Funding FAQs

This page provides an overview of Wheaton’s funding for experiential opportunities. Students, to learn more about deadlines and application processes, please search for the particular funds in the Resource Guide in Handshake.

Guaranteed Funding*

All students are guaranteed these funds after successful completion of required paperwork and forms.

Merit Scholar Stipends

  • Trustee Scholar Stipends
  • Balfour Stipends
  • Community Stipends
  • Regional Stipends
  • Wheaton Edge Stipends

Scholars represent top students in each entering class. They are recognized for strong academic performance, demonstrated extra-curricular, and/or community service commitment. Scholars receive a stipend that can be applied to a range of unpaid out-of-class learning experiences including internships, research, student-faculty collaborations, or robust community service endeavors that occur in the summer after a scholar’s sophomore or junior year. These stipends may also be accessed for the BU semester-long Internship programs or a Faculty-led Trip (not before the end of the sophomore year for FLT).

NOTE: To see if you are a merit scholar, go to InsideWheaton > Student and Financial Records > Financial Records > Financial Aid Status > Award History

Wheaton Edge Stipend

The Wheaton Edge Stipend is available only to those students who:

  • are, according to the Registrar, a current sophomore or junior in good academic standing
  • are not a Balfour, Community, Regional, or Trustee Merit Scholar
  • have not received a major Wheaton summer fellowship (this includes Davis International Fellowships, Porter Cleveland Fellowships, and Mars Faculty-Student Research Grants.)
  • secured a supervised, unpaid experience (internship, volunteer position, research position) of at least 160 hours that is not for academic credit from another college or university.

We encourage and support students seeking paid summer internship opportunities. If you do not secure a paid experience or find that an unpaid experience is a better fit, you will be eligible to access the Wheaton Edge Fellowship.

Scholar & Wheaton Edge FAQs
  1. When can I access my stipend? You are eligible to access your stipend for an out-of-classroom learning experience during your sophomore or junior summer. If you use the stipend for a faculty-led trip, you can use it from the summer after your sophomore year through January of your senior year. You may not access your stipend during the summer after your first year or in the summer after your senior year.
  2. Qualifying experiences include unpaid domestic or international non-credit bearing internships, service/volunteer experiences or guided or structured independent research. You can design and initiate your own assignments and contacts, either independently or through established organizations. Students may seek suggestions and guidance from faculty and staff.
  3. Recipients receive a stipend between $2,000 and $3,000 to support an unpaid summer internship, volunteer, or research experience of at least 160 work hours. This requirement can be fulfilled in 4 -12 weeks depending on your work schedule. Also, you have the option of working at multiple sites in order to complete 240 hours. The stipend received is awarded based on the following hour ranges, and those hours are certified by your supervisor in the Memorandum of Understanding (linked below). If you opt to use the lesser amount of your stipend, you may not use your balance for another experience.

160 – 199 hours = $2,000
200 – 239 hours = $2,500
240+ hours = $3,000

Competitive Funding

Students receiving these awards are selected through a competitive process. Students submit an application, it is reviewed by a faculty/staff committee, and if selected, students receive stipend money to support unpaid experiences, opportunities, and/or internships.

Winternship Funding

PLEASE NOTE: Funded internships are considered college-sponsored programs and, as such, are subject to all college policies regarding international and domestic travel, including travel restrictions. These policies may change with little warning in response to global events.

Deadline Date: Wednesday, November 30th, 2022 by 4:30pm EST
All classes eligible

To be eligible, students must first secure a winter break experience for a minimum of 40 hours. Students participating in Wheaton faculty/staff-led January trips are not eligible to apply. The online application requires the submission of a resume, a supervisor offer letter and a brief statement of interest. Winternship funding recipients are required to submit a two-page reflection essay to the Filene Center at the conclusion of the experience.

Winternship awards for winter 2022-23 are $600 for an experience of at least 40 hours.

Note: if a student has previously been awarded Winternship Funding, they cannot reapply to receive it again until their senior year. Finally, students must be in good academic standing (not currently on academic suspension) and good social standing (having no student conduct violations that have resulted in either probation or suspension) in order to receive a fellowship from Wheaton.

Recipients may not use their stipend to volunteer or intern in countries that are on the U.S. Government Warning List. Students seeking an exception to this policy must submit a Travel Warning Petition to the Office of Career Services by November 30th. Petitions are reviewed and considered by the College’s Safety Policy Committee and decisions made by the committee are final.

