Awarding Language Scholarships

Please review the Language Scholarship Policy

Please refer your students to the above policy if they have questions about Graduate School policy regarding the Language Scholarship Exemptions.

You should think of the Language Scholarship process in two parts: Registration and Scholarship Exemption Application.

The Registration Part

  • Student registers for the language course online
  • Student must request approval from the respective program. This request should include:

* Name

* GU ID (8xx xxx xxx)

* Language course name

* Language course number

* Language course credit hours

* Total number of credit hours in which they will be enrolled that semester (including the language course)

The Review / Application Part

A Language Scholarship Budget will no longer be required to request language scholarships for your students; however, please be aware of the policy surrounding the posting of these language exemptions. Once the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences verifies enrollment, an exemption will be posted to a student's account.

Language Scholarship Limitations

  • Ph.D. students may register for courses at any level that are taken for the purpose of developing research abilities. Master's students may register for courses designed to improve their language skills. Normally, these are courses at the 350 level or below. Exceptions must be requested in writing by the Director of Graduate Studies and accompanied by a justification.
  • The language course must be taken for a grade, either a letter grade or, if permitted, S/U grading. Some graduate programs may require their students to enroll in language courses on a letter-grade basis, and some language instructors may require all students in their course to enroll for a letter grade.
  • The student must complete the course, and must do so with a passing grade. If a student withdraws from a language course, the scholarship will be revoked and the student will be responsible for any charges remaining after the tuition refund policy has been applied. If the student receives a failing grade (a grade of “F” or “U”), the scholarship will be revoked retroactively and the student will be responsible for the entire tuition charge due for the course. This provision will apply whether the failing grade is the result of poor academic performance or from failure to attend class and participate as required. The student will also forfeit eligibility for any future Language Study Scholarship support. Note that under the per-credit tuition policy effective Fall 2010, students will be responsible for the specified tuition charges even if their remaining enrollment is 12 or more credits.
  • Students are responsible for any language lab fees assessed to their accounts.
  • The same policies will apply during the Summer terms as during the Fall and Spring semesters, except that Summer Language Scholarships are available only to Graduate School students who are enrolled in a Ph.D. program, including those who are pursuing a dual master's/doctoral program. Summer Language Scholarships are not available to students who are enrolled only in master’s programs. Summer Language Study Scholarships for doctoral students will cover courses that extend over the entire Summer term, even if the course is broken into two parts with separate registrations in Session 1 and Session 2. If a doctoral student enrolls in such a course, the program should include registration for both sessions in the list of recommendations submitted to the Graduate School. Summer Language Scholarships will normally be granted only for courses taught at Georgetown University, not to courses taken at other local universities via Consortium enrollment. Exceptions will be considered for PhD students whose research requires a language that is not taught at Georgetown. Such exceptions must be requested in writing by the Director of Graduate Studies and accompanied by a justification. Under no circumstances will scholarships be provided for direct enrollment in courses at another university. Scholarships will not be provided for English language courses for non-native speakers of English.
  • 1 course per student, per semester
    • The limit does not identify a credit hour maximum as some language courses are 3 credit hours while others might be 6. The limit is on the number of language courses that may be covered by scholarship - 1 per student per semester.
  • If the student’s request is not approved, they must use their own resources to pay for the course or drop the course during Add/Drop.
  • If a student withdraws from the language course, the entire scholarship for that course will be removed and the student will be responsible for the balance resulting from the withdrawal.
    • Example: If a student registers for a 3 credit language course ($6,195) and receives a language scholarship, but withdraws from it during the 50% refund period, the entire $6,195 in language scholarship funding will be removed. At the same time, the 50% refund schedule will leave a charge of $3,097.50 on the student's account. The student will be responsible for and must pay the $3,097.50 left on the account.
    • The refund schedule is established by the Office of the University Registrar.
    • Bill payments must be done through the Office of Billing and Payment Services.

Language Scholarship Notes

  • The scholarship comes from a cost center internal to the Graduate School Deans' Office. It does not impact program allocations from the Graduate School.
  • The Graduate School will request the Office of Billing and Payment Services post Language Study Scholarship Exemptions with the goal of having them appear on the student’s account before the payment due date. Scholarship exemptions will continue to be posted up to seven (7) calendar days after the end of the Add/Drop period.