July 5, 2016
Fourteen new applicants were awarded $20,900, and 19 renewal applicants were awarded $31,500.00.
To find out if you were given an award, check the list for new applications or renewal applications. If you received an award, you must follow the instructions for recipients before money will be disbursed.
April 2, 2016
Ten new applicants were awarded $16,000, and 21 renewal applicants were awarded $35,751.46.
August 14, 2014
Updated April 3, 2016: Five (5) new applicants were awarded $10,900. Twenty-three (23) renewal applicants received $37,650.
The 2014-5 awards for the new applicants and the renewal applicants are now posted. You will need your FEF ID to look up your award. Those receiving awards should immediately read the instructions to applicants to facilitate disbursement.
Many deserving applicants did not receive awards due to lack of funds.
If you have received an award and you decide that you do not want it or need it, please contact FEF so that the award can be distributed to another applicant.
May 9, 2013
If you are ABD, you must have your advisor write a letter confirming that you are making progress towards completion of your dissertation. The letter should set a date for completion.
If you receive an award, and then later you request a renewal, your advisor must write a similar letter to support your renewal request. If the expected completion date changes, the advisor must explain why in writing.
May 9, 2013
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire has some good tips about recommendation letters.
I received this question:
I have only completed one semester of college work. My professors do not know me that well. Is it okay to get a recommendation from a high school teacher who [has] known me for the past 4 years?
Applicants have to figure out things for themselves. The review committee is not going to know who did not write your letter of recommendation. They will only look at the letter of recommendation the foundation receives. So just get the best one you can get.
If the letter of recommendation only talks about things you did 10 years ago, then the reviewers will probably wonder what you’ve done the last 10 years. But one year is not a huge length of time.
Finally, if you think that a gap in time is a problem, send in two letters of recommendation. Send in both the stronger one from the more distant past and the weaker, more recent one.
Don’t go overboard with this. For traditional age students, i.e. 18-24, transcripts are a much more important indication of your academic ability than recommendation letters.
July 23, 2010 3 Comments
An applicant who did not receive an award wrote asking for feedback:
Would you happen to be able to offer me any suggestions as to how I can improve my application for other scholarship contests or if I decide to reapply next year? I would appreciate any constructive criticism you may have.
The FEF secretary’s response:
I’m not part of the review committee, and I did not evaluate the applications. Time does not permit me to answer your question in the manner it deserves.
Let me just say that the review process has an element of subjectivity. Other people may have reviewed the applications and determined that yours deserved an award. Sometimes the review committee sees too many of one type of academic program and prefers another.
Fadel Educational Foundation 