Pictured above: VP for Academic Affairs Harper French poses with National NSSLHA Undergraduate Scholarship recipient Ayla Mercier.
One of the most important considerations when pursuing higher education is funding. Although most graduate-level education programs offer some form of graduate assistantship position, these positions often vary significantly between programs and are not available to undergraduate-level students. One funding option that encompasses opportunities for both undergraduate- and graduate-level students is scholarships. However, students aren’t always equipped with the most comprehensive scholarship resources, and often these resources come to students’ attention too late.
Throughout this blog post, I’ll share general strategies for finding scholarships, along with a few insights from my own experience navigating undergraduate funding as a deaf education major. Because my path intersected with education, nursing, and communication sciences and disorders (CSD), I learned early on how valuable it is to look beyond traditional scholarship lists.
Start Early
As a first-year student or pre-CSD major, it can feel like you don’t have any experience that matters. However, it can be helpful to keep a running list of shadowing experiences, paid job opportunities, unpaid internships, volunteer experiences, and leadership opportunities. Whether you held an on-campus work-study position, served in a NSSLHA leadership position, or shadowed an audiologist or a speech-language pathologist (SLP), experiences like these can set you apart from other candidates. Be sure to carefully track your experiences; start documenting them early on! In doing so, you’re making it easier on yourself when it comes to inputting the specific details of your experiences and creating a resume that will speak for itself and establish you as a strong, qualified candidate.
Regarding best practices, focus not only on building concrete experiences but also on establishing relationships: It’s crucial to begin building connections with faculty members and mentors—both inside and outside your department. Most scholarship applications require a letter of recommendation of some sort, and you’ll want to have multiple high-quality and personalized letters. Staying after class, going to office hours, taking advantage of open-door policies, and discussing research/clinical interests with faculty members who support you are simple yet powerful ways to build and nurture positive mentoring relationships. These relationships can also prepare you to obtain solid, standout letters of recommendation.
Utilize National Scholarship Lists
Where do you start in your search for scholarships? That can be challenging. It’s possible to find potential scholarships through a quick Internet search, but those search results can often be less specialized to your interests than you’d like. Instead, consider consulting curated lists. In cases like these, someone has already done the research for you!
For example:
- The National NSSLHA IDEA Work Group has compiled a list of scholarships.
- National NSSLHA offers scholarships for graduate students (through the ASHFoundation) and undergraduate students. (The undergraduate scholarship is due December 31! Apply now!)
- ASHA’s Multicultural Constituency Groups (MCCGs), which may offer scholarships for students from diverse backgrounds who are seeking higher education in fields that make up the CSD discipline (e.g., audiology, speech-language pathology).
Utilize Your Connections and Local Resources
It can be easy to think “big picture” when considering scholarships; however, your individual college or university may have scholarships available for its students—typically referred to as foundation scholarships, donor-funded scholarships, or other similar terms. These scholarships may or may not be be related to CSD. For example, I was awarded scholarships in two different fields—nursing and education—in my undergraduate career.
Information about these scholarships typically resides on your college or university’s website. You may also be able to reach out to your university’s financial aid office—because some scholarships exist but receive no applicants, which means that the funds don’t get distributed.
Lastly, the most close-knit scholarship opportunity would be a departmental-based scholarship. These scholarships are another reason why a close relationship with departmental faculty is crucial. You can find information about these scholarships on your department’s website or through word of mouth. It never hurts to ask faculty members if they have scholarship resources or recommendations!
To help illustrate how these strategies might look in real life, here’s a brief example from my own scholarship journey.
An Example From My Own Journey
Although every student’s journey looks different, it can be helpful to hear how others navigated the process. For example, when I entered undergrad as a deaf education major, I found that many of the scholarships I qualified for weren’t limited to one specific discipline—they often lived under broader areas like education, nursing, or community leadership. Some of my most meaningful awards came from local foundations, retired educators’ groups, or community organizations that I was involved in, such as a community band.
I also learned that universities sometimes have general scholarship portals where a single application matches you to multiple opportunities that you already qualify for. That process ended up being one of my biggest sources of funding throughout undergrad. Looking back, I wish I had spent less time on broad “no-essay” scholarships and more time on these local, interest-aligned awards—they were far more likely to result in actual financial support.
Be Prepared
Lots of scholarships—regardless of whether they’re related to CSD—require similar basic materials:
- contact information
- some type of personal statement
- a scholarship-specific essay (if not multiple)
- a letter of recommendation (or a filled-out recommendation form),
- high school or college transcripts
- a resume
- potentially a statement of need/financial information[1]
Because these materials are often required for multiple scholarship applications, keep track of them—either via hard copy in a binder or online in a drive system. If you love spreadsheets, now is your time to get organized—and don’t submit the wrong materials! Be careful not to reuse essay materials, especially if the prompts are even slightly different. A common mistake that immediately disqualifies your application is a response that doesn’t match—or even worse, using the wrong scholarship name!
Know Your Why
It doesn’t hurt to apply for multiple scholarships: But it may be easier to pick ones that are related to your interest areas. Trying to fit yourself into a scholarship application that seeks students with different experiences can feel like a waste of your time and energy. The best option is to engage in inner reflection and understand your interests—but, also, don’t feel like you have to find super-specific scholarships only in your area of interest. Find ways to incorporate your interests into a scholarship application. Readers typically want to get to know YOU!
Results Time!
Receiving scholarship results can be an emotionally charged time. If you were selected as a recipient, congratulations! You put in a lot of hard work, and you should feel very proud of yourself. You should send an email thanking the scholarship committee for the selection and ensuring that they have all of your updated information. At this point, you should monitor your account to ensure that the funding is credited correctly, and send a friendly check-in if you have not heard anything for some time.
If you were not selected as a recipient, it can be disappointing, especially knowing that you invested a lot of time and energy into the writing process. You can take time to feel disappointed, but know that the process was a fantastic learning opportunity. It is best practice to send a follow-up email thanking the committee for their time and allowing you the opportunity to apply. And on a positive note, you now have the resources to complete another scholarship application!
The process of higher education is stressful enough without the added consideration of funding. However, I hope that the information presented here helps you navigate the world of scholarships. Remember: Scholarships are a fantastic way to learn more about yourself, explore various opportunities, and consider your future. I wish you the best of luck navigating higher education and funding resources!
[1] This requirement is becoming increasingly rare.