The Department of Political Science Graduate Program has funds available for Political Science graduate students who, due to an unexpected crisis or temporary financial hardship, need support to continue in the program. Criteria for the award are below.
Important: This form of payment will be deposited into student accounts via the scholarship automation system.
For international students: The department has made a temporary modification for accessing emergency funds for international students. All students can request and receive a maximum of $1,500 / fiscal year in emergency funds through a formal request process that is approved by departmental leadership. Now, if an international student has their visa status revoked and has to pay for airfare to their home country, then the department will provide up to $1,500 in emergency funding (minus any other approved requests for the year) without a formal request.
- Unfortunately, the funds will have to be deposited into student accounts. Student status is not automatically affected by visa status, so a student account will remain open even if an international student has their visa status revoked. Funds issued through student accounts will automatically cover any outstanding balances. There is no way to circumvent this or recoup those funds after the fact. Students should ensure that their student accounts have no outstanding balances. We will continue to look for other ways to deliver emergency funds in such situations.
Review and Funding Disbursement
For qualifying students, the funding will range from $50 to $500 and will be deposited into the student’s university student account for disbursement. The number of graduate students who can be served by the Emergency Funding depends on the availability of funds and the urgency of the situation. In order to serve as many graduate students as needed, emergency funding requests are capped for each student to a maximum of three requests per fiscal year (July 1 - June 30), with a maximum allocation of $500/request (possibility of $1,500 total/student).
Note: Students receiving financial aid (student loans, grants, fellowships, scholarships) should be aware that receiving the emergency funds may affect their financial aid package for the academic year.
Eligibility
- Applicant must be an active PhD student in the Department of Political Science.
- Applicant must be enrolled in a credit bearing course and in good academic standing at the time of application.
- Applicant must have an immediate financial hardship resulting from an emergency, accident or other unexpected event.
The department is currently considering a wide variety of possible situations for Emergency Funding: unanticipated travel expenses; emergency medical care expenses; in exceptional circumstances, rent and groceries; etc. Our hope is to have a flexible approach that supports students toward meeting the financial burdens of emergencies. Please apply as needed.
Application, Review and Disbursement Process
- Complete the Political Science Graduate Student Emergency Funding Request form;
- All requests will be treated confidentially;
- Requests will be reviewed on a rolling basis by the Chair, DGS, Graduate Program Coordinator and Administrator;
- Political Science graduate students will be notified within 3-5 days about any award.