USA Scholarships
FIU DBA Scholarship 2027 - $8,000 One-Time Award
The Florida International University Doctorate in Business Administration Scholarship is a one-time $8,000 award that FIU lists on the DBA program''s own scholarships page, scoped to College of Business graduate students. Read the criteria before you get attached to it, because the timing gate is unusually sharp. FIU gives it to people who have just been admitted to the DBA and have not yet enrolled in classes, and states plainly that neither applicants nor current enrolled students qualify. That leaves a narrow window between your admission letter and your first class. On top of that you need a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA in upper division undergraduate coursework, worked out by FIU''s College of Business Admissions Office rather than by you, and an aid-eligible immigration or residency status, so US citizens, US permanent residents and holders of other aid-eligible visa status. The award lands across the Fall and Spring terms of a single academic year, and FIU says multiple one-time scholarships are available each round. Set your expectations against the price tag: the three-year, 75-credit DBA costs about $75,013 in tuition and fees, so $8,000 takes roughly a tenth off the bill rather than funding the degree. One more thing you should know going in. FIU''s own tuition page and program FAQ both say scholarships are not available for the DBA, which flatly contradicts the scholarship the same site lists. The 2026-27 round closed on 26 July 2026, so anything here about July 2027 is a planning target drawn from that date, not a published deadline.
What is the Florida International University Doctorate in Business Administration Scholarship?
The Florida International University Doctorate in Business Administration Scholarship is a one-time $8,000 award that FIU lists against its DBA program, scoped to College of Business graduate students. It is not a fellowship, it is not renewable, and it does not come with a stipend or a tuition waiver. What it does is take a slice off the front end of an expensive executive doctorate, and it is aimed at one specific group: people who have just been admitted and have not yet sat in a class.
That timing rule is the thing to understand before anything else. FIU states that applicants are not eligible and that current enrolled students are not eligible either. Your window opens when the admission decision lands and closes when you enrol. Alongside it sit two harder tests, a minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA across your upper division undergraduate coursework as calculated by the College of Business Admissions Office, and an aid-eligible immigration or residency status. The second one catches people out. FIU admits international students to the DBA and publishes a long set of F-1 expectations for them, including relocating to Miami and attending a weekly in-person class, but being admitted on an F-1 visa does not automatically make you eligible to receive the disbursement.
There is an honest complication worth stating plainly, because you will hit it within about two clicks of the official site. FIU's DBA tuition page says scholarships, assistantships and fellowships are not available for the DBA program, and the programme FAQ says the same thing when asked directly whether any scholarships or grants exist, adding that all financial aid must come through student loans. The scholarships page on that same programme lists the $8,000 award with its amount, its scope and its deadline, and FIU's scholarship system carries the full criteria block. Both cannot be true. The award listing is the more specific and more current of the two, and it is the one this guide is built on, but if the $8,000 is what decides whether you enrol, get it confirmed in writing by the Chapman Graduate School financial aid office at [email protected] before you commit.
Keep the scale in view while you plan. The DBA runs three years and 75 credit hours, hybrid, with coursework online and four two-day residencies at the Modesto Maidique campus in Miami each Fall and Spring semester, plus a one-week orientation residency before you start. Tuition and fees come to roughly $75,013 for a Fall start, and that figure excludes residency travel, meals, lodging, books and conference costs. An $8,000 award covers about a tenth of it. FIU's own FAQ notes that many current students fund the degree through employer support or veterans benefits, which is a fair signal of how the rest of the money usually gets found. The 2026-27 round of the scholarship closed on 26 July 2026 and the next one has not been posted, so treat the July 2027 date on this page as a planning target drawn from last year's pattern and check the official page before you rely on it.
Eligibility
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✓Admitted to the FIU DBA, and not yet enrolledThe tightest gate on the award. FIU states that you must have been recently admitted into the Doctorate in Business Administration program for the August start and must not be enrolled in classes, then adds a line in bold terms: neither applicants nor current enrolled students are eligible. So you cannot apply while your admission decision is pending, and you cannot come back for it in year two.
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✓Minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA in upper division undergraduate workFIU asks for at least a 3.00 cumulative GPA across your upper division undergraduate coursework, the last 60 credits, which it writes as UG60. The calculation is done by FIU's College of Business Admissions Office from your official transcripts, not self-reported, so a recalculation can land differently from the number your undergraduate institution printed.
