About
APPLICATION UPDATE as of April 28, 2025:
Thank you for your interest in Career Services Summer Funding Program. Please note, we are closed for funding and will not be able to accept applications for a Round 4. If you have specific questions or concerns, please reach out to Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu.
Many summer internships, particularly in certain fields, provide only a small stipend or do not pay at all. Sometimes the internships are located in cities with a high cost of living. This means that some students are unable to take advantage of excellent positions, which are sometimes the first step towards a career in a given field. Other students wish to participate in nonprofit, NGO or research work away from home. Career Services has funds to allow select students to pursue unfunded or under-funded summer opportunities. Awards are intended to cover travel expenses, living expenses, and/or other expenses related to the summer experience, up to $5,000.
This is a competitive process, so please pay close attention to the details and instructions below to give your application the best chance of success.
Eligibility Requirements
Students applying for Career Services Summer Funding must:
- Be a currently enrolled, full-time, undergraduate Penn student returning to Penn as a full-time undergraduate for the Fall 2025 semester
- Graduating students and students who are on leave during the spring 2025 semester are not eligible to apply
- Graduate students in need of funding support, please visit our graduate funding page for more details!
- Receive financial aid from Penn and have a family total income between $75,001 and $140,000 (as determined by Student Financial Aid)
- Students need to be receiving institutional aid, and must meet minimum level of aid to be considered for funding.
- Highly Aided students should contact Student Financial Aid for summer funding: Highly Aided Summer Funding program
- Have an offer for a summer opportunity such as an internship, service program, or research opportunity? *
- Opportunities must be at least 8 weeks in length and at least 30 hours per week
- You must attach the offer letter/email to Career Services with your application to be considered
- Study abroad programs and summer courses, even those with an internship or volunteer component, are not eligible for funding
- Fee-based internship programs are not eligible for funding
- For international experiences, register your travel with Penn before departing (more details will be provided to applicants receiving funding)
- Write a brief (450 word) summary of your experience at the end of the summer, which will be shared with our donors and posted on our blog
*RESEARCH UPDATE as of March 26, 2025: In light of recent updates, research opportunities at the University of Pennsylvania or Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania are now eligible for consideration of funding through Career Services. Non-Penn research opportunities continue to be eligible for consideration. If you have specific questions or concerns, please reach out to Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu.
Summer Funding Program FAQ
For more detail on eligibility and application requirements, visit our Summer Funding Program FAQs by clicking here.
Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award (CAS Undergrads Only)
One of the dedicated summer funding awards through Career Services is the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award, created in June 2017 by Suzie Turner C’82 and David Schulman C’82 L’85 to allow undergraduate Penn students to follow their passions to further human rights causes in the U.S. and around the globe. If you are an undergraduate student in the College and your opportunity is related to human rights, please indicate that as part of your Career Services summer funding application questionnaire. (Please note that receiving financial aid from Penn is not a requirement to be considered for the Turner Schulman award.)
Please Do NOT Apply for Summer Funding from Career Services If:
- You are seeking funding for a summer course, even if that course has an internship or volunteer component
- You are already receiving funds that cover the cost of living and travel expenses for this opportunity
- You are participating in a fee-based internship program
- Your summer experience is shorter than 8 weeks
- Your summer experience requires fewer than 30 hours of work per week
- You will graduate in May 2025 or August 2025
- You have already received $5,000 or more from other Penn summer funding programs for Summer 2025
- You are pursuing summer opportunities through GRIP or PURM
How to Apply
- APPLICATION UPDATE as of April 28, 2025: Thank you for your interest in Career Services Summer Funding Program. Please note, we are closed for funding and will not be able to accept applications for a Round 4. If you have specific questions or concerns, please reach out to Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu.
- Submit, as part of your application, the following components:
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- Resume – please see our How to Write a Resume Guide for assistance
- Internship Offer Letter – this can be a formal letter or a screenshot of the email extending you the offer
- Detailed Budget – complete the Excel budget template and upload to your application as a PDF file
- Expenses you can include in your budget
- Rent/housing in your internship location (Find summer housing resources here.)
- Utilities (gas, electricity, etc.)
- Food
- Transportation to and from your internship location
- Local transportation for daily commute
- Immunizations
- Travel visas
- Other expenses directly related to the work experience
- Expenses that you may not include in your budget
- Any expenses or savings for the 2025-2026 academic year
- Philadelphia rent costs (if you are interning outside of Philadelphia)
- Security deposits for housing
- Summer courses
- Note that preference will be given to students who submit a modest budget that demonstrates an ability to live economically
- Expenses you can include in your budget
- Personal Statement – in roughly 450 words, please include the following
- The position you have been offered and whether this is a funded or unfunded position
- What you hope to learn from this position in terms of specific skills and knowledge, and why this will help you in your career path
- Why this particular opportunity is a good fit, and what you have done to determine this
-
Looking for some guidance?
Personal statements can be reviewed by the Peer Career Advising staff. Please upload your document to the Document Request Form and select the Personal Statement category upon submission. Please keep in mind that Peer Career Advisors aim to review all documents within one week of submission and plan accordingly.
If you have a general question about the application/program, please contact Barbara Hewitt, Executive Director at hewittb@upenn.edu
Review Process and Notification
A committee will review all applications and will select those who will receive support. Application deadlines are not rolling – the committee will review all applications following each deadline and notify all applicants at the dates listed in the table below. You may not submit the same application for more than one round. If your first application is not accepted, you may apply for a later round with a different opportunity.
Please note that funding is not guaranteed for all students who apply – the process is competitive, though Career Services aims to support as many students as possible.
*The award will be treated as taxable income, which the recipient will be responsible to report for the tax year in which it was received. Please note that funding awarded to international students will be pre-taxed at a 30% rate, unless there are tax treaties in place with the origin country, per Penn’s policy. Funding awarded to domestic students will be treated as taxable income, post-award.*
Deadlines
You must have already received your offer for your internship/(non-Penn) research/work experience in order to apply. We encourage you to apply for the earliest round that you are eligible for so that you can have your funding disbursed to you before the summer begins. Note that these are not rolling deadlines, and applications will be reviewed all at once following each deadline.
*Please note that applications submitted for Round 4 may not be reviewed if there are no remaining funds. As funds are distributed each round until depleted, we recommend that you submit your application materials to be reviewed for the earliest round available*
APPLICATION UPDATE as of April 28, 2025: Thank you for your interest in Career Services Summer Funding Program. Please note, we are closed for funding and will not be able to accept applications for a Round 4. If you have specific questions or concerns, please reach out to Ella Studdiford at ellastud@upenn.edu.
| Round #1 | Round #2 | Round #3 |
Round #4 CLOSED |
|
| Application Deadline | Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 11:00pm EST | Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 11:00pm EST | Sunday, April 13, 2025 at 11:00pm EST | |
| Decisions Emailed | Friday, March 14, 2025 by 5:00pm EST | Friday, April 11, 2025 by 5:00pm EST | Friday, May 2, 2025 by 5:00pm EST | |
| Deadline to Accept Award | Friday, March 21, 2025 at 12:00pm EST | Friday, April 18, 2025 at 12:00pm EST | Friday, May 9, 2025 at 12:00pm EST | |
| **Estimated** Award Disbursement | Friday, April 4, 2025 by 5:00pm EST | Friday, May 2, 2025 by 5:00pm EST | Friday, May 30, 2025 by 5:00pm EST |
Please note that the above dates of award disbursement are estimated; while Career Services will make all efforts to pay selected students by the designated dates, delays may occur.
