Graduate Scholar Award

Purpose

The purpose of the Graduate Scholar Award is to provide financial support in the form of tuition waivers to academically qualified individuals underrepresented in master's-level graduate programs and/or academic disciplines. There are up to 15 awards available each year.

For the purposes of this award, "underrepresented" refers to any individual who identifies with one or more cultural, ethnic, gender, racial, sexual orientation, or disability group that has been historically underrepresented in a graduate program or academic discipline.

Eligibility

• Be members of groups nationally underrepresented in desired discipline and/or within the SIUE graduate program

• Applicants must be one of the following:

• A fully admitted new graduate student who is accepted as a classified student in a master's graduate degree program at SIUE and whose first term of enrollment will be no earlier than the summer preceding the fall award period (in the event that a student applies to multiple graduate programs at SIUE, the student must be fully admitted to the program indicated on the GSA application). Students who have completed a prior graduate program at SIUE are not eligible to apply. (Although a completed program application is required to be considered for the GSA, students with a pending admission decision are eligible to apply.)

• A SIUE undergraduate student approved for admission to and currently enrolled in an approved combined bachelor to master's program (accelerated or early entry program) provided they will be fully admitted to the graduate program before the first term of the award period. (Note that this requirement includes having completed the baccalaureate degree.)

• A previously-enrolled graduate student who has been out of their program for at least 4 semesters at the time of the GSA application.

• SIUE employees and State of Illinois Civil Service employees at other universities are not eligible for the award

• Currently-enrolled SIUE undergraduate student workers are eligible to apply provided they meet the above requirements

• Have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale for undergraduate and previous graduate courses All eligible candidates are encouraged to apply.

Award

The Graduate Scholar Award is a waiver of tuition for up to a maximum of two academic terms for a maximum of 15 credit hours per term. The tuition waivers must be used within four terms of earning the award (summer, fall, spring, summer). The award can be received only once and used for only one graduate degree. Award recipients are not eligible to receive a subsequent award if pursuing another degree. Recipients are responsible for fees.