You can get scholarships for arthritis!

I never thought that having arthritis would qualify me for any scholarships, but I was wrong. There are a few scholarships available in the US specifically for those with arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, and some universities and organizations offer scholarships to students with disabilities in general.

Arthritis scholarships

The two big arthritis scholarships are the Abbvie Immunology Scholarship and the Arthritis Foundation Arthritis Champions Scholarship.

Abbvie Immunology Scholarship

The Abbvie Immunology Scholarship is sponsored by (clearly) Abbvie, the makers of Humira. They offer variable amounts depending on what kind of program you plan to attend: $5,000 if you’re pursuing an associate’s degree and $15,000 if you’re pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD. (Do they realize that only covers—tops—about 3 months of Humira?)

To qualify, you have to live with one of the conditions that Humira is approved to treat, which includes juvenile idiopathic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and rheumatoid arthritis, among others. You also have to be a US citizen and planning to attend school in the US. You can only receive the scholarship once, but you can apply multiple times if you don’t get it.

The scholarship seems to be administered through a third-party scholarship service, and even though graduate students are eligible, the form feels intended for high schoolers without work experience. You couldn’t input activities further back than 4 years, and you also couldn’t input anything outside of an academic year. Oh, well.

The Abbvie Immunology Scholarship is typically due in early December. This year it was December 5th, 2019. It requires a short essay response, some form information, and a letter of recommendation from someone who’s not your doctor or family.

You’re notified if you’re a semi-finalist in January, and if you got the scholarship in April. If you’re accepted to be a semi-finalist, they ask for more information from you, including a doctor verification. My rheumatologist says she’s never seen anyone get this far. I also can’t find any information about how many people apply or how many scholarships are given out. For all we know, it could be none! (I’m kidding, but in all seriousness, this one feels like a long-shot even for the best of candidates. The form makes it really hard to show off the extent of your qualifications or activities, which makes it harder to stand out.)

Arthritis Champions Scholarship

The Arthritis Foundation offers the Arthritis Champions Scholarship (formerly the Winterhoff Scholarship, but it’s now funded by Dr. Bardhan in addition to the Winterhoffs). This scholarship offers $5,000 on a non-repeating basis, although you can reapply in subsequent years for up to 4 funded years. (I think it used to be $5,000 per year for 4 years as the Winterhoff Scholarship.) The scholarship can only be used for tuition, books, and supplies—not room and board. This might make it somewhat useless to use with institution-granted scholarships in certain situations.

The Arthritis Champions Scholarship is available to US citizens in undergraduate, graduate, or medical programs in the United States who have arthritis or a related rheumatic condition. Importantly, you must be engaged in some way with the Arthritis Foundation. This could be through volunteering, advocacy, fundraising, or other methods.

The Arthritis Champions Scholarship is due in the spring. This year it will be March 31st, 2020 (application not available yet). It requires an online application, essay, transcripts, and reference from an Arthritis Foundation staff member who can verify your involvement.

Decisions are sent out in May. If you receive the scholarship, you’ll have to get certification from your doctor that you have a rheumatic disease. I haven’t applied to this one yet, but I’ll provide more information when the applications open.

Rheumatoid Patient Foundation Scholarship

I don’t know much about it, but the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation offers a scholarship for students with rheumatoid diseases at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It’s due in the spring, and the application isn’t open yet.

Scholarships for disability

School-specific scholarships

I found out during the application process that some schools have scholarships available to students with disability. For example, UCLA offers the Will Rogers Memorial Fellowship to graduate students and the Will Rogers Memorial Scholarship to undergraduates. Make sure to check if scholarships like these exist at your school or the schools you’re applying to.

National scholarships

Disabled students pursuing computer science or related degrees (at the undergraduate or graduate level) can apply for the Google Lime Scholarship. This scholarship is $10,000 if you’re studying in the US and $5,000 if you’re studying in Canada. It also includes cool perks like a retreat with Google! It’s typically due in December.

The Wells Fargo Scholarship Program for People with Disabilities awards up to $2,500 to undergraduates with disabilities. It’s typically due in December.

In addition to these, check for any scholarships that might exist in your area! For example, residents of north Texas can apply for the Tommy Tranchin Award and residents of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania can apply for the John Lepping Memorial Scholarship.

If there are any other scholarships you think should be on here, let me know! I’ve talked about the ones I’ve applied to and others that look reputable, but it can be hard to wade through all the information that comes up when searching for these.

Best of luck!

-Bri

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