East-West Center Fellowship 2027 - Study at UH Manoa

It is the East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship, an award that funds masters and doctoral study at the University of Hawaii at Manoa while you live on the Center campus in Honolulu. It covers general graduate tuition and fees, a single room in a Center residence hall for the academic year, and a stipend that partly covers food and incidental costs. Alongside the money sits a residential programme of leadership development, cultural exchange and community service that fellows are expected to take part in.

The Center states that the provisions approximate $22,000 a year, less applicable taxes, and that supplemental financial aid is available where you can show need. That figure is the estimated value of tuition, housing and the stipend together, not cash paid into your account. Because Honolulu is expensive and the fellowship leaves airfare, insurance and books to you, compare the number against the university's own cost of attendance estimate before you commit.

No, and the Center is upfront about it. Tuition, fees and housing are covered, the food and incidentals stipend is described as partial, and every other cost of studying and living in Hawaii falls to the awardee. There is no airfare, no health insurance and no book allowance, and the award provides nothing for a spouse or children. Fellows may request permission to work on campus to help cover living costs.

Applications close on 1 December 2026 at 11:59 PM Hawaii Standard Time, and the online system shuts automatically at that moment. If you are not already a classified graduate student at UH Manoa, your university admission application is due the same day. Supporting documents, meaning transcripts, English test scores, reference letters and departmental materials, must be complete by 10 January 2027.

The Center's application portal names the current competition Graduate Degree Fellowship 2027, and the instructions tell you to apply to the university for the following fall semester, so a 1 December 2026 application leads to study starting in August 2027. The how-to-apply page still carries wording about the academic year 2026-2027 competition opening on 15 August and closing on 1 December, which reads like a label the Center has not refreshed. If the exact intake year decides whether you apply, email [email protected] and get it in writing.

Citizens and permanent residents of the United States, and citizens of the listed countries across the Pacific, Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia, including Russia. You need a four-year bachelors degree before the award begins and generally a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale across your last four semesters and any post-baccalaureate study. Where UH requires proof of English, the Center asks for TOEFL 79, Duolingo 95 or IELTS 6.5.

Yes. The fellowship and the degree are two separate applications, and winning one does not give you the other. Submit your UH Manoa admission application by 1 December, upload the acknowledgment page to your Center application, and finish the admissions and departmental requirements by 10 January. A department that cannot confirm your admission in time can cost you your place in the scholarship pool.

Awards are made for one academic year covering the fall and spring semesters. A second year is possible, subject to funding, timely academic progress and meeting Center requirements, and no one receives the Graduate Degree Fellowship for more than two academic years in total. The total award can run shorter than 20 months depending on where you are in your degree when it is granted, which matters most for doctoral students who will need other funding to finish.

For most of them, yes. The Center asks for a separate online application per scholarship, though you may send a single set of documents listing every award you are applying for, such as GDF, Obuchi, ADB-JSP and Taiwan GDF. The exception is the EWCA Alumni and Foundation scholarships, where degree fellowship applicants are considered automatically with nothing extra to file.