Internship & Career Experience Grant

Current UD full-time, undergraduate students who will be:

• Enrolled full-time as an undergraduate student in the term directly following their experience (students graduating and graduate students are not eligible for a grant)
  
• Pursuing an unpaid or underpaid experience requiring significant financial burden based on location, work and safety requirements, etc.
• Pursuing an opportunity outside of the University of Delaware as there are other funding sources for research, study abroad and other University-based opportunities
• Pursuing an internship/experience with a supervisor or main point of contact to provide confirmation of application information and timeline for student opportunity
• Pursuing an opportunity with an organization not related to any family business or role directly related or supervised by a direct relative. Organizations must also not be owned or operated by the student themselves.
• Requiring assistance in paying for their needs as part of participating in a professional experience. The grant may fund budget items directly related to the professional experience such as housing, food, travel, etc. The grant does not provide funding to supplement income lost in spending less time in a separate paying position.
• Non-U.S. Citizen Student Note: For students who are not U.S. citizens, additional eligibility criteria may apply.
  • International Students: Due to tax regulations, the following criteria apply.
    • Experiences may only be funded that will take place within the United States.
    • CPT authorization is required for funding to be disbursed, even if this is not required by the employer.  Please work with Center for Global Programs & Services staff to apply and gain authorization.
    • Additional paperwork may be required and additional delays are likely.
  • Undocumented Student note: The current funding disbursement process for the ICE Grant presents challenges for this population. The Career Center will work with the student to determine the best course of action privately. Please email Career Access & Mobility Initiative at camiudcareercenter@udel.edu in regard to your application to begin this process.

Applications are all reviewed by a panel of professional staff utilizing a rubric to score entries based on need, learning potential, application effort and experience impact.

Priority for grant selection be based on:

• Demonstrated financial need as documented by UDSIS data and the third essay of the application.
  
• Students not receiving compensation from the employer or other grants/awards from UD programs for the experience
• Experiences that would not be able to occur without financial assistance
• Students who have not previously received a grant (may be superseded by demonstrated financial need)
• Students who have not had access to developmental and educational career experiences, or may have less time to acquire such an experience (time left at UD)
• Funding opportunities that align with the University’s strategic plan in removing barriers of social capital inequities proven to be associated with historically marginalized identities

As part of the application students will submit three required essays and complete an application questionnaire. The questionnaire contains demographic information, information about the experience, an estimated budget and an updated resume*.

The essay questions are as follows:

• Essay 1: Please answer the following questions.
  • Describe the organization and summer internship/experience that you have secured or hope to secure.
  • What are you hoping to learn or gain from this experience? (Think about specific skills, networking opportunities, industry experience, etc. Be as specific as possible; this should relate directly to the professional experience. Additionally, if you have applied to multiple opportunities, choose one as the focus for the main part of this essay.)
  • How do you anticipate this experience will impact you, your career development, or the UD community when you return to campus?
• Essay 2: Why is this the experience you'd like to have funded? What goals/aspirations will it help you accomplish? Without this funding, would you be able to participate in this experience? What barriers exist for your participation in this experience and how would this funding alleviate those barriers?
• Essay 3: Please describe your financial need situation as it stands as of this application. If you have any additional or new financial information that is not reflected in your financial aid package/student records at the University of Delaware that relates to your funding needs, please provide those details.

For the estimated budget portion of the application, you must make a copy of this spreadsheet to create what you estimate your budget will be and attach it to your application as a downloaded file, according to the instructions in the spreadsheet. Please include estimates for food, travel, housing, materials and any other relevant expenses for your experience.

*Please upload resume in PDF or Microsoft Word format only.  Visit the UD Career Center's Canvas module on resumes or Drop-In Resume Reviews for support in this as needed.

The ICE Grant functions with a rolling application and is open at all times. Applications will be reviewed primarily for the academic  year in which they are submitted. Applications are reviewed based on the following timeline.

• Initial review occurs on the 15th of each month.
• From the date of initial review, decisions will be provided to applicants within approximately 15 business days.
  • Example: An application submitted on March 1, would have an initial review on March 15, with notification of application decision provided on or around March 31.
• It is recommended that students apply for the ICE Grant as soon as they begin applying for internships or other career experiences, or immediately after receiving an offer for an experience.  A timeline of two months is preferred in order to gain access to funds before needing to spend them for an experience.

Without sufficient advanced application submission, funding may be a reimbursement rather than an advance. Disbursement of funds follows a separate timeline than application decision. The following considerations affect the funding timeline.

• Following a grant offer, recipients will be prompted to complete an onboarding process which includes a form and confirmation from a supervisor. If the supervisor confirmation arrives more than 30 days before the start date of an experience, funding will not be processed until approximately 30 days before the start date. Funding cannot be processed without the confirmation, the receipt of which is the responsibility of the recipient.
• Once both onboarding and supervisor confirmation are complete, a funding form will be submitted. Delays are possible based on University systems, a recipient's University or experience supervisor, OPT/CPT requirement, etc.

At the time of application, students are not required to have an internship/experience secured. If selected for an award, recipients who do not have an internship at the time of selection should meet with Career Center staff to develop a search strategy. Awardees without a secured internship within three months of application will need to reapply. Please note that the professional experience is not required to be a formal “internship” but must be an experience with a designated supervisor/site host. Job shadows and volunteer opportunities relevant to career fields will be considered.

To strengthen an application for the UD Internship Grant, applicants should consider the criteria that the selection committee will evaluate applications based on.

• Demonstrated financial need and budget that matches said need in being successful in the position described.
• The student can define multiple learning outcomes/goals gained from the experience.
• The student can draw clear connections between their studies and extra-curricular activities with the experience they have described.
• The student can state how this specific internship will help them develop or achieve their career goals.
• Adequacy of preparation and experience reflected in application materials (i.e., resume should be comparable to those that would be submitted to an employer in the respective industry of interest).
• The student demonstrates willingness to apply their learning experiences to the betterment of the UD Internship Grant and the University of Delaware.

Funding is currently provided through Procurement and/or Payroll. Students working at the University will be provided funds through their normal paycheck. Students not working at the University will be provided funds via Procurement in either a check or direct deposit based on filling out a W-9 form for the University. There is a delay between submission of forms for funding and the disbursement of funds as all forms go through either Procurement or Human Resources. More information on payment is provided in the onboarding process of any recipients and should be read carefully.

Yes, the application is rolling and can be used to fund experiences during fall, winter, spring, and summer terms of the University. $5,000 is the maximum award available, no matter the length of the experience, and funding will be adjusted for any offer to best suit the timeframe, need, and budget items presented in the application.

Yes, as is agreed upon in the terms of use required for grant recipients, students must understand that it is their responsibility to report grant funding on tax documents and pay any associated taxes, if required. For students provided funds through an S-Contract, taxes will be taken out through the payroll process. For students provided funds through a Request for Payment to Individual form, taxes should be set aside for potential payment at tax time.

Yes. Simply complete an additional application and note the time/date of submission for the correct application and email Career Access & Mobility Initiative at camiudcareercenter@udel.edu with this information to remove previous applications.

No, there are no experiences attached to this funding. Funding is provided to make outside experiences more feasible. There are other programs at the institution that match students with experiences/employers via funding, but this program is applicable to experiences that a student finds or makes for themselves. If you need assistance in an internship strategy, please feel free to make an appointment with a Career Counselor on Handshake.