Archive for Paying for SIPA – Page 35

Ask Yourself a Question

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Friday, December 4th, 2009 
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With the application deadline now just over one month away I know most applicants probably don’t want to think about yet more work that needs to be done, however I would ask you to ask yourself the following question:

How much time have I spent researching various ways to help pay for school?

I try to provide as much advice as possible on the blog about how to help pay for school.  I see the issue from two sides.  First, it’s obviously a huge part of my job so I look at it from the perspective of an administrator trying help as much as I can.  Second, having gone to graduate school myself, I know it is expensive and I have been through the process myself.

I thought now is as good a time as any to  provide some links back to some of the entries I have written on the topic.  Perhaps this will encourage you to make sure doing financial aid research is on your “to do” list.  The earlier you start, the better off you are.

Keeping informed via this blog can pay off.  I know of at least one SIPA student last year that earned a $23,000 scholarship that was posted on this blog.  Stayed tuned, I keep my eyes open and post opportunities as I find out about them.  Follow the links below for previous entries on the topic.

The Rule of Two covers general principles related to fellowship searches.

If you have been in the U.S. Military you might want to look into the Yellow Ribbon Program.

An entry on SIPA Fellowships provides insight into institutional funding from SIPA.

I wrote an empathetic/sympathetic entry on Paying for School, integrating some of my own experience.

There is help for those from Latin America here.

Korean applicants might find this entry helpful.

The World Bank offers some funding opportunities.

And you can find a list of fellowships that we have accumulated by using our database.

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Latin America Financial Aid Opportunities

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 
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I was recently informed of a tremendous resource for those from Latin American countries. The  Latin American Network Information Center has published a page on financial aid opportunities for applicants living in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.  I highly recommend that applicants check out the page for more information on the types of funds available and the associated deadlines.  Happy hunting!

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Institute for International Public Policy: Fellowship Opportunity

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Friday, October 16th, 2009 
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The Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP) Fellowship Program is a program of the UNCF Special Programs Corporation that is now in its 16th year. The Institute seeks to enhance U.S. national security and global competitiveness by promoting excellence, international service, and awareness among a representative cross-section of the American citizenry. The IIPP also seeks to broaden access to international education and training opportunities for underrepresented minority college students.

The IIPP Fellowship Program provides students from underrepresented minority groups with education and training experiences critical to entry and advancement in international affairs careers. IIPP is a comprehensive program of summer policy institutes, study abroad, intensive language training, internships, graduate study, and student services that include mentoring and career development. Additionally, IIPP provides students with the education and training necessary to successfully enter, advance, and provide leadership in international affairs careers.

IIPP Fellowship Components:

• Sophomore Summer Policy Institute
• Junior Year Study Abroad
• Junior Summer Policy Institute
• Summer Language Institute
• International Internship
• Graduate Degree Program in International Affairs/International Relations

Eligibility Requirements

The IIPP welcomes applications from undergraduate sophomores who:
• Are enrolled full-time at an accredited, four–year baccalaureate-granting institution.
• Are U.S. Citizens or legal residents (documentary support required).
• Have a minimum 3.2 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).
• Have a strong demonstrated interest in international affairs.
• Are an underrepresented minority (African American, Hispanic/Latino American, Asian American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander).
• Plan to seek admission to a graduate degree program in international affairs.

Students from underrepresented minority groups, especially those from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Other Minority Serving Institutions (OMIs) are particularly encouraged to apply. Though not a requirement, applicants are strongly encouraged to complete at least one of the following courses before starting the IIPP Fellowship: international affairs, foreign policy, a foreign language, political science, sociology, macro/micro-economics, statistics and/or journalism.

IIPP Fellowship Funding Package

The IIPP Fellowship funding package includes the following:

• Sophomore and Junior Policy Institutes: housing and meals in university facilities; books and materials; field trips and excursions; a stipend; and travel from home or school.

• Junior Year Study Abroad: one-half of program costs and personal expenses for one semester of overseas study during a Fellow’s junior year, with the expectation that her/his school will supply the other half through financial aid or scholarships and a reasonable family contribution.

• Summer Language Institute: tuition and fees; room and board; books and materials; travel to and from SLI; a stipend.

• IIPP Internship: depending on whether the internship is domestic or international, IIPP may provide travel costs and a stipend.

• Graduate School: $15,000 in matching scholarship funds, provided the Fellow has completed each IIPP program component and will pursue a graduate degree in International Affairs at an Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) – accredited program, or other program approved by UNCFSP.

How College Sophomores Apply

1. Visit www.uncfsp.org/IIPP and follow the link “APPLY ONLINE.” Please refer to the complete online application guidelines.

2. Complete all sections of the online application, including:
a) Brief statement of your career interests.
b) Essay # 1 (Personal Statement) – Maximum 500-word statement that tells us about yourself and why you should be selected as an IIPP Fellow.
c) Essay # 2 (Issue Analysis) – Maximum 750-word essay that explains why a current international issue is important to you and what you would do to address it if in a position to do so.
d) Work/Volunteer experience
e) Two online recommendations

3. Mail hard-copy supporting documents including official college transcripts, College or University Nomination Form, Financial Aid award letter and/or Student Aid Report. These items must be postmarked by the March 15th application deadline.