Questions about Winternship Funding can be directed to Career Services at: careerservices@wheatoncollege.edu

Davis International Fellowship

The Davis International Fellows Program, established in 1994 through an endowed gift from the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation, is designed to help students undertake educationally meaningful international experiences that link to academic or career interests. Recipients receive a $5,000 stipend to support experiences of 6-8 weeks during the summer break. The award may be used to cover travel and living expenses as well as any preparatory costs, such as immunizations, passport and visa fees.

Eligibility: Students in good academic and social standing may apply for this Fellowship the summer after their sophomore or junior years.
Application deadline: 12:30 PM, Friday, April 14th, 2023. No late paperwork will be accepted as this is a committee-style competition.

NOTE: Previous summer Davis International Fellowship recipients cannot reapply to receive another Davis International Fellowship.
Davis International Fellowship FAQs

  1. If you are a Balfour, Community, Regional, or Trustee Merit Scholar who has not used your $3,000 Merit Scholar stipend yet, please be aware that, if you are awarded the $5,000 Davis International Fellowship, the first $3,000 will come from your Merit Scholar Stipend supplemented by $2,000 from the Davis fund. You will not be able to receive another Davis International Fellowship. The Davis Fellowship also meets Wheaton’s promise of access to internship funding. Sophomores receiving a Davis Fellowship will not be eligible for a Wheaton Edge Fellowship for their junior year.This stipend satisfies the Wheaton Edge promise of a funded experience.
  2. What types of experiences qualify for my stipend? Your scholar stipend can be applied to a range of non-credit bearing, unpaid out-of-class learning experiences including internships, research, student-faculty collaborations, professional development activities and community service endeavors. NOTE: You may not use your stipend to travel to any country presently on the U.S. State Department Government Warning List.

Porter Cleveland Fellows

Developing an Edge in the Non-Profits

Due date: Rolling through spring semester, but interested students should start planning in the late fall or early spring.

History of the Award

The Porter Cleveland Fellows Program began in 2005 in honor of Nancy Lyon Porter ’43 because of a generous gift from the Porter family through the Cleveland Foundation. Nancy Porter’s daughter, former Wheaton College Trustee Elizabeth Porter Daane ’77 worked hard to facilitate this gift and establish this program, a fitting tribute to her mother’s lifetime commitment to community service. Both Elizabeth and her mother felt their experiences at Wheaton shaped the people they became.
Community service, in particular, was central and essential to Nancy Porter’s life, and she continuously reminded all five of her children of their duty and responsibility to give back. Organizations that helped families and children were especially important to Mrs. Porter. She was generous with her time and her resources, giving greatly of both during her lifetime to individuals and organizations.

Porter Cleveland Fellows Program FAQs
  1. The Porter Cleveland Fellows Program provides summer funding ($3500 plus paid housing at Case Western Reserve University) for students to intern/volunteer with a community-based organization in Cleveland, Ohio.
  2. Past internship sites have included: Center for Children & Families, Cleveland Leadership Center, Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland Clinic, The Cleveland Foundation, Legal Aid Society, DANCE Cleveland and Youth Opportunities Unlimited.
  3. Porter Cleveland Fellows are also incorporated into the activities of the Cleveland Foundation Internship Program.
Required Paperwork and Forms for All Stipends

Filene Center advisors review all applications and choose recipients based upon the criteria listed in the on-line application. Decisions reached by the advisors are final and non-selected applications will NOT be reconsidered. Students may apply to multiple Wheaton summer funding opportunities, but will only be awarded one in a given summer. Finally, students must be in good academic standing (not currently on academic suspension) and good social standing (having no student conduct violations that have resulted in either probation or suspension) in order to receive a fellowship from Wheaton.

For further information, contact Career Services at: careerservices@wheatoncollege.edu

Year-Round Career Development Grants

Students may apply for this grant to help defray the cost of off-campus professional development and/or career related opportunities.

Wagner Professional Development

The Wagner Professional Development Program was created to help currently enrolled students defray the costs associated with off-campus career-related activities including travel costs associated with:

  1. Term-time internships
  2. Year-round professional conference attendance
  3. Summer national fellowships

Submissions are on a rolling basis. All class years are eligible and may only apply for one each year. Funds will determine “single student – multiple funding” instances.

PLEASE NOTE: Funded internships are considered college-sponsored programs and, as such, are subject to all college policies regarding international and domestic travel, including travel restrictions. These policies may change with little warning in response to global events.

Conference stipends may be used to cover expenses associated with travel to and from the event, conference fees, lodging, food, and non-alcoholic beverages. Stipends cannot be used to pay for non-conference-related expenses. Stipend amounts will differ depending upon a student’s expected expenses and may not cover all of the expenses incurred by a student.

All stipends will be paid at the conclusion of the internship or conference. Students will be expected to submit receipts and account for mileage. Funds are limited and distributed at the discretion of the Career Services Office.