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✓Aid-eligible immigration or residency statusTo receive the money you must hold an aid-eligible immigration or residency status. FIU names US citizens and US permanent residents, plus holders of other eligible visa status. This matters because FIU does admit international students to the DBA under F-1 visas, and being admitted is not the same as being able to collect the disbursement. Check your own status with the financial aid office before counting on it.
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✓A place in the DBA, which has its own high barYou have to win admission before the scholarship is even in play, and FIU calls the DBA admissions process very selective with no guaranteed admission. The published minimums are ten years of work experience with seven in a documented managerial role covering people, budgets or projects, an MBA or other relevant master's degree from an accredited institution, and good standing at every institution you have attended.
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✓Enrolled and in good academic standing at each disbursementThe award pays out term by term rather than in one lump. FIU requires you to maintain good academic standing under its academic policy and to be enrolled in the program to receive the disbursement in each term, so a withdrawal or a break between Fall and Spring can cost you the second half.
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✓A completed FIU Scholarships general applicationNothing is awarded off the back of your admission file alone. You register at fiu.academicworks.com, complete the general application, and answer the award's supplemental question. Miss that step and you are not in the pool, however well you match the criteria.
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✓Room in the budget that yearFIU attaches an explicit caveat: funding for this scholarship is limited, contingent upon funding availability, and may be modified or discontinued at any point during the award period. Treat the $8,000 as a real but conditional offer rather than a fixed entitlement, and do not build your financing plan on it.
Benefits
- Award amount $8,000, one-time
- How it is paid Across the Fall and Spring terms of one academic year
- Number of awards FIU says multiple one-time scholarships are available
- Scope College of Business - Graduate
- Separate application fee None for the scholarship itself
- Renewable in later years No, it is one-time and closed to enrolled students
- Guaranteed funding No, FIU says funding is limited and may be discontinued
- Open to current DBA students No, only to the newly admitted who have not started classes
- Payable without aid-eligible status No, you need citizen, permanent resident or eligible visa status
- Total tuition and fees, Fall start $75,013.40 for the 3-year, 75-credit program
- Total tuition and fees, Spring start $75,023.40
- Tuition per credit $900.00, so $67,500 before fees
- Admission deposit $200 non-refundable, credited to first-semester tuition
- Professional Development Seminar fee $1,500, also credited to first-semester tuition
- Graduate application fee $30 non-refundable
- Residency travel, meals and lodging in Miami Not included in tuition
- Books, materials and conference travel Not included in tuition
- Remaining balance after the award About $67,000, so budget for loans or employer support
- Degree Terminal doctorate, awarded by the Chapman School of Business
- Length 3 years, 75 credit hours, cohort format
- Format Hybrid, online coursework plus required Miami residencies
- Residencies Four two-day residencies per Fall and Spring semester
- Orientation One-week residency before the first Fall semester
- Keep working while you study Yes, the programme is built for working executives
- Accreditation AACSB accredited business school
- GMAT or GRE Not required for the DBA
- Hospitality concentration Available, Spring start only, sub-plan HOSPMGMT2
- Transfer credit Not accepted, the cohort format does not allow it
- Assistantships or fellowships None attached to the DBA
Document checklist
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✓FIU Scholarships general applicationThe single application at fiu.academicworks.com that puts you in the pool for College of Business graduate awards. Technical problems go to [email protected], and scholarship questions to Angela Bullard-Thomas at [email protected].
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✓Supplemental question answerThe award carries one supplemental prompt: a brief summary of why you should be selected. It is short, so treat it as the only place you get to argue your case rather than as a formality, and point it at the applied research you want to do.
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✓Official transcripts from every institutionSent directly to the DBA program at the Chapman Graduate School of Business. Transcripts not in English need a second copy evaluated by an official translation agency. These are also what the admissions office uses to calculate the UG60 GPA the scholarship turns on.
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✓Official proof of degreeA notarised copy of the original diploma is required if the degree is not already posted on the official transcript. Easy to overlook and slow to fix from another country, so start it early.
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✓Current resumeA chronological record of your professional experience with the dates of your earned degrees. This is the document the admissions team reads to confirm the ten years of work experience and seven years of management.
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✓Statement of purposeNo more than two pages setting out your objectives for pursuing the DBA. FIU reviews applications holistically, and this is where the applied research problem you care about should appear.
