Scholarships
Due to the generosity of several foundations and individuals, we have the opportunity to provide scholarship awards to our enrolled students.
The scholarships are awarded through an application process after a review by a faculty and staff committee. Applications, including the deadline and essay prompt(s), will be distributed to students in our MS program each spring, with the exception of the Closing the Gap Scholarship, which is awarded separately.
All applicants must:
- Be in good academic standing.
- Demonstrate professional behaviors during their didactic and clinical course work and consistent adherence to the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics.
- Receive any sort of financial aid, including loans.
Available Scholarships Include:
- Paige Scholarship
- For students interested in future work in the field of Neurorehabilitation
- Hamed Family Scholarship
- Mushkin Scholarship
- Magee Scholarship
- Snow Scholarship
- Rudin Scholarship
- Pediatrics Scholarship
- Columbia OT Alumni Scholarships
- Closing the Gap Scholarship
The Hamed Family Scholarship
This scholarship is offered by the Hamed family in honor of their late father Taisir Hamed who passed away in January 2023 after a long battle with Cancer at the age of 67. Hamed was an engineer, a poet, and a nature lover. He identified with Arab heritage and valued his Arab identity and culture. Hamed experienced displacement from his home in Jerusalem as a child and lived in poverty and family hardships. He valued learning, education, and hard work and worked relentlessly to provide a decent living and education for his seven children. He was married for 42 years to the love of his life Fawzieh Faour and passed away in Amman, Jordan. This scholarship was established to honor his legacy as a dedicated father and husband and celebrate his Arab identity.
Eligibility
This scholarship is a need-based fund that is given to an occupational therapy student who has gone through personal or family hardships growing up or as an adult. Examples include the loss of a family member, immigration, sickness, displacement, or other challenging life circumstances.
Closing the Gap Scholarship
The Closing the Gap Scholarship is supported by the Dr. Janet Falk-Kessler Lectureship and Day of Scholarship as well as through other contributions.
The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and increasing diversity within all aspects of the occupational therapy profession. This is also an important part of the Columbia OT mission. To help meet this national vision and our mission, this scholarship is offered to students from traditionally unrepresented groups in the OT profession. We believe that increased diversity provides new perspectives in the classroom and will strengthen the workforce.
Two scholarships are offered to incoming students to provide support throughout their time in the program. Applications are distributed in the summer before the MS program begins.
For more information regarding scholarship opportunities, email eileen.lloyd@columbia.edu.