To combat these, nonprofits, corporations, and governments are increasingly offering various scholarships and fellowships to defray the cost of education for those interested in data science and other STEM fields. It’s free money, and you’d be foolish not to try to tap in.
Below, you’ll find a curated, up-to-date list of great opportunities to make your data science journey easier — financially, at least — plus information on how to apply to each.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility
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ASA Pride Scholarship
The American Statistical Association’s Pride Scholarship supports the graduate studies of LGBTQ+ aspiring scientists, statisticians, and allies. Students are selected for awards by the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Outreach Group and the ASA LGBTQ+ Advocacy Committee.
Eligibility: Students must identify as LGBTQ+ or an ally and have completed a statistics or data science degree within the last five years or be currently pursuing a statistics or data science graduate degree.
Amount: N/A
Great Minds in STEM Scholarship
Great Minds in STEM’s scholarship program aims to support underserved Hispanic communities through merit-based and non-merit-based scholarships for those pursuing a degree in science, technology, engineering, or math part-time or full-time. Scholarship recipients are invited to attend the annual GMiS conference, and travel is provided.
Eligibility: Students must be enrolled in or planning to attend a two—or four-year undergraduate or graduate degree program in STEM or health services in the US and be of Hispanic descent or a leader in the community. For merit-based scholarships, students must hold a 3.0 minimum GPA.
Application Requirements:
Amount: $500–$5,000 (merit-based); $500–$1,000 (non-merit based)
Orchard Scholarship for Women of Color in STEM
Orchard’s Scholarship for Women of Color in STEM, established several years ago by the real-estate website, aims to make undergraduate STEM education more accessible for women of color through awards of varying amounts, in line with their “goals as a company to encourage diversity within our industry and to find ways to make difference outside of our organization.”
Eligibility: Applicants must be female high school seniors or college sophomore and juniors of color interested in or currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in STEM. Applicants must also hold a GPA of 3.0 or more.
Application Requirements:
Application form
Two short essays
Amount: Awards of $500, $1000, and $2,500
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AISES Scholarships
AISES (Advancing Indigenous People in STEM) offers a wide variety of over 15 scholarships for American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Indigenous people of Canada who are interested in pursuing education in a STEM field such as applied data science or artificial intelligence. Eligibility, application requirements, and award amounts vary for each scholarship.
Eligibility: Varies
Application Requirements: Varies
Amount: Varies
Generation Google Scholarship
The Generation Google Scholarship aims to support North American computer science students, particularly emphasizing students identifying as women, Black, Latinx, Native American, and Native Hawaiin/Pacific Islander. Students must demonstrate a commitment to improving representation in the field of technology.
Eligibility: Students must be studying computer science, computer engineering, or a related field and be planning to pursue a bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. in the US or Canada. Students must also demonstrate financial need, a strong academic record, and a passion for improving computer science and technology representation.
Application Requirements:
Amount: $10,000 USD (US); $5,000 CAD (Canada)
Google Lime Scholarship
A collaboration between Google and Lime Connect, a nonprofit focused on supporting students with disabilities, the Google Lime Scholarship provides funding for students with disabilities who are pursuing or pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in computer science.
Eligibility: Students who self-identify as having a visible or invisible disability and are current or incoming computer science bachelor’s and master’s students in the US or Canada are welcome to apply.
Application Requirements:
Amount: $10,000 USD (US); $5,000 CAD (Canada)
Google Student Veterans of America Scholarship
Google’s Google Student Veterans of America Scholarship, in partnership with Student Veterans of America, supports student veterans studying computer science in American undergraduate and graduate programs.
Eligibility: Student veterans must be in good standing with or honorably discharged from the US Armed Services and be pursuing or intending to pursue undergraduate or graduate studies in computer science.
Application Requirements:
Amount: $10,000
Palantir Women in Technology Scholarship
Founded in 2010, the Palantir Women in Technology Scholarship provides monetary awards and professional opportunities to help women embark on careers in technology. In addition to the $7,000 scholarship award, scholarship recipients participate in professional development workshops and are eligible to interview for internships at Palantir.
Eligibility: Applicants must be current undergraduates at a North American college or university, be majoring or planning to major in computer science or a related field, identify as women, and have not won a Palantir scholarship previously.
Application Requirements:
Two short-essays
Resume or CV
Amount: $7,000
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ACM SIGHPC Computational & Data Science Fellowships
The ACM SIGHPC Computational & Data Science Fellowships, offered by the Association for Computing Machinery in collaboration with Intel, seeks to increase the representation of women and students from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds in computational and data science by enhancing institutional support for those pursuing master’s and Ph.D. degrees in these fields.
Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled in or accepted to a graduate program (master’s or Ph.D.) in computational or data science, have completed less than half of this program, and be a woman or member of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.
Application requirements:
Nomination: applicants must be nominated for the fellowship by their academic advisor
Resume or CV
Candidate statement of purpose
Endorsement from current or former teacher, supervisor, or employer
Amount: $15,000, adjusted depending on which country the degree will take place
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program seeks to expand the diversity of the science and engineering workforce by supporting the graduate studies of underrepresented groups such as women, disabled persons, veterans, and minorities. Past recipients include US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Google founder Sergey Brin, and Freakonomics author Steven Levitt.
Eligibility: Applicants must be early-career US citizens or, if an international student or permanent resident intends to pursue graduate studies in a target field, they must begin their studies within a year of receiving the award.
