USA Scholarships
Scholarships in the USA - Study & Research Guides
Scholarships in the USA
The United States is home to many of the world's top-ranked universities and attracts students from every corner of the globe. Scholarship opportunities range from fully funded research positions to partial tuition awards at elite business schools. Below you'll find our guides for US scholarships, each covering eligibility, documents, benefits, and how to apply.
CHAI Research Fellowship 2026 - AI Safety at Berkeley
The CHAI Research Fellowship is a salaried postdoctoral post at the Center for Human-Compatible AI, headquartered at UC Berkeley and directed by Stuart Russell. Funding runs two years and is renewable up to three on satisfactory performance. Fellows get considerable freedom to pursue novel research on AI safety and value alignment, and may lead collaborations with other CHAI researchers and Berkeley PhD students, advise junior researchers, and teach courses in their area. You need a PhD, or to be about to obtain one, in computer science, statistics, mathematics or theoretical economics, plus a record of high-quality published research. Pay follows UC Berkeley salary scales rather than a published figure, visa sponsorship is available with a cost contribution, and there is no application deadline: applications are rolling and the start date is flexible.
Gates Scholarship 2027 - Full Ride for 300 Students
The Gates Scholarship picks 300 high school seniors a year and covers the full cost of attendance that other financial aid does not reach: tuition, fees, books, housing, food and personal expenses. It is a last-dollar award, so it fills the gap left after your other aid and your Student Aid Index rather than paying the whole bill from the start. Applications for the 2027 cohort opened on 15 July 2026 and close on 15 September 2026, with semifinalist review and finalist interviews running December to January, selection in March 2027 and awards distributed from April. One thing has changed that most articles still get wrong. The Gates Scholarship dropped its ethnicity requirement in 2025 and is now open to every Pell-eligible applicant who meets the other criteria: high school senior, US citizen, national or permanent resident, and a minimum cumulative weighted GPA of 3.3.
UN Nippon Foundation Fellowship 2027 - Ocean Law
The United Nations-Nippon Foundation Fellowship on Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea gives mid-career government officials from developing states nine funded months split between two places. Phase one runs 24 March to 30 June 2027 at UN Headquarters in New York, working alongside the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. Phase two runs 1 July to 17 December 2027 as a research placement at an academic institution. The award covers a monthly stipend from the day you leave home until the day you finish, round-trip economy flights between home, New York and your host institution, Cigna health insurance, and a $600 book allowance for the second phase. Applications close on 13 September 2026 and results are announced in mid-December. You need to be between 25 and 45, hold at least a first degree, and be nominated by an authority who signs your form.
Jefferson Scholarship 2027 - Full Ride to UVA
The Jefferson Scholarship covers the full cost of four years at the University of Virginia, worth more than $42,000 a year for Virginia residents and more than $83,000 a year for everyone else, which comes to roughly $230,000 and $405,000 across a degree. The Jefferson Scholars Foundation runs it, and there is one hard rule that catches most people out: you cannot apply. Schools nominate, one senior per school per year for the Jefferson award, and 7,697 secondary schools were invited to nominate in the 2025-26 cycle. Counselor and nominee materials are due 1 December 2026 for most of the 65-plus regions, and 15 November 2026 for the At-Large and International At-Large regions. Regional interviews run from mid-December through January, final interviews are held virtually in late February 2027, and financial need plays no part in who wins.
Horowitz Foundation Grant 2026 - $10,000 for PhDs
The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy gives $10,000 to PhD candidates at the dissertation stage whose research speaks to contemporary social policy. The money arrives in two parts: $7,500 when you are selected, and $2,500 once the project is finished. Applications close on 1 December 2026 at 11:59pm EST, which is also the deadline for your recommender to file, and winners are announced the following June. Eligibility is tight in one direction and unusually open in another. You must be a current PhD or DrPH candidate who has defended a proposal or had a topic approved, and anyone who already holds a PhD is out. But there is no citizenship rule and no institutional one: applicants can come from any country and any university in the world. The application itself is short, built around a 750-word project description.
FSU Admissions Scholarships 2026 - Up to $115,808
Florida State University runs about ten first-year admissions scholarships, and most of them arrive without you filling in anything beyond the admissions application. The largest is the Presidential Scholars award at roughly $115,808 over four years including an out-of-state tuition waiver. National Merit Finalists get the full in-state cost of attendance if they are Florida residents, worth $16,000 to $25,000 a year, or a package around $91,808 over four years if they are not. Below those sit merit and talent out-of-state tuition waivers at 100% and 50%, a $16,000 Vires award for Florida residents, $8,000 for an IB diploma, a $4,000 Sunshine Award, and $6,000 plus experiential funding on the invitation-only QUEST and Illuminate programmes. Apply by 1 December for the best shot. National Merit Finalists have a separate job: list FSU as first choice by 1 May.
