Fall Honorary Scholarships

10 scholarships available for Fall 2025, valued at $1,800 per award!

Ralph Waldo Emerson Award

President’s Award

Art in Action Award

Neva Dell Hunter Vision Award

Southwestern College Alumni Scholarship

Guadalupe Award

Spirit of Unity Award

Gandhi Social Conscience Award

Ancient Wisdom Traditions Award

Board of Trustees Ambassador Scholarship

Scholarship application for new or continuing students enrolled at least half-time for Fall 2025 in one of our Master’s programs (MA Art Therapy/Counseling, MA Counseling, MA Art Therapy for Clinical Professionals, MA Consciousness in Action, or MA Transformational Teaching, Learning, and Leadership.)

How to Apply:

• Complete the MA Dispositions Self-Reflection Survey: https://forms.office.com/r/XRQdcM32ad
• Submitted surveys will be assigned a number and entered into a lottery drawing.
• Fall Scholarship survey submission will be available July 14, 2025 – September 7, 2025, at 11:59pm; winners of the 10 Fall MA Honorary Scholarships will be announced the week of September 8th.
• The purpose of this survey is to familiarize students with the dispositions and allow them the opportunity to practice self-reflection. Survey submissions will not be shared outside of the Financial Aid Office, and scholarship eligibility is not dependent upon the student’s self-rating or reflection. Aggregate data may be used to evaluate and enhance our educational offering

Rules and Requirements:

• Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 for continuing students (GPA requirement is waived for new incoming students).
• Must be enrolled at least half-time (4 units) in one of the MA programs: ATCN, CN, CinA, ATCP, or TTLL.
• ONE SURVEY SUBMISSION PER STUDENT (PER QUARTER CONTEST); students who submit multiple surveys will be disqualified from being entered into the drawing
• One award per year; if you win in fall, ineligible to win in Winter.
• If you do not win in Fall, your survey submission does not carry over to the Winter drawing; you must reapply for Winter by completing a new survey during the winter application period

SWC Honorary Scholarships highlight the history, values, and mission of our college.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Award
Ralph Waldo Emerson was the “Father of American Transcendentalism,” and a major influence on Robert Waterman as he created the original curriculum for Quimby/Southwestern College (especially his essay “The American Scholar”). Emerson believed in the unity of all beings, in the pre-eminence of the Inner Teacher or Knower, and in drawing wisdom and compassion from one’s own soul, in connection with The One, or Divinity.

President’s Award
Southwestern College is committed to personal transformation as key to the process of moving our society forward into a more loving, compassionate world that honors and celebrates diversity. This personal change process is not simple. It is not a straight line, but rather it is a circular journey of introspection and sharing, of experience and reflection, of being willing to examine one’s own implicit beliefs and sit with the open-hearted curiosity necessary to truly hear another’s life story. This transformational journey is full of challenges as well as the joy of sudden insight and understanding. The President’s Award recognizes the important work each student must do to become a change agent capable of bringing their unique loving presence and light into the world. Where are you on this journey?

Art in Action Award (2 units)
At SWC we have a history of art making and art therapy in the community, and we would like to recognize a student for the same vision. We are looking for a student who has used art in community service.

Neva Dell Hunter Vision Award
Neva Dell Hunter was a metaphysical teacher and practitioner who founded Quimby Light Center, which led to the founding of Quimby/Southwestern College. Neva Dell offered the initial vision for a school that later would become Quimby/Southwestern College.

Southwestern College Alumni Scholarship
This scholarship represents the appreciation of Southwestern College Alumni for the hard work and sacrifice it takes to complete this curriculum.

Guadalupe Award
Images of Our Lady of Guadalupe are seen throughout New Mexico. These images transcend her historical and cultural origins and have provided inspiration to many people here. This award is to honor the divine feminine within us all.

Spirit of Unity Award

Southwestern College was originally founded as Quimby College, honoring the now little-known “Father of New Thought.” New Thought is a spiritually-sourced energy/spiritual healing movement that is still quite vibrant today, and was the foundation for Unity, the Center for Spiritual Living and other such groups. William James, the greatest American psychologist of his time, called New Thought a movement of “healthy-mindedness” and America’s “only decidedly original contribution to the systematic philosophy of life.” It involved a positive approach to life, a conscious alignment with divinity, and a firm belief that we can participate in our own health, happiness, and prosperity.

Gandhi Social Conscience Award
Interestingly, Gandhi was powerfully impacted by Henry David Thoreau’s life and writing. Thoreau, of course, was mentored by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also impacted Robert Waterman’s educational philosophy profoundly. Gandhi, a wisp of a man physically, brought the powerful British Imperial Empire to its knees, leading to the freedom of India, the world’s second largest country. Gandhi had vision, and personified the idea that “one person aligned is stronger than a million who are not.”

Ancient Wisdom Traditions Award
Mainstream Psychology takes us part of the way, but seems to stop with the “actualization” of the self, the individual. All Ancient Wisdom Traditions have seen that as the half-way point, at best. Their emphasis on One-ness, the Unity of all beings and things, requires going beyond personalities and biology, into realms where Hermes Trismegistus, Pythagoras, indigenous cultures, the Druids, Phineas Quimby, Emerson, and modern day New Thought writers found higher truths, and greater depths of wisdom.

Board of Trustees Ambassador Scholarship
The Southwestern College Board of Trustees admires the path of each of our students, and their capacity to bring honor to the College as an “Ambassador” for the school as they move about the world, both now and after graduation.