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ENTITY shares seven ways students can get scholarships for unpaid internships.

You got your dream internship, but there’s a catch. There’s no salary. Don’t lose hope! You could win some grants or stipends to help you out with living expenses. Check out these seven ways to get a scholarship for unpaid internships.

1 Unigo.com

Unigo is a good resource for college students looking for scholarships for unpaid internships.

Photo via Unsplash/@sam_truong

Unigo.com is widely known for their scholarships and college-related information. They allow users to easily narrow down scholarships that fit their specific needs.

It took a few pages, but after searching “internship” in the toolbar, I found a listing for the Stanford Chen Internship Grant. It awards $1,750 to Asian American college juniors, seniors or graduate students pursuing journalism. The award must go towards living expenses during the internship.

If you’re applying for ENTITY Academy’s Writer’s Collective, and you fit the above description, check it out at the Asian American Journalists Association’s website! The applications seem to open at the beginning of every year, so if it’s not listed, it might not be available yet.

If you don’t fit the description, browse through Unigo.com and check out old listings. Even if the deadline has passed, you might be able to apply again sometime next year. Make sure to check every few weeks for any new internship-specific grants or scholarships.

2 Scholarships.com

Probably the most well-known source for scholarships is Scholarships.com. They have an incredible variety of scholarships available online. If you’re looking for any sort of educational funding, this is a great place to go.

However, when it comes to finding grants for unpaid internships, I prefer Unigo. Scholarships.com doesn’t seem to have scholarships specifically for work opportunities, and it doesn’t allow you to search for specific keywords.

But you can still benefit from this resource! If you’re paying some amount of college tuition, receiving a scholarship could save you a few hundreds or thousands of dollars. Instead of going towards school, that money can pay for your unpaid internship’s living expenses. But make sure to talk to a financial adviser; sometimes receiving scholarships can affect your financial aid.

3 Fastweb.com

If you're looking for scholarships for unpaid internships, start with Fastweb.

Photo via Unsplash/@rawpixel

Fastweb.com is also a great online scholarship resource. Upon applying, students fill out an especially thorough profile so they can receive very personalized matches.

Unfortunately, like Scholarships.com, Fastweb doesn’t seem to have a search tool, so it doesn’t provide an easy way to locate internship-specific funding. But once again, any money is good money! What you save on college can then go towards your unpaid internship.

It should be noted that many of Fastweb’s scholarship listings seem to be easy, one-click applications. This isn’t always a good thing. While it can be annoying to struggle through essays or long forms, one-click applications often mean that more people are applying. This lowers your chances of actually receiving any money.

If you do use Fastweb or Scholarships.com, try to find listings that require a little more work. Or—at the very least— choose contests with a specific focus. Instead of one-click scholarships available to any college student, try 250-word essay scholarships available to music majors. Or California students. Or women in STEM. You get the idea.

4 GilmanScholarship.org

If you landed an international unpaid internship, good news! You might be eligible to apply for the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship. It’s funded by the U.S. Department of State, and it offers scholarships up to $5,000 for U.S. citizen undergraduates. If you’re studying a “critical need” language, you could also receive another $3,000 award.

Unfortunately, there are a few special eligibility requirements. Applicants must be “receiving a Federal Pell Grant during the time of application or provide proof that they will be receiving a Pell Grant during the term of their study abroad program or internship.”

But don’t worry if you’re ineligible for this scholarship! There are other opportunities for funding your out-of-country internship.

5 GoAbroad.com

Go Abroad is a great resource for students looking for scholarships for unpaid internships.

Photo via Unsplash/@jeremydorrough

If you’re out of luck with the Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship, try GoAbroad.com. The website provides information on — you guessed it!— going abroad.

Their internship scholarship tool is especially awesome. Simply click the field and country of your internship, and you have your narrow list of potential scholarships.

6 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation focuses on financial aid in education. They have a wide array of scholarships that help pay for college tuition, but they also have a stipend program that helps their scholars out with unpaid internships.

Unfortunately, the stipend program is only available to Cooke Scholars, but if you’re still in high school, you can apply to their College Scholarship Program now and receive the stipend benefits later!

7 Your Own School

If you're having trouble finding scholarships for unpaid internships, check with your school.

Photo via Unsplash/@rcjphoto

While all these outside options are great, your own school is likely the best source of funding. Many colleges have specific scholarships, grants or internship programs that pay for their students’ unpaid internships. Here are some examples.

USC

“USC undergraduate students who secure unpaid summer internships with a non-profit or government organization” are eligible for the USC Dream Dollars Scholarship.

First-generation students with unpaid internships can receive $2,000 through the “First-Generation Scholarship Program.”

Any undergraduate student who plans to work a summer internship in Asia for at least eight weeks can apply for funding through the “Global Fellows Internship Program.”

Brown University

The “BrownConnect LINK Award Program” can grant $3,500 stipends for undergraduates with domestic internships that pay $1,000 or less. They can also grant $5,000 for an internship abroad.

Michigan State University

Michigan State University undergrads with unpaid internships can receive stipends up to $1,000 through the MSUFCU Internship Opportunity Award. They also suggest other funding opportunities on their Career Network page.

Lafayette College

Stipends between $1,000 and $3,000” are available to students pursuing summer internships through Lafayette’s Summer Internship Stipend Program.

University of Texas at Austin

Liberal Arts students participating in unpaid nonprofit internships can receive $1,000 scholarships.

ENTITY shares the different schools that award scholarships for unpaid internships.

Photo via Unsplash/@rawpixel

So research your options on your college’s website! And if your school doesn’t have any programs like the ones above, send them this list and ask “Why not?

If that doesn’t work, utilize these resources, apply for some scholarships and keep your fingers crossed! We believe in you.

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