Public Service Scholarships 2026 - 100% Tuition at SAIS
Johns Hopkins SAIS runs two Public Service awards on its Washington DC campus, and they are aimed at very different people. Public Service Fellows are students entering the Master of Arts in International Relations who want a career in public service; they receive a 100% tuition scholarship in year one, renewable for a second year on full-time enrolment and a 3.4 GPA. Public Service Scholars are mid-career professionals entering the Master of International Public Policy who have already worked in public service and intend to go back to it; they receive 50% of tuition. Citizens of any country can apply, both tracks are Fall entry only, and preference goes to candidates who can demonstrate financial need. There is no separate scholarship form. You tick two boxes on the degree application, one for institutional aid and one for the Public Service Award, by the 1 November early round or the January regular round.
Columbia University Free Online Courses 2026 - ColumbiaX
Columbia University free online courses are published under ColumbiaX, the university's online learning initiative on edX, where every listed course can be audited at no cost and a verified certificate is available for a fee. The school page currently lists 28 courses drawn from Columbia Business School, Columbia Engineering, the Mailman School of Public Health, the history department and Teachers College, covering corporate finance, the maths behind AI, Python and data structures, pediatric HIV, child protection, climate science, US history and inclusive teaching. Nothing here behaves like a scholarship: no application form, no deadline, no committee, no GPA and no citizenship rule. Money only enters at the certificate, and edX financial assistance is the route to a discount on that fee.
Five Rings Quantitative Researcher Internship 2027
The Five Rings Summer Intern 2027 Quantitative Researcher role is a nine-week paid PhD internship in New York, running from the beginning of June to the beginning of August 2027. Five Rings lists the annual base salary at $300,000, roughly $52,000 across the nine weeks, plus a sign-on bonus and corporate housing. Interns work with the research team on development projects with a mentor fully dedicated to them, alongside classroom instruction, in-house strategy games and a series of talks on key trading concepts. The hard gate is the degree: you must be working towards a PhD in computer science, mathematics, physics, statistics, economics or another qualifying field, with basic programming experience from academia or an internship. Note that unlike the sibling quantitative trader posting, this one carries no statement welcoming applicants from outside the US.
Rising Explorer Grant 2027 - $2,000 Field Research
The Rising Explorer Grant is The Explorers Club programme that funds field research by high school students and college undergraduates, with awards averaging $2,000. The 2027 cycle is open now and closes on 31 August 2026 at 6:00 PM ET. Anyone can apply from anywhere: the Club states the programme is open to high school students and college undergraduates worldwide, plus independent researchers working at an equivalent level. Funded work spans the field sciences, including biology and ecology, wildlife conservation, environmental science, archaeology and anthropology, and marine and freshwater studies. One rule decides most applications: the project has to be true science designed to generate new knowledge, not an adventure, a travel experience or a school field trip. Grantees are also considered automatically for Explorers Club membership.
Five Rings Quantitative Internship 2027 - 9 Paid Weeks
The Five Rings Summer Intern 2027 Quantitative Trader programme is a nine-week paid internship in New York, running from the beginning of June to the beginning of August 2027. Five Rings lists the annual base salary at $300,000, which works out at roughly $52,000 across the nine weeks, and adds a sign-on bonus and corporate housing on top. Interns work with the trading team on research and development projects, mentored by full-time traders, alongside classroom instruction, in-house strategy games, mock trading and a series of talks on core trading concepts. The eligibility bar is narrow on timing and wide on geography: you need to graduate in winter 2027 or spring or summer 2028, and Five Rings states directly that students outside the US are eligible to apply even though the internship runs in New York.
Amazon Operations Finance Internship 2027 - Paid 12 Weeks
The 2027 Amazon Operations Finance Rotational Program Summer Internship is a paid 12-week placement based in Seattle, Washington or Arlington, Virginia, starting in May or June 2027. Interns join a finance team supporting one part of the supply chain, such as Customer Fulfillment, Amazon Logistics or Amazon Air, and own a single project that gets attention from senior leadership. Amazon lists the Seattle pay as $80,200 to $99,300 a year, which is roughly $18,500 to $22,900 across a 12-week internship. You need to be enrolled in a bachelor's degree in finance, economics, industrial engineering, accounting, supply chain, operations, business, mathematics or a related field, graduating between December 2027 and June 2028. Two details catch people out: despite the name the internship itself is not rotational, and Amazon states it cannot offer visa sponsorship for this role.