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Third-Year Funding

Agora Fellowships

The Agora Fellows program provides undergraduate students a space to experiment with public discourse in a collaborative environment of their peers. Fellows learn rhetorical concepts as they engage challenging topical issues throughout the year. They also develop facilitative techniques to host monthly deliberative forums for the student body.

Fellows convene the first three weeks of each month throughout the academic calendar. Typically, up to ten students are accepted into the incoming cohort.

  • Applications for 2024 fellowships due by February 28, 2024

Asia Foundation LeadNext Fellowships

With the profound structural changes that will transform geopolitics, global governance, the global economic order, and social landscape over the next decade, a new generation of globally minded leaders is imperative. The LeadNext program equips emerging leaders across cultures and disciplines with strong international networks, exposure to wide-ranging experiences, and leadership tools to thoughtfully steer the future.

  • Fully funded
  • Leadership training, monthly virtual masterclasses, Global Leaders Summit, and fellow mentorship
  • Applications typically due by October
  • Eligibility

ASMEA Grants

To stimulate new and diverse lines of discourse about the Middle East and Africa, ASMEA’s Research Grants Program seeks to support research on topics that deserve greater attention. An applicant may submit a proposal on any topic as long as it is directly relevant to the five broad areas outlined below, and constitutes new and original research. Grants of $2500 will be awarded.

The Beinecke Scholarship

The Beinecke Scholarship Program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Up to 20 new scholarships are awarded each year. UNC is permitted to make a single nomination each year.

Each scholar receives $4,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school. Recipients are allowed to supplement the award with other scholarships, assistantships and research grants.

  • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships due by March 29, 2024
  • UNC Endorsement Deadlines

    • Boren Scholarships

    Boren Scholarships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded. Scholarships and deadlines vary.

    • Applications for the 2024-25 Boren Awards are due January 31, 2024

    BSOS Summer Research Initiative

    The program provides rising juniors and seniors with an 8-week intensive experience to develop research skills, learn about doctoral training, and increase graduate training readiness. Departments involved in the SRI include African American Studies, Anthropology, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Economics, Geographical Sciences, Government & Politics, Hearing & Speech Sciences, Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, Psychology, and Sociology.

    • $3,000 stipend, room/board/program costs provided
    • Summer
    • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships are due by February 10, 2024
    • Eligibility

    Burch Fellowship

    Passion. Commitment. Imagination. Leadership. Burch Fellows are exceptional students who bring these qualities to an academic endeavor that falls within the University’s mission. Applicants must have the imagination and resourcefulness to plan a fellowship experience that allows you to pursue of an intense interest well beyond the scope of an academic course or summer internship.

    The range and nature of fellowship experiences is bounded only by feasibility, and the imagination and resourcefulness of successful applicants. The duration and location of the fellowship experience will vary, but the fellowship experience should be completed within a calendar year from the time the fellowship is awarded or before graduation, whichever comes first.

    • Applications for 2024-25 fellowships due by January 15, 2024

    Carolina Blue Honors Fellowship

    Designed for ambitious students who possess a strong work ethic and sense of adventure, the Carolina Blue Honors Fellowship provides up to $6,500 to support self-designed, international learning experiences. Past fellows have enjoyed volunteering with underserved youth with Project Beisbol in Colombia, interning in sport marketing in Australia, planning, executing and closing an esports tournament in Denmark, monitoring and optimizing athlete performances in New Zealand, and more!

    • Internship Route and Faculty-Mentored Research Route
    • Applications for the 2024-25 Carolina Blue Honors Fellowship are due February 1, 2024

    Carolina Center for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Grant

    Thanks to generous private support, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies is able to offer several grants supporting undergraduate student research and travel.

    There are three types of grants available:

    1. UNC study abroad grants
    2. Jewish language instruction grants
    3. research and travel grants for independent/non-Study Abroad projects
    • Applications due by February 26, 2024

    CHCI Congressional Internship Program

    On programming days, interns will have a full day centered on CHCI’s four Pillars of Leadership—Civic Engagement, Social Responsibility, Self Empowerment, and Promoting Community and Hispanic Culture. During these weekly sessions, participation in discussions surrounding issues that affect the Latino community will help interns explore a variety topics while building strong relationships that can help throughout their career. CHCI’s curriculum is centered around a graduate-level non-credit public policy course taught by The George Washington University Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute and Trachtenberg School of Public Policy.

    • Summer program applications due by December 1, 2023
    • Fall program applications due by March 1, 2024
    • $3,125-$3,750
    • Congressional Office Internship Placement
    • Housing and transportation costs paid

    The Class of 1938 Fellowship Program

    The UNC-Chapel Hill Alumni Class of 1938 annually awards summer study abroad fellowships to U.S. students interested in pursuing independent career or personal projects outside the United States.

    Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)

    The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains.

    • Funded
    • Room, board, language instruction, visa fees, and travel within host country paid for
    • 8-10 weeks
    • Non-competitive eligibility for U.S. government employment upon completion
    • Applications typically due by November

    Curriculum in Global Studies Undergraduate Summer Awards

    The Curriculum in Global Studies gratefully accepts proposals for monetary awards to support Undergraduate students who have secured/are securing globally oriented experiences, including internships, study abroad, research, and other similar endeavors for Summer 2024. The aim is to provide financial support so that students can pursue opportunities that will enrich their academic and professional careers. These experiences can be based in the US or abroad.

    Daughters of the Revolution Scholarship

    Each year the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) awards multiple scholarships to students showing dedication to the pursuit of higher education in diverse areas of study including history, economics, law, political science, medicine, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, elementary and secondary education, chemistry, math, science and English.

    • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships due by January 31, 2024

    Eve Carson Scholarship

    The Eve Carson Scholarship was established in 2008 to celebrate junior-year students who have exhibited passion and transformative growth since matriculation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The scholarship champions scholars to write stories they wouldn’t otherwise be able to write. A committed executive board works to create a community that binds individual scholar experiences into a larger narrative of passion and personal development.

    • Funds a summer experience (up to $5,000) and provides up to $15,000 toward the scholar’s senior year tuition
    • Applicants cannot be receiving a separate, full, merit-based scholarship
    • Applications accepted November-January

    Frances L. Phillips Travel Scholarship

    The Frances L. Phillips Travel Scholarship provides an opportunity for juniors and seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who attended high school in North Carolina, to engage in individual self-designed and directed international travel experiences for periods ranging from two months to six months. Approximately 30 Phillips Scholarships for up to $11,000 each will be awarded this year on the basis of a competitive written application and committee interview.

    • Applications accepted September-October

    Freeman-ASIA Program

    The Freeman-ASIA program is designed to support U.S.-based undergraduates with demonstrated financial need who are planning to study abroad in East or Southeast Asia. The program’s goal is to increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents with first-hand exposure to and understanding of Asia and its peoples and cultures. Must be an undergraduate student with a minimum GPA of 2.8.

    • $3,000-$7,000
    • Airfare, transportation, basic living costs paid
    • Applications accepted February-March

    Foreign Language & Areas Studies Fellowship

    FLAS fellowships fund the study of Less Commonly Taught Languages and area studies coursework. This program provides academic year and summer fellowships to assist graduate students and advanced undergraduates in foreign language and area studies.

    • Stipend and possibly additional funding
    • Summer or year-long programs offered
    • Applications for grants in Summer 2024 or Academic Year 2024-25 are due by February 2, 2024

    The Gerald Unks Undergraduate Travel Fellowship

    The Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs is pleased to administer “The Gerald Unks Undergraduate Travel Fellowship.” The awards are made to deserving Carolina students with applicable travel plans.

    The fellowship was established upon the realization of the need for understanding and communication between people of various nationalities and cultures as methods of preserving world peace, the hope of increasing international awareness among citizens of the United States of America, and the inestimable value and reward of foreign travel for undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    • Currently inactive

    Gilman International Scholarship

    The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a grant program that enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, thereby gaining skills critical to our national security and economic prosperity.

    • up to $5,000
    • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships are due March 7, 2024

    Note: To be eligible for the Gilman Program, applicants must be receiving a Federal Pell Grant during the time of application or provide proof that they will be receiving a Pell Grant during the term of their study abroad program or internship.

    Goldwater Scholarship

    By providing scholarships to college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering, the Goldwater Foundation is helping ensure that the U.S. is producing the number of highly-qualified professionals the Nation needs in these critical fields.

    • Costs of tuition, fees, materials, room & board provided (up to $7,500 per academic year)
    • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships are due by January 26, 2024
    • UNC Endorsement Deadlines

    The Herbert Lehman Education Fund Scholarship

    The Herbert Lehman Scholarship is a national, highly competitive scholarship that makes annual awards to qualified, outstanding undergraduate students. Herbert Lehman Scholarship awards are $3,000 per year for four years totaling $8,000 (as long as scholars remain in good academic standing and continue to meet the scholarship criteria).

    • Up to $12,000 over 4 years
    • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships are due by April 1, 2024

    Into the Fields Internship

    Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) develops the leadership of college students from diverse backgrounds, giving them the opportunity to work directly with farmworkers in the Carolinas. Each year, SAF trains approximately 25 students on issues that farmworkers face, and places them to work full-time with migrant education programs, legal aid offices, rural health clinics, community-based organizations, and farmworker unions. SAF interns increase the capacity of the organizations they work with by outreaching to over 5,000 farmworkers & their families each summer.

