UMass Boston

Find Funding

As Boston’s only public university, UMass Boston is committed to making our degree programs widely accessible. The School for Global Inclusion and Social Development offers a variety of funding options, listed below. External funding is also available.

All funding options are competitive, and availability varies from semester to semester.

International students may find the Office of Global Programs a good resource for possible scholarships and external funding.

Another useful resource is the Office of Financial Aid, particularly concerning questions about student loans, payment plans, and filing a FAFSA.

We’re happy to discuss options for funding your education. Email us to learn more.

Program-Specific Funding | Funding Available to All Programs | Internship Opportunities

Program-Specific Funding

Global Inclusion and Social Development, MA

Honors College Teaching Assistantship
GISD students have the opportunity to participate in a fall teaching seminar each year, and to develop a syllabus related to their area of interest. Each year, one or two teaching fellows are selected to teach the syllabus they’ve created to a class of Honors College students. This TA position covers tuition and provides a stipend.

Coverdell Fellows Program
This fellowship offers financial incentives for returned Peace Corps volunteers to enter our MA program. Returned volunteers can waive 6 credits for their Peace Corps service, receive in-state tuition, and get their application fee covered. All the details are here.

Global Inclusion and Social Development, PhD

Research assistantships
We offer research assistantships to our PhD students on a competitive basis. These assistantships cover the cost of tuition, as well as a stipend to help with living expenses. Students receiving a research assistantship generally do 18 hours per week of research or grant-related work, or provide another support service within SGISD.

Honors College Teaching Assistantship
GISD students have the opportunity to participate in a fall teaching seminar each year, and to develop a syllabus related to their area of interest. Each year, one or two teaching fellows are selected to teach the syllabus they’ve created to a class of Honors College students. This TA position covers tuition and provides a stipend.

Rehabilitation Counseling, MS

The Rehabilitation Services Administration offers robust scholarships, on a competitive basis, to students in our rehab counseling program. RSA scholarships typically cover about 70% of program costs. Learn more here.

Vision Studies, MEd

Students in all three vision studies tracks (Teacher of Students with Visual Impairment, Orientation & Mobility Specialist, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapist) are often eligible for grant funding that covers most of their tuition. To learn more, email Laura Bozeman.

Funding available to all programs

Carol DeSouza Student Support Fund

This scholarship helps to support student travel, and is awarded in the fall and spring semester in the amount of $500.

The fund provides financial assistance to students or initiatives of the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development to sustainably advance our mission. It supports graduate students who are participating in a national or international conference (or other development opportunity); who have been accepted to present their research or scholarly work, or to participate in a research activity; or who wish to engage in service learning or an internship.

Students enrolled at SGISD receive an email once a semester containing details about the application process.

External Funding: Fellowships

More information and additional professional and academic fellowships can be found at ProFellow. Below are some highlighted opportunities, organized by topic area:

Asian and Asian American Studies

ILF Civic Fellowship. Summer program and internship for Asian Pacific American leadership development in Washington D.C.

Disability Rights

ARDRAW Small Grant Program. Provides funding for independent research projects related to disability and employment.

Economic Justice and Social Entrepreneurship

Cordes Fellowships. 4-day retreat in Ixtapa, Mexico to discuss poverty alleviation and economic justice enterprises for social entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders.

Hilliard P. Jenkins Fellowship. Summer internship for emerging leaders interested in social justice, entrepreneurship, and consulting in the nonprofit sector.

Mathematica Policy Research Summer Fellowships. This program supports independent, self-directed research on economic or social problems that affect minority groups and individuals with disabilities.

Ethics and Religious Studies

Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. These fellowships encourage the study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, and particularly aim to help PhD candidates in these fields complete their dissertation work.

Dorot Fellowship. Funds young Jewish leaders to live and learn in Israel for one year.

Geography

American Association of Geographers Dissertation Research Grant. You are eligible to apply if you have been an AAG member for at least one year at the time you submit your application, you do not have a doctorate at the time of the award, and you will have completed all PhD requirements except the dissertation by the end of the semester or term following approval of your award.

Immigrants and Children of Immigrants

Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. A highly competitive fellowship that awards up to $90,000 for two years of graduate studies.

Justice and Violence Prevention

Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowships. For students approaching the final year of their PhD work and focusing on topics related to human violence and aggression.

National Institutes of Justice Graduate Fellowship Program. Provides assistance to universities for dissertation research support to outstanding doctoral students undertaking independent research on issues related to crime and justice.

U.S. Institute of Peace's Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship Program. Awards non-residential fellowships to students enrolled in U.S. universities who are writing doctoral dissertations on topics related to international conflict management and peace-building.

W. E. B. Du Bois Program. Places particular emphasis on crime, violence, and the administration of justice in diverse cultural contexts within the United States.

Language Study

Boren Awards. 12-week to 24-month international language study fellowships for U.S. graduate students.

Latinx Studies

CHCI Graduate Fellowships. 9-month program in Washington D.C. for Latinos with a graduate degree to enhance professional and leadership skills.

Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowships. 1-month to 4-month resident fellowship for U.S. graduate students to research topics related to Cuba at the University of Miami.

Overseas Research and International Development

Council of American Overseas Research Centers. Supports advanced regional or trans-regional research in the humanities, social sciences, or allied natural sciences for U.S. doctoral candidates.

Payne International Development Scholarship. Provides up to $93,000 in benefits over 2 years for graduate school, internships, and professional development activities, as well as a unique pathway to the USAID Foreign Service.

Social Science Research Council's International Dissertation Research Fellowship. Offers 9 to 12 months of support to graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled in PhD programs in the United States and conducting dissertation research on non-US topics.

Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Fellowships are for scholars in the natural sciences, engineering, and related fields who are pursuing significant science-based research and are interested in using their technical knowledge to do policy-relevant research in international security.

Science

National Science Foundation Special Programs for Graduate Students. A wide range of programs providing funding from NSF and its awardee institutions.

Social Policy

Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy. These small grants support emerging scholars, promote scholarship with a social policy application, and encourage projects that address contemporary issues in the social sciences.

Scholarships and Fellowships for UMass Students

The University of Massachusetts provides a searchable list of scholarships and fellowships available to students throughout the entire UMass system.

Internship Opportunities

Our students find paid and unpaid internships at a variety of organizations that share our school's mission of empowering underserved populations. Here are just a few examples of organizations with which our students have partnered:

 

School for Global Inclusion and Social Development
in the College of Education and Human Development
617.287.3070
sgisd@umb.edu