Alvarez Grant Program

Alvarez Grant Program

The Alvarez Grant Program provides financial support to international students seeking assistance with cost-of-living expenses associated with career and curricular pursuits (e.g., unpaid/low-paying internships or research experiences, conferences, job shadowing, university/college campus visits, interviews, etc.), or needs related to academic success (e.g., class & material fees, etc.).

Alvarez Access Fund

The Alvarez Access grant amounts will rarely exceed the standard amount of $1,200 and never exceed $2,000. All F-1 international students are eligible to receive the Access grant twice in an academic year (fall, spring, and summer).

Alvarez Guarantee Fund

The Alvarez Guarantee Fund provides funding for two $4,000 career experiences or programs that complement academic coursework. F-1 international students receiving any level of scholarship or financial aid from Davidson College are eligible.

Applying for Access and Guarantee Simultaneously

Students who qualify for the Alvarez Guarantee may also apply for an Alvarez Access grant at the same time to increase their award amount. Unlike occasions when students apply for Access awards independent of the Guarantee, when an Access application is combined with a Guarantee application, the total amount of the Access may exceed $1200, but will never surpass $2000.

What are examples of the types of expenses for which I can use the Alvarez Grant Program?

The Alvarez Grant Program funds must be used for curricular or career related experiences. Funds may support activities such as:

  • Costs associated with a campus visit of a prospective graduate school;
  • Housing, meals, and living costs during an unpaid internship in the student’s field of interest;
  • Support for a Davidson summer academic program, either domestically or abroad;
  • Travel to a job shadowing experience or interview;
  • Housing and living costs to live on campus while performing summer research in a laboratory;
  • Expenses (travel, lodging, food, registration) to attend an academic conference or job fair;
  • Course-related expenses which a student is not able to pay for (computers and other electronic devices generally excluded).
  • Application fees for graduate school and/or post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT).

Note: The Alvarez grant provides financial support to students. Financial support does not mean that each expense for the opportunity is guaranteed to be covered by the grant. Students should not build their academic/professional opportunities around the expectation of receiving 100% grant funding. Rather, students should craft realistic opportunities around reasonable budgets and use the grant funding to supplement their expected costs. Students should do their best to continue to search for other ways to fund their plans such as contacting other offices on campus that have grants.

Eligibility

The Alvarez Grant Program is only for non-U.S. resident students on F-1 visas and will not be offered to dual citizens (U.S. and another country) or U.S. citizens who are living abroad when they enroll at Davidson. Nor will it be made available to students on visa-types other than F-1.

Eligible international students may apply for funding through the Alvarez Access Fund, but students demonstrating significant financial need may receive priority. This grant seeks to fill funding gaps in applied curricular or career related experiences for international students.

Only students who receive financial aid from Davidson may apply for the Alvarez Guarantee Fund grant.

Both grants follow strict deadlines and a firm application process. Grant administration is always based on availability of funding for a given fiscal year.

Requirements

All students interested in applying for the Alvarez Guarantee Fund are required to attend a one-time information/grant planning session during the school year before submitting a grant application in order to be considered. Students applying for the Alvarez Access fund are not required to attend an information session, but are invited to do so if they desire. All students are also required to complete a timely application (in its entirety), as well as submit items following their experience. Applications missing any documents and/or Statement of Support by the deadlines will not be considered.

Meeting with Tynisha Brice in the Matthews Center for Career Development, who is an excellent resource for you when creating your grant proposal (tybrice@davidson.edu) is strongly encouraged. Additional follow up questions can be directed to Sara Nobles (sanobles@davidson.edu).

Information Sessions & Grant Planning Workshops

Learn more about the Alvarez Grant Program through a self-paced info session in WildcatSync (estimated 20 minutes). An info session is required for all applications for an Alvarez Guarantee. Read the Tips for a Successful Alvarez Grant Application and use the Alvarez Grant Planning Worksheet to brainstorm and give structure to your ideas. Refer to the the Frequently Asked Questions to learn about specific details. Upcoming information sessions will be:

  • Tuesday, January 16 | 11 am - 12 pm | Chambers Hall 1003
  • Thursday, February 22 | 11 am - 12 pm | Chambers Hall 1003
  • Thursday, April 11 | 11 am - 12 pm | Chambers Hall 1003

Students are encouraged to bring their pre-formed ideas to planning workshops to work with Sara Nobles and Tynisha Brice to refine their proposals. Upcoming workshop dates will be:

  • Friday, January 19 | 2-4 pm | International Lounge, Duke Hall
  • Thursday, January 25 | 2-4 pm | International Lounge, Duke Hall
  • Friday, March 1 | 2-4 pm | International Lounge, Duke Hall
  • Monday, March 11 | 2-4 pm | International Lounge, Duke Hall

Application Process

If you plan to apply for both the Access and Guarantee grants, you must submit the WildcatSync form twice, once for each grant. Both the Alvarez Access Fund and the Alvarez Guarantee Fund require the following components to be submitted in their entirety prior to listed deadlines. Note that students applying for the Alvarez Guarantee must attend a one-time information session/grant planning workshop during the school year before submitting a grant application in order to be considered:

All Alvarez Grant applications are submitted through the International Student Program’s portal in WildcatSync. Applications missing any documents listed above by the deadlines will not be considered.

Deadlines

The grant application portal will be open from August 28, 2023 through April 29, 2024, but there will be specific deadlines for students requesting funds to be used during a specific grant application cycle. Funding will not be allocated on a rolling basis but rather only subsequent to the below deadlines.

Applications for the 2023/2024 academic year are accepted at five points during the academic year. All deadlines are firm and all components of the application must be submitted by the deadline. Applications missing any documents and/or the Statement of Support or not submitted through the application portal by this deadline will not be considered. Grant applications should be submitted as early as possible. The committee reserves the right to revise dates for unforeseen events.

Session to use grant

Application opens

Application deadline

Acceptance deadline

Expected payment date*

Fall break / fall semester

Aug 28

Sept 4

Sept 17

Sept 29

Winter break 

Oct 2

Oct 16

Oct 29

Nov 17

Spring break / spring semester

Jan 16

Jan 29

Feb 11

Feb 23

Summer break 

Feb 26

Mar 11

Mar 31

Apr 12

Next fall break 

Apr 15

Apr 29 

May 12

May 24

*This payment date is only applicable to students who meet the award acceptance deadline. Submitting an acceptance after this date may result in delayed payments.