The Beinecke Scholarship Program

The Beinecke Scholarship Program was established in 1971 by the Board of Directors of The Sperry and Hutchinson Company to honor Edwin, Frederick, and Walter Beinecke. The Board created an endowment to provide substantial scholarships for 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. Since 1975 the program has selected 719 college juniors from 122 different undergraduate institutions for support during graduate study at any accredited university.

Student Eligibility

Each year approximately 135 colleges and universities are invited to nominate a student for a Beinecke Scholarship, and up to 20 new scholarships will be awarded. Each school invited to participate in the Beinecke Scholarship Program is permitted to make a single nomination each year.

Students enrolled at a participating institution who are interested in applying for a Beinecke Scholarship should contact their campus liaison for information regarding the procedure to be followed in selecting the school’s nominee.

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 2024-25 academic year. “Junior” means a student who plans to continue full-time undergraduate study and who expects to receive a baccalaureate degree between December 2024 and August 2025.
• 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.

Scholarship Conditions

Each Beinecke Scholar receives a total of $35,000 in support of his or her graduate education. The initial payment of $5,000 is awarded directly to the student prior to entering graduate school. This award is intended to offset the costs associated with the graduate application process and to pay for travel expenses directly related to the start of graduated school. While in graduate school, a Beinecke Scholar will receive an additional $30,000 in support. These funds are awarded as a supplement to support provided by the graduate school and the award may be spread over up to five years to comply with institutional limits on the total amount of a student’s annual award. In the absence of institutional support or limits, scholars may receive a maximum award of $15,000 per year. These funds are sent directly to the financial aid officer of the institution where the student is enrolled and disbursed in accordance with the scholarship policy of the academic institution.

In addition, the following policies apply to the award:

• A scholar must be attending an accredited graduate school as a full-time student in good academic standing in order to receive funding.
• A scholar must utilize all funding within five years of graduation.
• A scholar is allowed to take a one-year leave of absence immediately following graduation, but is normally expected to enter graduate school and begin receipt of the Beinecke funding in the following year. A scholar who receives a National Science Foundation, Marshall, Fulbright, Rhodes, Gates or similar scholarship is allowed to postpone receipt of the Beinecke award until the student has completed study under those programs. However, a scholar is still expected to utilize the Beinecke funding within the five-year period following graduation.
• Students who are selected to receive the Truman Scholarship will not be awarded the Beinecke Scholarship.
• A scholar who is unsuccessful in gaining admission to graduate school may petition the program director for permission to defer funding for an additional year.