    • $4250 stipend
    • Housing and mentorship provided
    • Out-of-state students from farmworker families receive support securing paid travel to North Carolina
    • Applications for 2024-25 scholarships are due by February 7, 2024

    Julia Crane Award

    The Julia Crane Award recognizes excellence in undergraduate work by a rising senior conducting research leading to an undergraduate honors thesis on a Latin American or Caribbean topic. The award defrays the cost of summer travel to Latin America or the Caribbean. The competition is not restricted by discipline or department. Awardees are expected to complete their honors thesis during the academic year following the award.

    Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship

    The Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship was established in 1998 by Sangam, UNC’s South Asian awareness student group. The Fellowship awards two students each year up to $3,000 to execute a project of their own design that benefits South Asians in some way, whether it is through direct service or increasing awareness of South Asian culture and issues. Minimum GPA of 3.0.

    The National Italian American Foundation

    Thanks to the generosity of the Italian American community, the National Italian American Foundation has awarded over $10,000,000 in scholarships since its founding. NIAF administers nearly 200 scholarships annually, ranging in value from $2,500 to $12,000 to Italian American students studying a wide variety of subjects.

    The North Carolina Summer Policy Institute (NCSPI)

    The North Carolina Summer Policy Institute (NCSPI) brings together students from across the state to participate in a multi-day exploration of North Carolina’s top policy issues through a combination of seminars, panel discussions, and workshops. During this engaging experience, the students will gain a broader understanding of the tools needed to contribute to the policy process.

    • Applications for the summer 2024 program due by April 17, 2024

    Phillips Ambassadors

    The Phillips Ambassadors scholarship offers undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University a unique opportunity to study abroad in Asia. The Phillips Ambassadors Program is open to UNC Chapel Hill and select Duke University undergraduate students across all majors who are applying for a university-approved study abroad academic program in Asia (excluding Central Asia).

    Senior Honors Thesis Research Awards

    Honors Carolina offers financial awards to support Senior Honors Thesis research. These awards, up to $500, may be used to cover any legitimate cost directly connected to a thesis project: laboratory equipment and supplies, computer software and hardware, travel, artistic supplies, books and periodicals not available through normal library sources, illustrations and duplication, etc.

    • Applications accepted September-October and February-March
    • Applications for spring 2024 awards due by February 29, 2024

    Summer Internship Grant (Office of Scholarships and Student Aid)

    The Summer Internship Grant provides funding for current students pursuing summer opportunities that advance their career or academic interests. Grants range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on a student’s need and proposed budget.

    • Applications due by March

    Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)

    SURF recipients are expected to engage in undergraduate research, scholarship, or performance for at least 9 weeks, with a minimum of 20 hours/week during the summer, although depending on scope, some projects may require more than the minimum of 20 hours/week. About 60 individual awards are issued each summer.

    SURF projects must be carried out under the supervision of a UNC-Chapel Hill faculty research advisor. Additional collaboration with a postdoctoral fellow or graduate student mentor is encouraged when relevant to the research project. The typical SURF award is $4,000. Students in certain program areas are eligible to receive additional funding. Please note that the $4,000 is a stipend to help students with living expenses and/or for any needed travel or supplies if applicable. You are not required to submit a budget for your SURF.

    • Applications for the 2024-25 SURF program due by February 1, 2024

    Truman Scholarship

    The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation awards merit-based scholarships to college students who plan to pursue careers in government or elsewhere in public service. Scholars are required to work in public service for three of the seven years following completion of a Foundation-funded graduate degree program as a condition of receiving funding.

    Udall Scholarship

    The Udall Scholarship is a merit award for second- and third-year students who have demonstrated a commitment to issues related to American Indian nations or to the environment. It provides leadership, public service, internship, and networking opportunities, in addition to up to $7,000 for eligible academic expenses.

    Scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit to two groups of students: those engaged in environmental issues through perspectives of (but not limited to) policy, engineering, science, education, urban planning and renewal, business, health, justice, and economics; those with American Indian or Alaska Natives backgrounds who are engaged in tribal policy or Native health care

    Weir Honors Fellowship in Asian Studies

    William D. Weir Honors Fellowships in Asian Studies offer Carolina undergraduates a unique opportunity to develop their language skills and gain practical, independent work experience in Chinese. The program is designed for students who have started their Chinese language journey and would like to develop advanced working language skills. Up to three fellowships are awarded annually (two will be awarded in 2024). Recipients spend the Spring semester in Beijing for intensive language study at the CET Chinese Language Center. They then devote eight weeks during the Summer to an unpaid internship in Shanghai, based at the CET Shanghai Program center. Internships are available to match a broad range of student interests, from law and business to the arts, journalism, and health and human services.

    • Open to all UNC undergraduates with at least second year standing and three semesters of Chinese language courses
    • UNC applications due in September, CET Beijing applications due in November