AcrobatThe level of IHS Scholarship Program benefits is dependent on the availability of funds appropriated each fiscal year by the Congress of the United States, and therefore is subject to change each year.
Please check the following sections to get the most up to date information:
- Tuition and Required Fees
- Books, Laboratory Expenses, Other Necessary Education Expenses and Travel
- Living Expenses Stipend
- Lost Stipend
- Summer School
- Tutorial Assistance
- Acceptance of Other Federal Benefits
- Suspension of Benefits
IHS makes direct payment to your school for tuition and required fees for the school year. Summer school is excluded unless specifically requested and approved in advance. IHS will officially notify the school of your participation in the IHS Scholarship Program. Until the school receives billing instructions, this notification of award authorizes your school to bill IHS directly for your tuition and required fees during the first week of October.
IHS pays for tuition and fees (calculated by the educational institution) directly applicable to your approved curriculum and program. Payment will not be made for tuition and fees unrelated to the approved program, for membership dues for student societies, associations and similar expenses, or for school terms that begin prior to the academic year for which the scholarship is awarded. The amount awarded can not be increased above what the school submitted for your degree program.
IHS will only pay for repeat course work previously paid for by IHS, if the course is taken during summer school, not during the regular school year.
Books, Laboratory Expenses, Other Necessary Educational Expenses and Travel
IHS will pay for the following:
- Tuition costs and mandatory fees. Any mandatory fees, such as lab fees and health unit fee, are paid if they’re included on the school’s invoice. The school should submit all invoices to the IHS Division of Grants Operations.
- Books, laboratory expenses and other education expenses. These are paid in advance in a lump sum to the student for the school year in the August stipend.
- $300 to offset travel expenses to and from school for the year, paid in advance to the student in the August stipend.
- Tutorial costs. A maximum of $400 for full-time or $200 for part-time for the academic year is paid directly to the student, who must specifically request tutorial services. Payment is subject to approval of the Scholarship Branch Chief.
IHS will not pay the following items:
- School bookstore invoices or books/dental/medical equipment (unless certain dental/medical equipment is rented from the school).
- Health insurance. The educational institution will accept documentation from your Tribe or Indian Health Service facility that you are eligible for health care and/or contract health care from through our Indian health programs. If you find that the availability of health care services is inconvenient, you will be responsible for a separate health insurance policy, group or individual, while in school.
- Additional travel expenses incurred over the lump sum amount of $300.
The estimated stipend amount for student living expenses, including room and board, will be mailed at the end of each month. This amount is pro-rated for part-time students. Each scholarship recipient will receive an award letter specifying the total dollar amount for the award.
Health Preparatory and Health Professions Pre-Graduate Scholarship Program recipients will receive a stipend for only the academic period covered by their awards: August 1 to May 31. The first stipend checks will be electronically transmitted (EFT) via direct deposit to their bank accounts at the end of the month of August. Stipends for the months of June and July will be paid only to those students who have requested to attend summer sessions and have been approved in advance to do so.
Health Professions Scholarship Program recipients will be given a stipend for the 12-month period beginning August 1 through July 31. The first stipend checks will be electronically transmitted via direct deposit to their bank accounts or mailed from the Treasury Department at the end of the month of August. For part-time students this amount is prorated based on the number of credit hours taken during the academic year.
NOTE: All participants are required to have direct deposit for method of payment.
Although funds may be identified as salary, they are stipend payments. To protect yourself, you should not write checks on your account until you have received notice from your bank that the EFT has occurred. If your EFT is delayed and checks drawn on your account are not honored due to insufficient funds, the IHS Scholarship Program cannot pay any penalties your bank may impose for returned checks.
The Treasury Department will transfer funds during the last 3 days of the month. If you do not receive your stipend, you must immediately notify the Grants Scholarship Coordinator, Division of Grants after the 7th day of the subsequent month so that the Treasury Department can be authorized to issue a replacement EFT to cover the amount you did not receive. Submit the Lost Stipend form (PDF - 12KB). For example, if you do not receive your stipend at the end of November, you may submit the Lost Stipend form December 7th.
You may find that other students at your school received their EFT while you have not. The reason may be that the funds for students at the same school are not necessarily transferred from the Treasury Department at the same time.
Changes in direct deposit information are the primary reason for non-receipt of EFT.
Students may need to take summer courses to graduate or complete course requirements necessary for graduation within the 4 year maximum time period for full-time students (8 year maximum for part-time students) or for earlier acceptance into a health professions program.
A Summer School Request (PDF - 16KB) must be received by the IHS Scholarship Program by April 22 of the academic year to be able to attend that summer.
