AEF Scholarship - Spring Semester/Winter Quarter 2026

Welcome to the Arctic Education Foundation (AEF) Spring Semester/Winter Quarter 2026 application session. Please submit your application by the application deadline of December 15, 2025. You will have additional time to upload the required documents, including your most recent transcript and your financial need sheet. All documents must be submitted by Jan 12, 2026.

AEF is a private non-profit organization committed to providing financial assistance to eligible applicants pursing higher education. The goal of the foundation is to partially finance students who are furthering their education beyond high school or to become job ready. Applicants must meet eligibility requirements to receive funding and must supply all documents required.

Reminder: AEF has semester and quarterly financial limits. Funding is awarded based on demonstrated financial need for eligible expenses including tuition, fees, books, and in some cases, room and board. We encourage you to apply for other scholarships which you may be eligible for. We particularly encourage you to submit a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) whether or not you feel you qualify for any of their grants (www.fafsa.ed.gov).

As part of this application, please be prepared to submit:

1. Financial Need Sheet. This is a form that will be filled out by your financial aid office and submitted as part of your application.

2. High School or the Latest College/or University Transcript

3. Genealogy for Eligibility Determination (First Time Applicants Only)

4. Three letters of recommendation on your behalf (First Time Applicants Only)

5. Copy of Acceptance Letter from College, University or Training Institution (First Time Applicants or Continuing Applicants attending a new school only)

Additional Information or Paperwork Required:

If you are a full-time student and attending school away from your hometown and or living off-campus and want to request assistance with room/board, you must submit an official lease agreement with your landlord as part of your application.

Continuing Students:

A continuing student is required to re-apply for funding each term. All applications must be submitted before the published deadline date.

Arctic Education Foundation has several areas of eligibility all of which you must satisfy in order to be determined eligible for an AEF scholarship award.

Requirements

• You must be a member of at least one of the eligible classes of recipients ◦A Northern Alaska Inupiat Native of at least ¼ blood quantum currently residing in the Arctic Slope Region

  • An original 1971 shareholder of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation

  • A direct lineal descendant of an original 1971 shareholder of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation

• You must NOT be a spouse, ancestor, lineal descendant (by blood or adoption) or the spouse of a lineal descendant of any member of the Arctic Education Foundation Board of Directors

• You must have a high school diploma (or GED)

• You must be at least 17 years old or 16 and be legally emancipated

• You must be a United States citizen and a United States resident

• You must be accepted as a Post-secondary education student for either:

  • an undergraduate, graduate or professional degree through an accredited U.S. college or university; or

  • for technical or vocational training through a qualified U.S. vocational or technical institution or program (including qualified training programs sponsored by industry standard manufacturing firms such as Novell or Microsoft)

* “Northern Alaska Inupiat Native” is defined by AEF as an Inupiat Native who: was originally enrolled by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (“ASRC”) on December 17, 1971 the implementation date of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [“ANCSA”; 43 USC § 1601 et seq.]; or was subsequently enrolled by ASRC as a Class E “missed shareholder” who was eligible to enroll to ASRC on such date, but failed to timely enroll and did not enroll to another ANCSA Region; or is a direct lineal descendant (by blood or adoption, not marriage) of such an Inupiat Native.