The Summer Funding Programs provide funding to Columbia College and Columbia Engineering undergraduate students participating in unpaid or low-paid summer internships related to their career pursuits and/or academic studies.
This spring, our In the Know blog features a series of posts designed to help you navigate the application process and put your best foot forward.
Are you considering an unpaid or low-paid summer internship, research project, or community outreach initiative—locally, nationally, or internationally? If so, you might think about applying to the Summer Funding Programs to help support you in these endeavors.
As part of your application to the Summer Funding Programs, you are asked to submit information about your summer opportunity, including the name and contact information of your supervisor, the number of hours and weeks you’ll be participating, and other details about your host organization.
Your supervisor will receive a link via email through which they can review and verify the information you provided. This verification must be completed by the application deadline. The committee begins its review of candidates immediately following the deadline. Any applications missing an Employer Verification (or any other parts of the application) will be withdrawn from consideration. Thus, we strongly recommend reaching out to your supervisor early in the application process to avoid any issues submitting your application in full by the deadline.
We know that finalizing your plans for the summer can be complicated and you might be considering multiple options. This can make applying for the funding programs challenging because the application asks you to respond to questions specific to the opportunity you’ll be pursuing. If you are waiting on a final offer, you may submit all other required materials and the online application with the Employer Verification Form pending. However, Employer Verification must be received by the deadline for your application to be considered.
If you are pursuing two summer opportunities, please provide details on both. Be sure to respond to the personal statement prompts for each opportunity and also include how you will manage your time pursuing two separate professional endeavors. Additionally, both supervisors will need to submit the Employer Verification Forms detailing your work commitment at each organization. However, please note that you only need to submit one letter of recommendation and budget form.
Once the Committee has finalized its decisions, it is not possible to conduct additional application evaluations for new opportunities. Your application is evaluated in comparison to the others received for that term. Accordingly, if you are selected to receive a summer funding award, it must be applied to the specific opportunity outlined in your application. In fairness to those applicants whose opportunities were not funded, you are not permitted to apply your grant to an experience other than the one(s) described in your application.
Whatever kind of opportunity you pursue—interning at an arts institution, conducting research in a lab, volunteering with a nonprofit organization—we hope that your experience will be a meaningful one.
Key Steps and Reminders:
- Employer Verification must be completed by the application deadline, so reach out to your supervisor early and submit your application before the deadline!
- If you are pursuing two summer opportunities, include details for both and answer the personal statement prompts for both.
- You only need to submit one letter of recommendation and budget form
- If you are waiting on a final employer offer, you may submit all other elements of the application with the Employer Verification pending, but Employer Verification must be received before the deadline for the application to be considered.
Find out more about applying to the Summer Funding Programs at these other In the Know posts: