Fellowships
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships fund graduate students for all SWSEEL languages. For Russian, graduate students must be at the 2nd year of study or higher. Undergraduate students are eligible for FLAS support at the intermediate level of all languages and at the 3rd year or higher for Russian.
Title VIII Fellowships
Title VIII fellowships fund graduate students, area studies specialists and others with a Bachelor's degree for study of Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Dari, Georgian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Mongolian, Polish, Romanian, Russian (at the 3rd year or higher), Tatar, Uyghur and Uzbek at any level of instruction (except Russian).
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to fill out a separate application for fellowships?
If you are participating in the 8-week or 9-week Summer Workshop in Bloomington, you need only fill out the "Fellowship Information" page on the online Summer Workshop application.
You DO NOT need to fill out a separate FLAS or Title VIII application.
If you are an IU student applying for FLAS for Arabic, Turkish, or Persian from the Center for the Study of the Middle East, Islamic Studies Program, or Center for the Study of Global Change, please apply for FLAS directly with the appropriate program via http://www.indiana.edu/~flas. Please indicate on your SWSEEL application that you have applied for funding with said program.
When will I be notified if I have received a fellowship?
Notification will be made about three weeks after the March 1 deadline to the first group of fellowship recipients.
Additional fellowship offers are made throughout April and May due to the fact that: 1) some recipients decline fellowship offers; and 2) funds become available from other FLAS Centers.
If I receive a letter that I am an "alternate," how likely is it that I will receive a fellowship?
An "alternate" is the next person to receive a fellowship award if more funding becomes available from other FLAS Centers, or if a fellowship recipient declines a fellowship offer.
If you receive an alternate letter in April, there is a strong chance that you will receive a fellowship award.
Am I eligible to apply for a FLAS for 1st or 2nd year Russian?
The beginning levels of Russian (levels 1-3, or 1st and 2nd year Russian) are lowest priority for fellowship allocations for FLAS according to the guidelines established by the organization funding this award (the U.S. Department of Education).
Undergraduates will be considered for FLAS only at level 5 (3rd year Russian) or above. Graduate students may be considered for FLAS awards at levels 2 (for 1st/2nd year Russian) or above. We normally do not have our fellowship committee read applications at the level 1 with the exception of applications for First-Year Russian (Level 1) from students enrolled in professional degree programs (i.e. Business, Engineering, Medicine, etc.).
Please let us know if you believe you are eligible to apply for FLAS for Russian Level 1. If you do not qualify for an exception, please be advised that your chances of receiving a fellowship are not great. In most years, we expend our entire fellowship budget without making any awards to beginning level Russian students.
Only when we have received extra fellowship funding very late in the process (after the workshop has already begun) have students at that level been supported. If you believe you do qualify for the exception, please contact the Assistant Director of the Russian and East European Institute, Mark Trotter at matrott@indiana.edu.
If I receive a fellowship do I need to pay the $150 application/administrative fee? When is the $150 administrative fee due?
Every SWSEEL participant must pay the $150 application/administrative fee, regardless of whether you receive a fellowship.
Once you have been accepted to SWSEEL, you will receive instructions as to how to pay the fee online. This fee covers administrative costs and reserves your space in SWSEEL.
The fee must be paid before you can be registered in your courses.
Can the same recommendations and transcripts be used for my SWSEEL application as well as my FLAS and Title VIII applications?
Yes. It is the student’s responsibility to communicate with their references about letters. The application will not prompt references to send their letters to SWSEEL.
Send only one set of supporting documents (transcripts, letters) to:
Marianne DavisSWSEEL Coordinator
Indiana University
1217 East Atwater Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47401-3703
Please inform Marianne if you have applied for graduate admissions to another program at IU or have applied for a FLAS through a different unit at IU, and she will arrange to receive copies of your documents through the other IU program.
What kind of transcripts are necessary?
If you are an IU student, SWSEEL will print your unofficial transcripts from Onestart, you do not need submit transcripts yourself.
Students from other institutions are required to send transcripts to:
Marianne DavisSWSEEL Coordinator
Indiana University
1217 East Atwater Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47401
Graduate students should send both graduate and undergraduate transcripts.
Do I have to live in campus housing?
On-campus housing is an option for all participants, but you are not required to live on-campus. Make sure to mark your preference on the online summer workshop application. You can always change your mind after you apply.