Overview

The Beinecke Scholarship supports the graduate education of young men and women of exceptional promise. The program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue opportunities available to them and to be courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Each scholar receives $4,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school. There are no geographic restrictions on the use of the  scholarship, and recipients are allowed to supplement the award with other scholarships, assistantships and research  grants. Scholars are encouraged to begin graduate study as soon as possible following receipt of their undergraduate degree, and must utilize all of their award within five years.

Did you know? There has been one Beinecke Scholar associated with UNL. Bruce Johnson completed undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame in mathematics and music, and received Beinecke support for a master’s in Music Theory here at UNL. While Bruce’s career took many twists and turns, and he ultimately decided to continue further education on the mathematics and data analysis path, his love of learning and his decision to eventually become an academic and an educator is very similar to many Beinecke Scholars.

See more Beinecke Scholar stories here!

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Beinecke Scholarship, a student must:

• Have demonstrated superior standards of intellectual ability, scholastic achievement and personal promise during his or her undergraduate career.
• Be a college junior pursuing a bachelor’s degree during the 2021-22 academic year. “Junior” means a student who plans to continue full-time undergraduate study and who expects to receive a baccalaureate degree between December 2022 and August 2023.
• Plan to enter a research-focused master’s or doctoral program or MFA in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Students in the social sciences who plan to pursue graduate study in neuroscience should not apply for a Beinecke Scholarship; nor should students applying for professional degrees that emphasize skills and practical analysis such as business, law, public health, public policy, and social work.
• Be a United States citizen or a United States national from American Samoa or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
• Have a documented history of receiving need-based financial aid during his or her undergraduate years, with a strong preference for Pell Grant recipients. Each nominated student will be required to complete a Financial Aid Data Sheet certifying that the student meets this criterion. During the selection process, the amount of financial need will be one of the factors considered with preference being given to candidates for whom the awarding of a scholarship would significantly increase the likelihood of the student’s being able to attend graduate school.

Exceptions

Students who are selected to receive the Truman Scholarship will not be awarded the Beinecke Scholarship.

Nomination Required

Every year UNL is invited to nominate ONE student for a Beinecke Scholarship. Applications cannot be submitted directly to the Beinecke Scholarship Program.