4. Application Deadline: March 15th. Applications from college sophomores are not considered complete until all documents have been received. Late applications, including those hard-copy supporting documents postmarked after the March 15th deadline, may not be reviewed by the selection committee. Decisions will be mailed no later than May 1st.

Email the IIPP staff with comments or questions at [email protected].

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Application Process Visual Aid: The Big Picture

Posted by Columbia SIPA 
· Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 
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I often find flow charts and diagrams to be incredibly helpful in understanding processes and procedures.  Sometimes text can be a little dizzying and having information displayed in a visual format can lead to a more clear understanding of the “big picture.”  In an attempt to give applicants a view of the entire application process on a single page I put together a diagram for your consideration.

The diagram includes two different parts.  One part is composed of steps that do not necessarily have an order and it is beneficial to consistently spend time reviewing the information provided.  The second part lays out the application process, as well as what happens after decisions are made, in chronological format.

The screen shot below will give you an idea of what the chart looks like.  To view a copy that you can save and print please click here.

I recommend that applicants print this document and place it somewhere easily within view at home.  It will serve as a reminder of the “big picture.”  By reviewing the document on a consistent basis and utilizing the hyperlinks that are provided you can help to ensure that you are doing all that you can to prepare the best application possible along with pursuing possible funding opportunities.

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Categories : Admissions, Application Tips, Paying for SIPA
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The Fellowship Search: The Rule of Two

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 
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I remember in college I was always told that for every hour spent in class, I should expect to spend two hours outside of class studying.  I believe that a similar maxim applies to the search for funding to help pay for graduate school.  My belief is that for every hour you spend working on an admission application for graduate school, you should spend at least 2 times the amount of time looking for fellowships.

At first this might seem like a very strange thing for me to say so let me provide some background.  First off, most professional schools like SIPA do provide fellowship funding, but nowhere near the amount that would cover all educationally related costs.  Our program is full-time and you need to pay for tuition, books, rent, food, travel, etc.

I believe that some people apply for graduate school and count on fellowship aid from the school being available.  While it is true that approximately 70% of eligible second year students at SIPA receive fellowship funding, only approximately 10-15 % of first year students receive SIPA fellowship funding.

For many who are admitted without SIPA fellowship funding, the confounding question of how to pay for everything comes up almost immediately.  The good news is that there is evidence that many SIPA applicants are looking for external fellowship funding.  This is evidenced by the fact that each year for the past few years students have brought in close to $5 million total in outside scholarships, fellowships, and grants.  This does not come without a price – and that price is time and effort looking for funding.

So let’s break down an estimate of how many hours go into the application process.  Part 1 of the application process is pretty simple, fill out the online application and submit it, about 30-45 minutes, but let’s round up to 1 hour.  You also have to contact those that will be writing letters of recommendation for you, let’s say 20 minutes per for a total of 1 hour.  So 2 hours on Part 1.

Part 2 is a bit more complex and these are only estimates to get a ballpark figure.  The two required résumés will probably take around 3 hours.  The personal statement is hard to gauge but by the time you are done, three hours is probably a good minimum.  Let’s give getting your transcripts in order and uploaded 1 hour.  Finally there are test scores.  This is a toughie because the time spent studying for these exams can be excessive.  Everyone is different, but let’s give it a nice round figure of 10 hours for calculation purposes.  So what do we have . . .

  • 1 Hour on the Application
  • 1 Hour on contacting those who will write letters of recommendation
  • 3 Hours on résumé preparation
  • 3 Hours on your personal statement
  • 1 Hour ordering and scanning transcripts for upload
  • 10 Hours on test taking and preparation

That puts you at around 19 hours of preparation that go into the application process.  Let’s round up and call it 20 hours.

Thus my belief is that you should spend a minimum of 40 hours looking for and applying for fellowship opportunities.  How do you do this?  There is no one right answer, sometimes we find out about opportunities by happenstance.  However you can improve your chances by engaging in the following:

• Check out SIPA’s own fellowship database. We search for scholarships for you and post them to the database.  The database is not SIPA specific.  As we search for and hear about funding, we make the information available to you.

• Use RSS technology to deliver news to your email account or RSS Reader.  RSS allows for news to be delivered to you without having to go look for it every day.  As an example, Gmail accounts have something called the “Alert” tool and I am sure other providers have the same capability.  All you have to do is put in text for searches and a search engine will perform the searches daily and deliver news to your email account.  You can type in search terms like “Graduate School Scholarships” or “International Affairs Scholarships.”  You can also utilize an RSS reader.  They are free and if you do not know what an RSS reader is, click here for a YouTube tutorial.

• Talk to people you know who have gone to graduate school and find out if they were able to find scholarship opportunities.

• Contact people who are willing to write you a letter of recommendation and have them make multiple copies of the recommendation letter and give them to you in sealed envelops so you are ready if a scholarship opportunity arises and there is a tight deadline.

• Speak with people at your undergraduate university – alumni relations, career services, faculty members, etc.

• Talk to the organization you work for to find out if they sponsor students or have grants for furthering your education.

In summary, don’t let “the funding issue” sneak up on you.  Spend adequate time searching for funding sources and to help make your graduate dream a reality.

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"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."

—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

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