Gilman Grants

Gilman Scholarships – Definitions

• The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards for undergraduate study abroad and was established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000.
• It funds study abroad for U.S. undergraduate students who are receiving Federal Pell Grant at a two-year or four-year college or university.
• The program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study and intern abroad, and the countries and regions where they go by supporting undergraduates who might otherwise not participate due to financial constraints.

Gilman Scholarships – Eligibility

• The applicant must be receiving a Federal Pell Grant or provide proof that he/she will be receiving a Pell Grant at the time of application or during the term of his/her study abroad program or internship. 
• The applicant is applying to or has been accepted into a study abroad program or internship eligible for credit by the student’s accredited institution of higher education in the U.S.
• The applicant is studying or interning abroad for at least four weeks in one country. Programs going to more than one country are eligible if the student will be in one country for at least four consecutive weeks.
• The applicant is studying or interning abroad in any country except Cuba or a country on the U.S. Department of State’s current Travel Warning list.  (See the Gilman website for the List.)
• Gilman Scholarship recipients can only receive the scholarship once. If a student previously declined the Gilman Scholarship, they are welcome to re-apply, as long as they still meet all eligibility requirements as listed above.

Award Benefits

• 2,922 scholarships of up to $5,000 were awarded in the AY 2016-17 academic year (latest statistics). The ratio of applicants to recipients: 3 to 1. Award amounts vary depending on the length of study and student need. The average award is $4,000.
• Students who receive a Gilman Scholarship are then eligible to receive a Critical Need Language Award of $8,000. Applicants who are studying a critical need language while abroad in a country in which the language is predominantly spoken will automatically be considered for the Critical Need Language Award.  

Critical Needs Languages include: Arabic (all dialects); Chinese (all dialects); Bahasa Indonesia; Japanese; Turkic (Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek); Persian (Farsi, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Tajiki); Indic (Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi); Korean; Russian; and Swahili.

When to Apply

The Gilman Scholarship Program accepts applications two times per year. Ideally, students should begin their application one full semester before their study abroad program or internship is scheduled to begin.

See the “Timeline” on MMC’s Boren / Fulbright / Marshall / Gilman Awards website for specific information on the Application Timeline: http://www.mmm.edu/academics/external-scholarships-fulbright-and-boren-awards.php

The Application Process

You should apply in the academic term prior to the start date of your study abroad program. If your program starts between July 15 and October 15, apply for the Fall program application. If your program starts between December 15 and April 15, apply for the Spring program application.

A limited number of scholarships for summer programs will be available to students from all majors who meet the program’s standard eligibility criteria.  Summer programs beginning between May 1 and August 1 could be eligible for the Summer scholarship.  

The Gilman Scholarship Program has an online application. The online application will be available approximately one-and-a-half to two months prior to the application deadline for each cycle.  

To start your Application:

• Consult with your Faculty Adviser about your plan.
• Consult with Cynthia Sittler, Study Abroad Coordinator. Email: csittler@mmm.edu; phone: 212-774-0791
• Read up on the Gilman Scholarships application process and familiarize yourself with the website
• Download and complete the Pre-Application for Gilman Awards from the External Student Scholarships website on the MMC homepage. Forward it, along with all of the supplementary documents, to Prof. Bell.  You will meet regularly with her as you prepare your application. 

For More information, please contact:

Adrienne Baxter Bell, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History
Director, College Honors Program

Director, External Student Scholarships

MMC, Carson 704; (212) 517-0676; abell@mmm.edu