Costco Breakfast Highlights Albers Student and Alumni

The Costco Scholarship is designed to support high-achieving, high-need students by addressing unmet financial need, the leading reason students are unable to complete their degrees. Through this partnership, Seattle University continues to expand access to higher education and promote student success. Since its inception, the Costco Scholarship Fund has raised more than $96 million, supporting over 1,400 Seattle University students. Currently, 283 Costco Scholars are enrolled at Seattle University.

This year’s breakfast featured remarks from Sophia Bajinya, a current Costco Scholar and Albers Marketing student, who shared how receiving the scholarship made it possible for her to pursue her college education.

“What truly changed everything was when I opened the financial aid letter and saw that I had received the Costco Scholarship. That moment? It felt like the world had finally opened its doors. For the first time, I knew college was for me,” she says. “Someone like me, a refugee girl who was once chased out of school for not having 23 dollars, was going to college.”

The event also highlighted the long-term impact of the program through Ashley Burns Nascimento, an Albers Marketing alumna and Costco Scholar, and the Principal Strategist & CEO of Well Positioned, a narrative change agency advancing healing, justice, and joy.

Together, the stories shared at the Costco Scholarship Breakfast underscored the lasting impact of the partnership between Costco and Seattle University and its continued investment in Albers students and alumni, shaping the next generation of leaders.