Expand Student Scholarships
Every year, thousands of Weber State students benefit from scholarships that exist thanks to generous donors. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, private gifts funded 2,031 scholarships worth nearly $4.8 million total. Students often describe them as “life changing.”
To truly serve our community as an open-enrollment regional university, Weber State offers educational opportunities to all. We want our student body to reflect the demographics of our surrounding communities, and we let people know that whoever they are and wherever they are in life, we encourage and welcome them to start — or complete — their college education here.
While WSU offers scholarships in a wide variety of areas, we have a special focus on programs that provide access to higher education, and then help students complete their degrees.
Wildcat Spotlight
Madison Doyle (BS ’25) is a lifeline to patients at Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, providing care to patients with cancer, sickle cell anemia, chemotherapy complications, and other illnesses. Inspired by watching her grandmother face breast cancer, Doyle went into nursing because “I just felt that I could make a difference,” she said.
After moving to Utah in 2021, she studied nursing at Davis Technical College and WSU while working and managing family challenges. She began working at Huntsman while attending school full time. “Sometimes, I would leave a night shift and go straight to class because I didn’t really have any other option,” she said.
When a critical grant fell through, a WSU scholarship director encouraged her to apply for assistance. She received a CATapult scholarship that same day. “I was just so taken aback by the generosity from the director and the CATapult scholarship donors as well,” she said. Doyle now hopes to pass the exam to become an Oncology Certified Nurse.
Dream Weber: Opening Doors
The Dream Weber program began in 2010, providing free tuition to students whose annual household income was $25,000 or less. Since then, similar programs have been adopted at other universities across the state.
Now, Dream Weber provides free tuition and general student fees to students who qualify for a Pell Grant, have an annual household income of $50,000 or less and are enrolled in 12 semester credits. Since the 2010–2011 academic year, more than 33,600 students have received funding from this program, resulting in nearly 13,000 completed degrees so far.
CATalyst: Starting Adult Students Toward Success
Utah has been ranked the best state in the nation in 2024 by the U.S. News and World Report for many reasons: a strong economy, solid infrastructure and educational attainment. About 23% of Utah adults have no education past high school. Also, many Utahns start college and don’t finish. In 2021, the state estimated that between 370,000 and 470,000 people were in this group. While many of these adults may be motivated to return to school, cost is often an obstacle.
The CATalyst scholarship initiative is true to its name: an award intended to inspire action, helping adults start — or restart — earning a college degree. A key component of CATalyst scholarships is flexibility, so the awards can be used in any way necessary to remove barriers.
CATapult: Powering Students Past Obstacles
At Weber State, we work hard to keep tuition affordable. But more than half of students who drop out of college leave because of cost.
While students are most likely to leave during their first year, 400 to 500 WSU students who are at least 75% of the way through their degree program drop out every semester. That’s why Weber State launched the CATapult Scholarship initiative in 2020 — to help students overcome obstacles, stay in school and complete their degrees.
Since 2020, donors have contributed more than $4.9 million to the CATapult Scholarship initiative. As of fall 2025, nearly $4 million had been distributed to 2,270 students.
Supporting Students in Many Ways
In addition to these university-wide programs, WSU offers many different scholarships based on academic program, student activities, and much more. If you are interested in making a gift to support scholarships, we can help you find one that matches with your personal interests.
Support student scholarships by making a gift today.
To learn more, contact a Weber State University development director.