LSA Internship Scholarship

Your education doesn't have to end in the classroom. For many LSA students, pursuing a spring or summer internship is an ideal way to gain valuable, hands-on experience in their field of interest. Combined with your degree from the College of LSA, a great internship experience can help you stand out from the crowd during your post-grad job search and arm you with the tools you need to succeed.

Thanks to generous donations from UM alumni and supporters, the LSA Internship Scholarship can help make these life-changing opportunities a reality for all students, regardless of their background. Whether you're planning to intern in the United States or abroad, read on to learn more about the LSA Internship Scholarship program.

The LSA Internship Scholarship supports LSA students pursuing a spring or summer 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:

• Travel to and from the city where the internship is located
• Travel between residence and internship on work days
• Housing
• Food
• Professional clothing

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.)
• Laptops or other personal computing devices
• Entertainment expenses

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

The LSA Internship Scholarship varies depending on the cost of a student's internship experience and their financial need. Domestic award amounts range from $500 to $5,000 and international award amounts range from $1,000 to $7,500. In both cases, scholarships are awarded in the term when the majority of the internship takes place, either spring or summer. 

The US-Based and International Internship Scholarship applications are open January 1 – May 24. 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 Opportunity Hub Network and we have received both a submitted application and a completed confirmation from the employer. 
 

NOTE: While the final deadline is May 24, we advise all students to submit their portion of the scholarship application well ahead of this date so their employer has enough time to complete the confirmation form. We cannot review an application without the employer confirmation.

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. 

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 experience must:

• Include a formal job description with the qualifications the employer is seeking
• Apply knowledge that you’ve gained in the classroom
• 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, such as a laptop
• Require you to work at least 25 hours per week for a minimum of six weeks

Your internship may be domestic OR international, paid OR unpaid, credit OR not for credit.

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. Other experiences that are not funded by the LSA Internship Scholarship include but are not limited to a student’s own entrepreneurship activities or interning for family member.

If you’re not sure whether your experience qualifies for the LSA Internship Scholarship, please contact us to discuss.

All eligible LSA students are encouraged to apply through our Internship Scholarship application. Follow the link below to get started. There are two steps.

Step one: Begin by completing the general application. When asked which scholarship program you are applying to, click the box that matches your internship experience, either "US-Based Internship" or "International Internship." If you have already completed the general application, simply check the box for the internship application you need and save your application. Do not uncheck any of the other boxes or change any of your previous responses. 

Step two: Once the general application has been completed and submitted, you will then be directed to complete the conditional application that matches the type of scholarship you selected (either “US-Based Internship” or “International Internship”). Complete and submit the appropriate conditional application for full consideration.

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. Register your internship: All LSA Internship Scholarship recipients must register their position in the LSA Opportunity Network before they can be considered for funding.

3. Health and Safety - INTERNATIONAL ONLY: All scholarship recipients interning abroad must complete U-M mandated health and safety requirements via the M-Compass Internship/Work Registry, including purchasing (and providing proof of enrollment for) GeoBlue U-M Travel Abroad Health Insurance for the entire duration of the internship. After accepting their scholarship, recipients will receive an email from the LSA Travel Office outlining their next steps in this process. These steps must be completed before our office will disburse any scholarship funds. 

4. 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. 

5. Yellowdig Participation: Scholarship recipients will receive access to the LSA Opportunity Hub's Yellowdig site in May. Participation in Yellowdig's writing and reflection prompts is required. The LSA Opportunity Hub will share further details directly with scholarship recipients prior to the start of their internship. For questions about this process, please reach out to the LSA Opportunity Hub directly.