The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scholarship for Services (SFS) program seeks to develop a superior cybersecurity workforce. In order to meet this goal, it sponsors excellent students who are pursuing degrees in the cybersecurity field. SFS also holds job fairs for students receiving the scholarship specifically and trains and recruits upcoming cyber security professionals to meet the needs of federal, state, local, and tribal governments. In conjunction with the SFS program, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas provides grants to students studying cyber security.
Those granted a Scholarship for Service are also guaranteed future, as all recipients must work with a government agency after graduation, for a period equal to at least the length of the scholarship.
Scholarship Benefits
- Full tuition fees of scholarship recipients including stipends, tuition, and allowances.
- Each recipient will receive a monthly stipend of $27,000 per year for undergraduate students and $37,000 per year for graduate students.
- Recipients will be funded for up to two years.
- Each recipient can be reimbursed up to $6,000/year for the SFS Job Fair and other travel, conferences, research materials and supplies, professional training and certifications, etc.
- Internship opportunities with federal agencies through the national SFS network.
Eligibility Requirements
- A citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
- A full-time student at UNLV pursuing a B.S. or M.S. degree in Computer Science, or M.S. degree in Cybersecurity.
- Must be in at least Sophomore year of Bachelor’s degree or first year of Master’s.
- Must maintain a cumulative 3.2 GPA for undergraduate students, and a 3.3 GPA for graduate students (evaluated every semester).
- Able to meet federal, state, or local government employment selection criteria.
- If accepted, must commit to working at a government agency for the amount of time the scholarship was awarded.
Commitment Obligations and Employment Questions
- What type of positions will fulfill my commitment obligations?
-
The program covers, not only occupational series 2210, but also the array of series in which the duties require unique cyber security skills and knowledge to perform cyber risk and strategic analysis, incident handling and malware/vulnerability analysis, program management, distributed control systems security, cyber incident response, cyber exercise facilitation and management, cyber vulnerability detection and assessment, network and systems engineering, enterprise architecture, investigation, investigative analysis, and cyber-related infrastructure interdependency analyst.
- If I am employed full-time, am I eligible to apply? What if I am a current government employee?
-
- There is no policy against current employees applying for the scholarship. However, the monthly stipend is intended to provide a basic living allowance while in school. Outside work is generally limited to 10 hours per week, and anything more than 15 hours per week will make you ineligible for the stipend.
- If you are a current government employee, there is no guarantee you will return to the same agency where you were previously employed.
- There's no guarantee you will be able to stay in the same location.
- You do not receive a stipend during the summer months. Generally speaking, your 10-week summer internship will be paid employment. A few agencies offer unpaid internships, but we do not require the students to accept them, but you can if you choose to.
- What are my employment options that will satisfy the SFS requirement of service?
-
You can find a list of SFS Executive/Non-Executive Agencies listed online.
FAQ
A list of frequently asked questions and other pertinent information can be found on the OPM website.
How To Apply
You will need to upload the following PDF documents:
- A statement from the applicant not to exceed two single-spaced letter-sized pages (12-point Times Roman font) that discusses the applicant’s motivation for applying, interest in cybersecurity, any past relevant experiences, and future plans. Please include current or past military or other government services
- A copy of the student’s most current transcript (unofficial transcripts are acceptable)
- A current resume
- A draft worksheet for your BS/MS program (please work with your advisor on this)
- Two letters of professional reference, with at least one from a UNLV faculty member and one from a co-op (or other jobs) supervisor, if at least one co-op has been completed. These letters must discuss the student’s professional capabilities and what makes the student an appropriate candidate for the CyberCorps® scholarship.
- One letter of personal reference from a family member. The letter must discuss the student’s personal commitment to serving the nation.