The Summer School Request must be completed and signed by your school advisor with an attached curriculum for your major. Documentation may be a curriculum listing for your program or a statement from your advisor. Your academic program must require these courses. Summer school can also be used to make up failed, required courses for which IHS will pay fees and tuition. Summer school is not approved for optional courses not related to your academic program. Documentation of summer school tuition and fees must be submitted with your summer school request form.
Summer school costs are paid only if you have received prior approval from the IHS Scholarship Branch Chief. The IHS Scholarship Program will pay up to $700 for full-time students or $350 for part-time students for tuition and fees as billed by your school. There is no limitation on credit hours. The student must pay costs over these amounts. No additional funds are available for books or other miscellaneous expenses. For those students who are in allied health programs that are year-long, you will not be limited to the $700 or $350; however, summer school requests should be submitted to ensure the yearly budget will cover the tuition and fees.
Stipends will be extended into June and July for Health Preparatory and Pre-Graduate students who are approved for summer school. Health Professions students already receive their stipends for 12 months, from August to July.
Transcripts for summer school are due to the IHS Scholarship Program as soon as they are available at the end of the semester term. Please ensure these are ordered.
IHS wants to assist you in getting the maximum benefit from your education and this scholarship. If you have difficulty with one or more courses, you may participate in special classes or arrange for tutorial assistance to correct the difficulty and to improve your academic performance.
To request tutorial assistance, submit a completed copy of the Request for Tutorial Assistance (PDF - 26KB). Your school advisor must sign this form. Send this to the IHS Scholarship Program, Attention: Scholarship Application/Award Analyst.
You are encouraged to use tutorial services to improve your grades even if they are satisfactory and/or to address weaknesses in other courses, such as in English or math, which may affect your overall academic performance.
The IHS Scholarship Program will pay up to $400 for tutorial assistance to full-time students and up to $200 to part-time students who have been in school for the academic year (August 1 through July 31). The funds are paid directly to the students on a reimbursed basis as part of the monthly stipend check upon approval of the tutorial request. The student is responsible for paying the tutor.
Acceptance of Other Federal Benefits
If you are currently receiving scholarship funding from other federal agency sources, you should inform the awarding agency if you are selected to receive an IHS Scholarship. This is done to eliminate duplicate payment of tuition and other educational expenses. Additionally, the awarding agency might have prohibitions against duplicate awards.
Other Public Health Service Benefits
If you are receiving scholarship funds under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program (Section 751 of the Act) or the Scholarship Program for First-Year Students of Exceptional Financial Need (Section 758 of the Act), you are not eligible to participate in the IHS Scholarship Program during the school year(s) for which these scholarships were awarded.
Veterans Benefits
You may continue to receive educational benefits from the Veterans Administration (G.I. Bill) along with the IHS Scholarship Program funds since the VA benefits were earned by prior active duty in a uniformed service.
Benefits from State, Local and Other Federal Programs
If you owe an obligation for professional practice to a state or other entity under an agreement made before applying for IHS scholarship funding, you are not eligible for an award unless the state or entity submits to the Secretary a written statement which says:
- There is no potential conflict in fulfilling your service obligation to the state or entity and the IHS Scholarship Program.
- The Scholarship Program service obligation will be served before the service obligation for professional practice owed to the state or entity.
THE IHS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM WILL SUSPEND THE PAYMENT OF ALL BENEFITS FOR THE PERIOD OF TIME THAT:
- The school and the IHS Scholarship Program have approved a participant’s leave of absence for medical or personal reasons.
- A recipient’s graduation is delayed for personal reasons or by a requirement to repeat course work for which the IHS Scholarship Program has previously paid the tuition and provided stipend support.
The participant is required to notify the IHS Scholarship Program when leave of absence (LOA) or repeated course work is expected. Documentation is required by the IHS Scholarship Program on an as-needed basis.
Benefits suspended will not resume until the IHS Scholarship Program is notified by the school that the participant has returned to the course of study for which the scholarship was awarded and only if funds are available to continue support.
If repeated course work does not delay graduation but is taken in addition to the student’s normal full-time course load, the IHS Scholarship Program will pay tuition only for the non-repeated courses. Payment of the stipend will not be affected in this case.
If a student has been granted a leave of absence from their school, the maximum time granted for leave of absence from the IHS Scholarship Program is a total of 2 consecutive academic years. Need for further leave of absence will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
THE IHS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM WILL SUSPEND THE PAYMENT OF STIPENDS WHEN:
- A Recipient’s Initial Program Progress Report (PDF - 39KB) is not received within the 30 days of the beginning of the semester/quarter.
- A student fails to submit official transcripts within 30 days for the fall and spring semester. Quarterly transcripts should be sent within 30 days of the end of the quarter.
The Scholarship Program will not reinstate suspended stipend funds until the above-mentioned reports/transcripts have been received. These payments will not be issued until the next automated stipend cycle.