How to Use the Scholarship Directory
For most students, earning a master’s degree in public health is a significant tradeoff. While an advanced education will often open the door to lucrative career opportunities, the additional two years of tuition may prove expensive or even unaffordable for students who have already financed a bachelor’s degree. Fortunately, there are many public health scholarships available for today’s graduate students. This directory allows you to sort through a database of online public health scholarships designed to help fund your degree, whether you choose to earn it in a campus-based classroom or a virtual one.
To use the directory, first select your enrollment level; the aggregator will then bring up all the scholarships for which you are eligible. To further customize the search, click all the boxes that apply to your specific financial needs. For example, if you only want to browse scholarships that award money throughout the course of your studies, check the “Renewable” box. You can also perform a customized search based on factors such as your college or university, grade point average, state of residence, gender, or ethnicity.
In addition to the directory, you can also find information about available scholarships by visiting your school’s financial aid office, conducting a web search, or speaking with your current employer. Resources are also available for students enrolled in online public health programs. However, all of the scholarships listed here are directly geared toward master’s level public health students; by applying for scholarships exclusively awarded to individuals in your field, you stand a much better chance of receiving the funding you need.
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Understand Trends in Public Health Scholarships
A large number of public health scholarships are created by companies, organizations, and foundations that operate within that professional field. Some of the top public health scholarship contributors include educational institutions like the American College of Medical Practice Executives, professional groups like the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration and Long Term Care (NADONA/LTC), and nonprofits like the National Safety Council. The amount of money awarded by these scholarships will vary; the Heartland Foundation’s Bill and Mary Russell Scholarship awards $500 per recipient, while the Postdoctoral Research Associates Program, made available through the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), provides an annual award of $32,000 per recipient.
While public health scholarships are almost always awarded to students within the public health field of study, some may be available to students who are earning degrees in similar fields such as medicine, environmental science, or psychology. There are also many scholarships exclusively available to women, minorities, U.S. military personnel and veterans, or students in need of a significant amount of financial assistance.
Key Public Health Scholarships
Albert W. Dent Scholarship
This annual award of $5,000 is exclusively available to minority students who are entering their first year of a graduate health care management program. The recipient is not required to be a student associate of the Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the organization that sponsors the scholarship, but preference will be given to such applicants. Albert W. Dent was the first African-American member of ACHE; to learn more about him and the scholarship that bears his name, please visit the award’s official website.
Harry J. Harwick Scholarship
The American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE) offers this annual $5,000 scholarship. Applicants must submit three letters of recommendation as well as a brief essay that describes the responsibilities of those working within the public health industry. Furthermore, the applicant must attend a university that has been accredited by either the Accrediting Commission on Education for Health Services Administration (ACEHSA) or the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. Please visit the scholarship’s official website for more information.