Scholarship Opportunities for CSE Undergraduates

This page contains information about department, college and university level scholarship opportunities for Computer Science undergraduates.

Departmental Scholarships

Each year the department awards about a dozen scholarships that recognize merit amongst its undergraduates and are also intended to enable them to participate more fully in its research and academic activities. Students with high GPAs (3.5 or above) and/or other experiences such as participating in undergraduate research, working as undergraduate TAs, study abroad, etc., are particularly encouraged to apply. The scholarships available for the 2008-09 academic year are listed below. Note that some of these have specific stipulations and your application should describe your suitability with respect to them.

  • Lando: These are usually $1500 - $2000 awards. Applicants must be upper division IT CS majors.
  • ESRI: These are $2000 awards. Applicants must have completed and excelled in geographical information system (GIS) and/ or spatial database-related courses such as CSCI 4707, CSCI 4107, CE 4341, FR 5262, FR 5412, ENR 4295W, and PA 5290, and plan to have a concentration in such courses. Any such University of Minnesota undergraduate, CS or non-CS, is welcome to apply.
  • CFFM: This is a $500 - $1000 award. Recipients must be upper division IT or CLA CS or Computer Engineering majors who come from farming backgrounds. As indicated later, your application should explicitly discuss this background since it plays a central role in the selection process.
  • Thomson West: This is a $1250-$2500 award. Recipients must be upper division majors with a demonstrated need.

Scholarship recipients must be registered as full-time students for the duration of their awards.

To apply, you should complete the online application form. This form requires a personal statement in connection with which you may want to talk to a professor about a possible research project. Thus, it is to your benefit to start working on an application as soon as possible. The deadline for submitting applications for 2008-2009 awards is Monday, April 14, 2008.

If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact a Computer Science Advisor.

College Scholarships

Both CLA and IT provide a number of scholarship opportunities. See the CLA Scholarship page or IT’s Financing Your Education page for more information. (The CLA site, in particular, contains a number of scholarships available to all U of M students.)

University Scholarships

The University’s Financial Aid site contains a wealth of scholarship information. See the Grants and Scholarship Resources page for information on scholarships and the Financial Aid page for more general financial aid information.