Earning a Ph.D. in Social Work does not mean that you have to saddle yourself with loans that will burden you for decades after you graduate. There are specific scholarships for Social Work grad students that you will not have to pay back. Some are earmarked for the study of specific minority groups. Some are further defined by a focus on particular issue that arises in a specific minority community. If you are currently enrolled as an undergraduate, make an appointment with a financial aid officer on campus to discuss all your grant options after you conduct some preliminary research so that you will know what questions to ask.
National Association of Social Workers Foundation
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation is the largest organization of service social workers. It offers five different annual scholarships opportunities, each named after a significant person in the field. The NASW supports practice-based research so that graduate work is explicitly connected to helping the communities it studies. One of the scholarships, the Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial Scholarships, can offer up to 10 awards between $1,000 and $4,000 each year to master's degree candidates who do work with and on American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Latino populations, or those students who work in public and voluntary nonprofit agencies. The NASW also offers money for support to write the dissertation and to create research projects that frame social work practice and policy issues with contemporary social and political issues.
Case Western Reserve University, Wayne State University, and Wellesley College
Case Western Reserve University, Wayne State University, and Wellesley College each offer comprehensive scholarships to support women and minorities' graduate studies expenses. At Case Western, the Lou Stokes Fellowship in Community Development provides tuition scholarships to students already working in community development who want to pursue graduate study. Included in the fellowship is both tuition and a travel stipend so that the student can keep working in the field. Wayne State University offers eight different scholarship opportunities to currently enrolled graduate students. All are granted based on the academic achievement of the student. Some are earmarked for students from urban economically and/or academically disadvantaged backgrounds. Wellesley College, one of the top private women's colleges in the United States, offers 22 different scholarship and fellowship opportunities from their Center for Work & Service, two of which are open to women with undergraduate degrees from any institution. The rest are earmarked for Wellesley graduating seniors and alumnae. Wellesley's Center defines social work broadly to include a range of disciplinary fields.
The American Cancer Society and the National Hemophilia Foundation
Clinically focused social work scholarships are offered by the American Cancer Society and the National Hemophilia Foundation. The American Cancer Society provides a substantial scholarship to doctoral students who conduct research on the social needs of cancer patients and their families. The National Hemophilia Foundation provides scholarship assistance to doctoral students who are licensed to practice as a master's level clinical social worker in a bleeding disorders program. Each state has its own licensing requirements and application process. Information for both scholarships can be found on the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's "Grants for Social Work Students" web page, included in the Reference section.
Tags: American Cancer, American Cancer Society, Cancer Society, Case Western, Hemophilia Foundation