a challenge – How you have overcome a challenge to achieve a goal?
- Essay – How do you plan to use your background, education, and future career to improve access to quality health care?
- Intended clinical profession: Priority will be given to students seeking careers in pharmacy, rural health, behavioral health, maternal health, or primary care
When you submit your application, all of these areas will be reviewed as part of the scholarship evaluation process.
Individuals will not be excluded from eligibility based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.
Requirements
What information do I need?
See below for a checklist of required information. To complete your application, make sure everything is submitted by March 24, 2026 at 3:00 PM CT.
1. Demonstration of Financial Need
2. Short Answer Prompt
- Write a short answer response (approximately 250 words) to three questions, including the following:
- Describe your future goals as a health care provider.
- Describe a time when you overcame a challenge to achieve a goal. What did you do to eliminate or address this barrier?
- How do you plan to use your background, education, and future career to improve access to health care?
Space is limited; be concise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Selected students will be awarded a one-time scholarship of $3,200.
For this scholarship, up to 325 awards are available.
This is a one-time award. Awards are not renewable, and past recipients may not reapply.
No scholarship deferrals are allowed. If an awardee would like to defer, the scholarship will be forfeited, and the student can reapply in a future application cycle.
This scholarship can be used for tuition, program fees, books, and supplies only. Awards cannot be used for license fees or exams.
The program is open to clinical professionals in many roles: nurses, lab technicians, certified nurse midwives, physician assistants, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and more. Priority will be given to students seeking careers in pharmacy, rural health, behavioral health, maternal health, and primary care
Physicians who are seeking additional certifications or degrees are not eligible.
Ineligible academic degree programs include, but aren’t limited to:
– Public Health (i.e., MPH)
– Business Administration (i.e., MBA)
Note: if dual degree with another approved program, this may be acceptable after further review and evaluation (e.g., Physician Assistant/ MBA, Doctorate Nurse Practitioner/MBA)
– Epidemiology
– Informatics or Bioinformatics
– Healthcare Administration/Management
– Executive Leadership
– Education (e.g., PhD Nursing Education)
– Cosmetology
– Animal Sciences
– Research
– Information Technology (IT)
If you think you may be eligible but you’re not sure, please contact Scholarship America
Applications must be submitted by March 24, 2026 at 3:00 PM CT. Your application is not complete unless all required materials are submitted electronically.
To maintain a fair process, we do not allow extensions or make exceptions for application deadlines.
Once you submit your application, you can’t change it. Please review your application responses carefully to ensure they are complete and accurate.
If your situation changes in a way that affects your application after it has been submitted, please contact Scholarship America.
Please contact Scholarship America for assistance with your application. We are here to help you navigate the process in a way that works for you.
Financial need is a key component of the eligibility evaluation for this scholarship and must be demonstrated at the time of application.
Recipients are exclusively chosen by Scholarship America following defined evaluation criteria.
Yes, you may apply for this scholarship each time it opens, if you still meet eligibility requirements and did not previously receive the scholarship.
Unfortunately, not every student – even when eligible – can be awarded the scholarship. The good news is Scholarship America might have more scholarships that are a good fit for you.
