LSA Internship Scholarship

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Due to the emergence of COVID-19, this year's LSA Internship Scholarship will only be awarded to students participating in virtual internships for the spring and summer of 2020. For your health and safety, we will not provide funding to support in-person internship experiences in the US or internationally. This decision is in compliance with university guidelines for experiential learning opportunities.

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Thanks to generous donations from UM alumni and supporters, the LSA Internship Scholarship can help make these life-changing internship opportunities a reality for all students, regardless of their circumstances. In 2019, we awarded more than $1 million to LSA students participating in internships. Read on to learn more about the LSA Internship Scholarship, including new eligibility criteria for this year's virtual internships.

What does the scholarship cover?

The LSA Internship Scholarship supports LSA students pursuing a spring or summer virtual internship experience. Scholarship funds can be used to assist with any reasonable expenses that a student incurs as a result of completing their internship.

Examples of eligible expenses include:

• Housing
• Food
• Professional clothing
• Equipment required to complete the internship virtually if not provided by your employer

Examples of ineligible expenses include:

• Expenses incurred from personal travel or vacations
• Regular expenses that a student pays outside of their internship (e.g. car payments, auto insurance, long-term medical expenses, credit card bills, etc.)
• Entertainment expenses

If you aren’t sure whether your expenses are eligible or not, go ahead and include them on your application. The LSA Scholarships office will evaluate each application individually and will make a determination of your expenses based on the information provided.

Amounts and Duration

LSA Internship Scholarship awards vary depending on the cost of a student's virtual internship experience and their financial need. Award amounts can go up to $5,000. Students are awarded their scholarship in the term when the majority of their internship takes place, either spring or summer.

Application Deadline

LSA Internship Scholarship applications are open until June 12, 2020. Awards are made on a rolling basis and completed applications will be placed in review rounds on the schedule listed below. Remember that applications are not placed in a review round until the student has registered their internship in the LSA Opportunity Network and when the LSA Scholarships office has received both a submitted application and a completed confirmation from the employer.

NOTE: While the final deadline is June 12, students are advised to submit their portion of the scholarship application well ahead of this date so their employer has enough time to complete the confirmation form. An application cannot be considered without the employer confirmation.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the LSA Internship Scholarship, a student must:

• Be an undergraduate currently enrolled full-time and pursuing a degree program (or MDDP) in the College of LSA
• Be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident (i.e. possess a green card)
• Apply for and receive need-based support through the Office of Financial Aid
• Have a FAFSA and CSS profile on file with the Office of Financial Aid (OFA) and must renew their FAFSA annually
• Not be enrolled in spring/summer classes or study abroad
• Be returning to LSA as an enrolled undergraduate student in the fall term following the internship (NOTE: students participating in an internship after graduation do not qualify)
  

At its core, an internship is a type of experiential learning, but not all experiential learning opportunities are funded by the LSA Internship Scholarship. In order to be considered for the LSA Internship Scholarship, your virtual internship experience must:

• Total at least 60 hours of work and last for a minimum of four weeks
• Conclude no later than August 30, 2020
• Include a formal job description with the qualifications the employer is seeking on official letterhead 
• Develop skills that you can use in other employment settings
• Offer clearly defined (preferably written) learning objectives related to your professional goals
• Be supervised by a professional with expertise and educational and/or professional background in the field
• Provide you with routine feedback from your supervisor
• Provide you with the resources and equipment you need to do your work

Your internship may be US-based OR international, paid OR unpaid, credit OR not for credit but must be conducted virtually.

Student organization activities and community volunteer work are other types of experiential learning, but please note that they must meet all of the above criteria in order for you to be considered for an internship scholarship.

If you’re not sure whether your experience qualifies for the LSA Internship Scholarship, you may send an email to us at lsa-opphub@umich.edu to discuss. We will assist you in registering your internship which is the first step to being considered for the LSA Internship Scholarship.

How do I apply?

To apply for the LSA Internship Scholarship, you will need to complete these three steps:

Step one: Register your virtual internship in the LSA Opportunity Network. From the Home page, click "Hub Programs" > "Hub Programs" and select "Register an Opportunity". Fill out all the fields, including “Yes” for LSA Internship Scholarship, and then click "Submit" once you are finished. If you have questions about these instructions, please email us at  lsa-opphub@umich.edu and we will help you register your virtual internship.

Once you have submitted your internship through the LSA Opportunity Network, we will evaluate your internship for eligibility. Once your internship has been approved by us, the LSA Scholarships team will review your LSA Internship Scholarship application.

Step two: Complete the general application.

Step three: Complete the conditional application.

Please refer to our FAQ below for more details on how to complete steps two and three.

Scholarship Requirements

1. Thank you letter: After accepting their scholarship award within the application system, students selected for an LSA Internship Scholarship will be prompted to complete a thank you letter that will be shared with the donor of their scholarship. This form must be completed before our office will disburse any scholarship funds.
2. Additional Funding: Scholarship recipients who receive additional funding towards their internship must inform our office immediately. LSA Internship Scholarships are tied to an assessment of a student's financial need and failure to disclose anticipated changes to a financial aid package may result in negative impacts to the total amount of the scholarship.
3. Yellowdig Participation: Scholarship recipients will receive access to our Yellowdig site as early as May. Participation in Yellowdig's writing and reflection prompts is required. We will share further details directly with scholarship recipients prior to the start of their internship. 

Again, for any questions about this process, please email us at lsa-opphub@umich.edu and we will respond as soon as we can.

Frequently Asked Questions