In recognition of the need to provide Native American young people from tribes in Montana opportunities to extend their academic studies to the graduate level, the Dennis and Phyllis Washington created the Native American Graduate Scholarship through scholarship grants of $10,000 annually to Montana State University and The University of Montana. The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Native American Scholarship is a two-year award that is designed to support graduate level research for Masters or PhD programs. Applications for the scholarship are handled by each of the flagship higher education units and recipients are selected by scholarship award committees at Montana State University and The University of Montana.