Scholarships for Student Experiential Learning

College of Liberal Arts

Creating opportunities for students to follow their academic pursuits outside the classroom

Students of the College of Liberal Arts are granted inspiring hands-on learning opportunities in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Through these experiences, students can discover new career pathways, hone valuable research skills, and collaborate with peers and researchers on campus and around the world. CLA recognizes that these experiential learning opportunities enhance and positively impact student learning.

The Experiential Scholarship is for CLA undergraduate students wanting to participate in a study abroad program, in-the-field research opportunity, professional internship, or another unique involvement that takes them outside the classroom.

Student Focus

Supporting the next generation of policy makers

Political science senior Kari Hoy uses the Experiential Learning Scholarship from the College of Liberal Arts to learn from her peers

Kari Hoy’s original goal to enter public service stemmed from a government class in high school. Initially wanting to become an immigration lawyer after involvement with her local representative, Rep. Joseph Neguse, her interest transitioned to international politics upon starting at the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).

Wanting to leave her small hometown of Evergreen, Colorado, Hoy toured OSU and loved the campus and Corvallis’ natural beauty, enrolling as a political science major. Her academic journey took another turn after taking Michael Trevathan’s International Environmental Policy and Politics (PS 477) class sophomore year, prompting her to add environmental economics as a minor.

Read the full story

Eligibility

To apply you must:

be a CLA undergraduate student in good academic standing;
registered for at least one credit at OSU at the time of receiving funds;
and apply for the scholarship during the term prior to when your experiential learning opportunity begins.

On rare occasions the scholarship committee will consider an application for a current term, but only within the first two weeks of the term. Scholarship funds will not be awarded for past experiences or terms beyond the next term.

Competitive Scholarship

The CLA Experiential Learning Scholarship is competitive, and funds are limited. Preference will be given based on:

financial need,
first generation college student status,
and unpaid experiences.

In addition, preference will be given based on scholarship funds used for purposes directly related to experience such as travel to study abroad location, living expenses to cover unpaid internship, conference registration, travel and hotel costs.

Award Amount

The scholarship award amount ranges from $1,000 up to a maximum of $5,000.

Application Dates

The CLA Experiential Scholarship will open on:

Week 1 for fall, winter, and spring terms
Week 2 for summer term

Application Closing Date

The CLA Experiential Scholarship application will close for all terms: Friday at 5 p.m. of Week 5.

Application

Go to ScholarDollars to complete the application form.

ScholarDollars

Get Involved!

Want to help support experiential learning scholarships for students? Click Here to make your gift today and select “Student Success fund in the College of Liberal Arts” from the menu. Or you can contact Lauren Servias, Assistant Director-CLA, at [email protected] or 541-609-9557 if you have questions or want to learn more about giving options.

Scholarship Recipients

2026

Kiyah Hill

Psychology Major, Education Minor

Buenos Aires, Argentina Study Abroad

I am a second-year Psychology major with a minor in Education at Oregon State University. I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and OSU was actually the first college I ever applied to and got accepted into. At the time, it felt like a huge step—I had never even been to Corvallis, and the…