Parents Fund Scholarships

Important Update:

To support outstanding performance and continued intellectual growth, the Parents Fund offers two scholarships, both awarded each spring to rising third-year students for a portion of their third- and fourth-year tuition and fees. Recipients are chosen based on demonstrated academic achievement, leadership, citizenship, and financial need.

The Gilbert J. Sullivan Endowed Scholarship honors the co-founder of the UVA Parents Fund Committee, Gilbert Sullivan, who served as director of the UVA Alumni Association for 35 years. The Gordon C. Burris Endowed Scholarship was created in 2014 and recognizes longtime administrator and student mentor Gordon Burris, who co-founded the UVA Parents Fund Committee along with Mr. Sullivan. In spring 2018, The Bicentennial Scholarship Fund was created in honor of Pat Lampkin, vice president of Student Affairs, and her spouse, Wayne Cozart, vice president of the Alumni Association and director of the Jefferson Trust, both of whom have made transformative contributions to student life at the University. This award will provide support to a current undergraduate with “independent student status” and demonstrated financial need.

Application Process

The Gilbert J. Sullivan Scholarship and the Gordon C. Burris Scholarship are awarded to rising third-year students who have a demonstrated record of citizenship, leadership, academic achievement, and financial need. Each $15,000 scholarship covers a portion of tuition and fees for recipients’ third and fourth years: $7,500 per year ($3,750 per semester).

Financial need is assessed by Student Financial Services (SFS) via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)—all applicants MUST complete a FAFSA prior to March 1, 2020 in order to be considered for a Parents Fund scholarship.

The FAFSA is available at: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa

Rising third-year students who wish to apply may do so beginning on February 3, 2020. In addition to the FAFSA, there are three requirements, all of which are accessed by visiting the AcademicWorks online scholarship management system. The three requirements are:

An application
An updated resume
A letter of recommendation: you will be prompted to enter the name and contact information for your recommender; AcademicWorks will then email that person a link where he/she can submit the recommendation letter.

Recommendation letters may come from anyone, but we recommend asking a UVA professor or dean who can speak to your citizenship, leadership, and academic achievement. Please make sure to contact your recommender ahead of time before submitting their name and contact information to AcademicWorks.

The deadline to submit an application for a UVA Parents Fund scholarship has now been extended to midnight on March 18, 2020.

Scholarship recipients will be announced at the Parents Fund Committee spring meeting on Friday, April 17, 2020. Applicants are advised to be available to attend a reception on the evening of Thursday, April 16, 2020, if possible, in the event that they are selected. Email Anna Patchias, at the UVA Parents Fund, with any questions.