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✓Two letters of recommendationFrom employers, faculty or professional associates. Given the programme is built for senior managers, letters from people who have watched you run teams or budgets carry more weight than purely academic ones.
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✓Citizenship and immigration documentsRequired as part of the DBA application, and they also decide whether you clear the scholarship's aid-eligible status rule. Get them in early if your status is anything other than citizen or permanent resident.
How to apply
Deadline and timeline
FAQ
Does Florida International University offer a DBA scholarship?
Yes, though the answer depends on which FIU page you read. The DBA program's own scholarships page lists a Doctorate in Business Administration Program Scholarship worth $8,000, scoped to College of Business graduate students, with a stated deadline and a full set of criteria in FIU's scholarship system. The programme's tuition page and FAQ, on the other hand, say scholarships are not available for the DBA and that all financial aid must come through student loans. The listed award is the more specific and more recently dated of the two, so that is what this guide leads with, but confirm it with the college before the money decides anything for you.
How much is the FIU DBA Program Scholarship worth?
$8,000, awarded once rather than annually. FIU applies it across the Fall and Spring terms of a single academic year, and it says multiple one-time scholarships are available in a round. Measured against the roughly $75,013 the three-year DBA costs in tuition and fees, that is about a tenth of the bill. Useful, but nobody should read this award as a funded doctorate.
Why does the FIU tuition page say no scholarships are available for the DBA?
Because FIU's own pages disagree with each other. The tuition page carries the sentence that scholarships, assistantships and fellowships are not available for the DBA program, and the programme FAQ repeats it when asked whether any fellowships, scholarships, assistantships or grants exist. Meanwhile the DBA scholarships page lists an $8,000 award and links to its criteria. The most likely explanation is that the no-aid wording is older text that was never updated when the award appeared. Ask the Chapman Graduate School financial aid office at [email protected] or 305.348.8045 to settle it for your cycle.
Can international students get the FIU DBA scholarship?
Only if their immigration status is aid-eligible. FIU requires recipients to hold an aid-eligible immigration or residency status to receive the disbursement, naming US citizens, US permanent residents and holders of other eligible visa status. International students are admitted to the DBA, and FIU publishes a detailed set of F-1 expectations for them, but admission and aid eligibility are two separate tests here. If you are coming on an F-1 visa, ask the financial aid office in writing whether you qualify before you factor the $8,000 into your plans.
What GPA do you need for the FIU DBA Program Scholarship?
A minimum cumulative 3.00 in upper division undergraduate coursework, which FIU writes as UG60, meaning roughly your last 60 credits of undergraduate study. The figure is calculated by FIU's College of Business Admissions Office from your official transcripts rather than taken from what you report, so an international or non-standard transcript can be recalculated into something different from the number you are used to quoting.
When is the FIU DBA scholarship deadline for 2027?
FIU has not published one. The 2026-27 round closed on 26 July 2026, and the college says most of its scholarships are awarded in the summer for the following academic year, so late July 2027 is a reasonable planning target for anyone joining the Fall 2027 cohort. That date is an estimate and not a published cutoff. The award is currently absent from the live list of open FIU opportunities, which is what you would expect of a round that has closed and not yet reopened.
Can current FIU DBA students apply for the scholarship?
No. FIU is unusually blunt about this: the award goes to people recently admitted to the DBA who are not enrolled in classes, and neither applicants nor current enrolled students are eligible. So there is exactly one moment in your relationship with the programme when you can hold this award, between the admission decision and your first class. If you are already a year into the degree, it is closed to you.
How much does the FIU DBA program cost in total?
About $75,013.40 for a Fall start and $75,023.40 for a Spring start, covering the full three-year, 75-credit programme. That breaks down to $900 per credit in tuition, roughly $67,500, plus financial aid, technology, athletics, activity and transportation fees. A $200 non-refundable deposit and a $1,500 Professional Development Seminar fee are due at admission and both are credited toward your first semester. Conference travel, residency travel, meals, lodging, books and materials sit outside that figure.
Is the FIU DBA the same as the PhD in Business Administration?
No, and the funding picture is the main practical difference. FIU describes the DBA as applied research for working senior executives, three years long, requiring a master's degree and ten or more years of experience, with no GMAT. The PhD is theory-focused, four to seven years, needs no prior work experience, requires the GMAT, and is fellowship-based, which the DBA is not. If a funded doctorate rather than a part-funded one is what you need, the PhD route is the one to look at.
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