Application Requirements:
Amount: Annual stipend of $37,000, $12,000 cost of education allowance for up to 3 years
Governmental
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US Department of Defense SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program
The US Department of Defense SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program incentivizes bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. students working in areas like computer science, information science, mathematical sciences, and aeronautics to pursue careers in government by providing full tuition, an annual stipend, internship opportunities, and guaranteed employment at the Department of Defense (DoD) upon graduation.
Eligibility: Applicants must be citizens of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom, enrolled in a degree program in one of 21 technical areas at a US-accredited college or university, able to complete a summer internship, and willing to work at the DoD upon graduation.
Application Requirements:
Amount: Full tuition, annual stipend ($25,000-$38,000) for up to 5 years, internship, guaranteed employment
US Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
The US Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship is a PhD fellowship offered to doctoral students at an accredited US college of university working in one of a dozen target areas, including computer science, materials science, machine learning, and chemical engineering. Recipients receive full tuition, a yearly stipend, a professional development allowance, and practicum experience at the US Department of Energy (DoE).
Eligibility: Fellowship recipients must be enrolled as full-time graduate students in a target area. International students are welcome to apply, but must be lawful permanent residents. For more information on eligibility, see the DoE’s requirements page.
Application Requirements:
Amount: Full tuition, annual stipend ($45,000) for up to 4 years, practicum
Corporate Scholarships (Non-DEIA)
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Bloomberg Data Science Ph.D. Fellowship
Bloomberg’s Data Science Ph.D. Fellowship supports exceptional doctoral candidates interested in data science for social good, human computation & annotation, information retrieval & extraction, financial machine learning, natural language processing and other areas. In addition to full tuition and a living stipend, recipients of the data science fellowship receive extensive mentorship from Bloomberg employees and complete a summer internship at Bloomberg.
Eligibility: To apply, an individual must be a current doctoral candidate able to work in the US.
Application Requirements:
Amount: Full tuition and an annual living stipend ($35,000)
Nonprofit, Social Sector & Public Good
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MinneAnalytics Data Science Scholarship
MinneAnalytics Data Science Scholarships are intended to support those Midwestern students who intend to use their analytics skill set to improve their communities. Each year, MinneAnalytics also presents the MinneMUDAC Student Data Science Challenge, which allows undergraduates and graduate students to collaborate with their peers and employ their data analytics skills to solve real-world problems.
Eligibility: To be eligible for a MinneAnalytics Data Science scholarship, students must be current undergraduates at one of 30 partner universities across the Midwest and be able to demonstrate a commitment both to data science and community engagement.
Application Requirements:
Award: $1000
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Jack Larson Data for Good Fellowship
The Jack Larson Data for Good Fellowship supports aspiring data scientists in the University of California—Berkeley’s Master’s of Information and Data Science program (MIDS) who have a demonstrated track record of using data to advance non-profit, governmental, and other social initiatives.
Eligibility: Current and incoming MIDS students can apply during three application windows annually.
Amount: $8,500
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Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program
The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program offers full tuition each year to 143 Indiana residents attending public or private four-year colleges and universities. The program aims to retain Indiana’s brightest minds and strengthen Indian communities.
Eligibility: Recipients must have graduated high school in Indiana and attend an accredited public or private college or university in Indiana full-time.
Application Requirements: Vary depending on the local community foundation
Amount: Full tuition
How to make your application stand out?
To give yourself the best chance of success when applying for data science scholarships, make sure to do the following:
Stay organized: Identify the scholarships you’re eligible for, then input relevant information like deadlines and application materials into a spreadsheet to stay on top of things. As you assemble your application, double- and triple-check the requirements to ensure nothing is missing. Often, organizations offering scholarships won’t allow you to fix any errors or submit any missing materials after the deadline.
Ask for recommendations early: There’s no easier way to hurt a potential recommender’s opinion of you than asking for a recommendation too late. Make sure to give those mentors nice enough to write a letter to support your application ample time to paint the best possible picture of your achievements and character.
Tell your story: There are always many qualified applicants for a scholarship — so why do you deserve it? Make sure your story shines through when writing a personal statement, preparing for an interview, or even putting together your resume. What brought you into data science, and what do you bring? How will the scholarship help not only you but your community? Check out our resume, interview, and cover letter guides for tips and tricks.
Get busy: It would be great to apply to one scholarship and get it, but it’s a good idea to apply to a bunch. This means more work for you, but also better chances that this work will be rewarded.
What’s next?
Above, we’ve laid out some great scholarship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students alike and discussed best practices for applying. Of course, with so much competition in data science, getting the most lucrative scholarships can be anything but easy. If you’re interested in a data science bachelor’s or master’s degree, this can mean that you’ll need to self-fund or take out loans for your education. To read more about the financial calculus behind pursuing a data science master’s degree, check out our investigation into what makes the degree worth it.
If you are a college student, either a current undergraduate student a master’s student, or even an early-career professional interested in pursuing a doctorate, you may have more options. While we’ve previewed some selective doctoral fellowships offered by corporations and government agencies above, the truth is that many US doctoral programs in data science, computer science, and applied mathematics are fully funded, meaning that students receive tuition remissions and a modest living stipend. If you’re interested in going this route, check with each department you’re looking into to see if they offer funding packages.
If you’re researching data science scholarships because you’re considering a career shift or looking into education options, you might instead be interested in learning more about the field. To do so, we’d recommend the following articles:
To learn more about data analytics, an overlapping field that’s easier to break into for someone with little to no experience working with data, check out our guides to:
