Udall Scholarship: Funding for Undergraduates in Environmental and Tribal Policy

What the Udall Scholarship funds

The Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation awards up to $7,500 to sophomores and juniors, with about 65 scholarships given out each year. Source: Udall Undergraduate Scholarship .

The award recognizes students committed to careers in the environment, or Native American and Alaska Native students working toward careers in tribal public policy or Native health care. You apply under one of these two tracks, not both.

Two separate tracks

• Environment track: open to any student pursuing environment-related study or a career in conservation, environmental policy, environmental science or engineering, or environmental justice

• Native health care and tribal policy track: open specifically to Native American and Alaska Native students pursuing careers in health care or tribal public policy

Each school nominates up to 8 students total, typically split with 4 slots in each track. Source: Udall Undergraduate Scholarship . Your fellowship office decides how it allocates those slots if more students apply internally than the cap allows.

Who qualifies

• Sophomore or junior at a two-year or four-year accredited U.S. institution

• Enrolled full-time and pursuing a bachelor's or associate degree

• U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. permanent resident

• Committed to a career tied to the environment, or to Native health care or tribal policy if applying in that track

How the nomination process works

You cannot apply on your own. A faculty representative at your school registers you through the Udall Foundation's portal before you get access to the application. Source: Udall Scholarship FAQs . Faculty representatives register students any time between October 1 and the national deadline of March 3.

Once registered, you submit your own application materials, including three letters of recommendation and a current transcript, directly to the foundation. Your faculty representative formally completes the nomination by submitting your finished application before the deadline, so give your recommenders plenty of lead time.

What reviewers look for in your essay

Udall asks essays to reflect the values behind its mission: civility, integrity, and consensus building. Source: Udall Scholarship FAQs . Applicants are encouraged to connect their work to the legacy of Morris and Stewart Udall, an Arizona congressman and a former Secretary of the Interior who both shaped environmental and Native American policy through collaboration rather than pure advocacy.

Write about concrete work you have already done, research, internships, campus organizing, or community involvement, rather than only your future plans. Reviewers want a track record that predicts where you are headed, not a list of intentions.

Timeline

• October 1: faculty representatives begin registering students

• Fall to winter: gather recommendation letters, draft your essay, request your transcript

• ⏱️ March 3: national submission deadline

• Spring: review and notification

How the two tracks differ in what they reward

The environment track draws a wide range of majors, since environmental work spans science, policy, law, engineering, and advocacy. Reviewers on this track look for a sustained, specific commitment rather than general concern about environmental issues, so coursework alone rarely carries an application. Fieldwork, research assistantships, internships with environmental organizations, or campus sustainability leadership all give reviewers something concrete to evaluate.

The Native health care and tribal policy track is narrower by design, open only to Native American and Alaska Native students, and reviewers weigh your connection to tribal communities and your specific career direction within health care or policy. If you qualify for this track, apply under it rather than the environment track, since the review criteria and the separate 4-slot allocation are built around that focus.

What happens after you are nominated

Once your faculty representative submits your completed file, the Udall Foundation reviews applications from every nominating school nationally, so your file competes against a pool built the same way at every other college and university. Being nominated by your school does not guarantee a national award, since roughly 65 scholarships go to a nationwide pool of nominees far larger than that number.

Scholars who win attend a mandatory orientation each August in Tucson, Arizona, where the foundation covers travel, lodging, and meals. Source: Udall Scholars Orientation . You meet Udall Scholars and alumni working across both tracks there, building a network of students headed into environmental and Native policy careers nationally.

Talk to your fellowship office first

Since your school controls access to the application through its faculty representative, contact your campus fellowship or scholarship office as early as your sophomore fall to find out who holds that role and what internal deadline they set. Many schools run an earlier internal deadline to manage the 8-nominee cap, so waiting until close to March 3 risks missing your school's own cutoff even if the national deadline is still weeks away.

Common mistakes applicants make

Applicants sometimes write an essay heavy on policy opinions and light on their own record. Reviewers already know the debates in environmental or tribal policy, so an essay that mostly argues a position, rather than showing what you personally have done, reads as generic. Anchor your essay in specific projects, courses, and experiences you describe in detail.

Another common mistake is applying under the wrong track. If you qualify for the Native health care and tribal policy track, that track has its own dedicated slots and its own review lens, so apply there instead of the broader environment track, even if your work touches both areas.

Finally, students sometimes wait until senior year information sessions to learn about Udall, by which point they are no longer eligible. Since the award only covers sophomores and juniors, ask your fellowship office about it as early as your first year so you have time to build a relevant record before you need to apply.