2021 Scholarships and Fellowships for Undocumented Students

For students who do not qualify for financial aid, private scholarships, grants, and fellowships are essential to help fund college tuition and other educational expenses. This is the situation for many undocumented students. It is important to be aware of the scholarships and fellowships that are available to all students regardless of immigration status.

Scholarships are funds to support student’s educational pursuits. Scholarships may be need-based or merit-based. There may be other qualifying factors such as participation in community service/civic engagement, major, class level, city or county of residence, and so on.

Fellowships are funding opportunities for individuals for the purpose of professional or career development. Fellowships might support research in a specific field, development of a new business, organization, or initiative, a creative endeavor or project, career-related training, and more.

“Hot off the press,” immigrantsrising.org has published a collection of 178 new scholarships and fellowships to their 2021 Scholarship and Fellowship Directories. The complete list now contains 427 undergraduate and 306 graduate/post-graduate scholarships and fellowships that do not require proof of citizenship or legal permanent residency. 495 are open to undocumented students without DACA. The directories are organized by application due date. While many of the opportunities are specific to the California Bay area, where Immigrant’s Rising is located, there are many based in other states as well as national opportunities.

By Tara Malone
Tara Malone Associate Director, Regional Campuses Pronouns: she/her/hers