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San Francisco Bay University Startup Scholars

Investing in the whole you

1
Full tuition: 

Students may select from two undergraduate majors, a Bachelor of Science
in Computer Science (BSCS) or a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA).
2
Full support:

Our goal is to partner with you to navigate the college experience and support your success.
We want to invest in the whole you. Your future success is core to our mission, vision, and values.
 
3

Full potential:

Our goal is for you to graduate career- and world-ready — and to do so without having to worry about the cost of your education.  

 

Become an inaugural San Francisco Bay University Startup Scholar — and go to school at SFBU. For free.

 

Higher education is an investment in your future. But let’s be honest: Cost is the number one barrier
students face in making the decision to enroll in college.

 

So, we asked ourselves: “How often do universities invest fully in their students?”

 

The answer? Not often enough.

 

But SFBU is a different kind of university, located in a different kind of place: Silicon Valley — our nation’s cradle of technological innovation. SFBU and the Valley we call home exist at the crossroads of technology and human creativity.

 

However, if we are going to continue to drive the innovation Silicon Valley and the world requires, SFBU needs you. We want you to share your big ideas with us. We want to hear about what inspires you, what problems you want to help solve in your community — and we want SFBU to be a place where you can live, learn and grow with purpose. And cost shouldn’t be a barrier.

 

So we took a cue from Industry, and decided to make a significant investment in you. That’s why we’re offering qualified applicants the opportunity to earn a full scholarship, with full support.

 

At SFBU, our students are our greatest strength, our greatest joy, and our reason for existing. We are committed to offering you a life-changing opportunity to join us at San Francisco Bay University as a Startup Scholar — to study, explore, innovate, and grow — without having to worry about cost. It’s an opportunity to focus on your education and future without the roadblock of paying for it. And it’s our opportunity to guide you through the process, as your partner.

  • Full Tuition

    ABOUT THE PROGRAM

    SFBU Startup Scholars is a cohort-based program designed to provide full access and opportunity to deserving students throughout Silicon Valley, beginning in the fall of 2024.

     

    Students may select from two undergraduate majors, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS) or a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA). Please note that international applicants are not eligible for the Startup Scholars program.

     

    Our inaugural cohort of SFBU Startup Scholars will receive:
    • Full-ride scholarship
    • Full coverage of living expenses in SFBU housing
    • A $10,000 investment into a passion project of your choice. Pursue a project linked to a socially-minded or sustainability-focused innovation that could have an impact in a community, or in communities around the world.
    • Personal access to, and support from, SFBU President Nick Ladany, PhD
    • Access to, and tailored support from, our SFBU Success Advocate — so that you can plot a course of action to achieve your goals
    • An optional Parent Involvement Program so that families can receive communications about upcoming events, reminders and deadlines, updates on new programs, and other pertinent information. We’ll also invite your family on-campus for special events each semester, because we want to keep them engaged.

     

    Requirements:

    • Minimum high school GPA of 3.0
    • Demonstrated idea/plan for a passion project
    • Recommendation from a mentor, teacher, or other community figure
    • Status as a first-generation student
    • Applicants must be within the United States, international applicants are not eligible
    • Demonstrated financial need
    • Commitment to remain at SFBU for a minimum of 2 academic years fully enrolled

     

    UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS:

    Our BSBA degree program, offered through our School of Business, is designed to help students address the needs of business in the age of ubiquitous data, e-commerce, and automation.


    Students who engage in the BSBA program will learn:
    • The latest management and marketing trends and tactics
    • How to build and lead high-performing teams
    • Software scripts and databases
    • Best practices for business management
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Marketing

    Our BSCS degree program, offered through our School of Engineering, prepares students to lead in technologies with a range of classes, exploring:

    • Artificial intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data science
    • Structured programming
    • Object-oriented analysis and program design
    • Computer organization principles and operating systems
    • Database principles and applications
    • Principles of computer networks

  • Full Support

    FULL SUPPORT

    CAREER CENTER

    The Career Center gives SFBU students and alumni an advantage crucial to competing in the modern labor market. The center works with various employers, and actively promotes SFBU students as a great option to fulfill employers’ needs.


    The center connects students with employers via seminars, job fairs, and other outreach activities. We also provide you with one-on-one counseling, as well as workshops and special events focused on resumé-writing, job interviewing, job searches, and other strategies designed to set you up for success.

     

    COUNSELING

    In addition to academic and career counseling, SFBU’s Counseling Office helps students manage a host of issues — including interpersonal relationships, cultural differences, confidence or self-esteem building, strategies for coping with test anxiety or university life in general, and related aspects of the educational journey. All counseling sessions are confidential and function as safe spaces without judgment.


    Our goal is for students to feel comfortable asking for help, and our counselors are always here to lend an ear and offer advice.

 

Nick Ladany
Nick Ladany, PhD
SFBU President

Dear students and families:

 

At San Francisco Bay University, our students, faculty and staff are driven to know more, to strive for better, and to apply what they learn to helping the world around them.


It just so happens that the world around our Silicon Valley campus includes the largest hub of technological innovation in the modern world. Our neighbors are Tesla, Cisco, Google, and Apple. And when our students graduate, they become part of that culture of innovation, strengthening the link between SFBU and our employer ecosystem.

That link starts with our community — both on-campus and in the classroom, where our students benefit from the hands-on expertise of our exceptional faculty. I like to call the special bond our students and faculty share “high-touch and high-tech.” We make sure that we are engaged with our students in authentic and meaningful ways.

 

Relationships are at the heart of what we do. Higher education isn’t just about getting a degree; it’s about bringing together hearts, minds, and hands to transform lives, careers, technologies — and society.

That’s why we want to invest in you — and that’s why we created our Startup Scholars initiative. Our core values are based on three foundational beliefs that drive all that we do at SFBU: First, we care about the whole student. Second, we know that our education must be affordable and accessible. Third, we reflect the vibrancy of the Silicon Valley.

We want to help you realize your full potential — as a human being, student, and professional. Imagine the freedom to study, learn, live, and grow without financial burden. Our goal is for you to graduate career- and world-ready — and to do so without having to worry about the cost of your education.

 

I hope you’ll join us as an SFBU Startup Scholar.
Let’s make history together.

 

 
More Information
 

Connect with the team

Phone: (510) 803-7328 Ext. 1
Email: startupscholars@sfbu.edu

 

 

Our location

San Francisco Bay University is situated in Fremont, Calif., the fourth largest city in the Bay Area. We’re within walking distance of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station and bus lines, and just a short ride from San Jose, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and San Francisco. At SFBU, you’ll have easy access to all Silicon Valley has to offer, as well as cultural and entertainment options.


Our campus buildings include administrative offices; a library and reading rooms; laboratories for electronics, communications, database research, and simulations; classrooms; multiple computer stations; an assembly hall; a dining room; a game room; and various other cutting-edge facilities. SFBU housing sits in a pleasant off-campus residential neighborhood.