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 active, enrolled 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. Active, enrolled F-1 international students with any level of demonstrated financial need 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 not covered by other grants or resources 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 not covered by financial aid 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 every requested 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 was created to support students on F-1 visas. Students must be an active, enrolled student, i.e. students are not eligible to use grants when taking a personal leave.

Eligible students may apply for funding through the Alvarez Access Fund, but students demonstrating significant financial need may receive priority. This grant seeks to enable participation in applied curricular or career related experiences for international students by filling funding gaps. Grants are to be used for demonstrated need, not as wage replacement or supplement. Funds cannot be used for expenses covered by other grants or sources and awards may be reduced or revised if other funding is received for the same expenses in order to maximize the impact of Alvarez funding.

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

Requirements

All students interested in applying for the Alvarez Guarantee Fund are required to attend a one-time information session or one-on-one meeting during the school year 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 by the deadlines may not be considered. Note that students who receive grant funding will be required to report this during tax season.

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 C. Nobles (sanobles@davidson.edu) in ISE.

Information Sessions & Grant Planning Workshops

Read the Tips for a Successful Alvarez Grant Application and use the Alvarez Grant Planning Worksheet and Alvarez Grant Rubric to brainstorm and give structure to your ideas. Refer to the Resources for Alvarez Grant Opportunities by Topic and the Frequently Asked Questions to learn about specific details.

Attendance at one information session or one-on-one meeting is required for all applications for an Alvarez Guarantee. Upcoming information sessions will be:

Tuesday, August 6, 2025 | 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Wall 281 Creative Crossroads
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 | 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Knobloch Campus Center Room 313 - Arthur Vining Davis Room
Tuesday, January 20, 2026 | 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Knobloch Campus Center Room 313 - Arthur Vining Davis Room
Tuesday, March 17, 2026 | 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Knobloch Campus Center Room 313 - Arthur Vining Davis Room

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, October 24, 2025 | 3–5 pm | WALL-281 Creative Crossroads
Friday, March 27, 2026 | 3–5 pm | WALL-281 Creative Crossroads

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 and the Alvarez Guarantee 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 or one-on-one during the school year before submitting a grant application in order to be considered:

Application Form in WildcatSync
Resume/CV
Projected Budget Form
Evidence of Projected Costs (example of evidence)
Statement of Support from Academic/Holistic Advisor

All Alvarez Grant applications are submitted through the International Student Engagement'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 18, 2025 through March 30, 2026, 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 based on the below deadlines. Grants are typically used by students to enhance activities during break periods (fall break, winter break, spring break, summer break) but activities that take place at times other than a break period can also be considered.

Applications for the 2025-26 academic year are accepted during four application cycles during the academic year. Grant applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST on the date of the deadline. All deadlines are firm. Applications missing any documents or not submitted through the application portal by this deadline may not be considered. 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 semester	Aug 18	Sept 1	Sept 21	Oct 3
Winter break	Oct 13	Oct 27	Nov 16	Nov 28
Spring semester	Jan 20	Feb 2	Feb 22	Mar 6
Summer break	Mar 9	Mar 30	Apr 19	May 1

*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.

Post-Experience Reflection

Grant recipients are required to complete a Post-Experience Reflection to the International Student Engagement portal in WildcatSync. Students who receive a grant must submit their reflection materials or request an extension in order to be eligible for another grant. The deadline will be communicated in the award email. The post-experience report must include the items below:

A highlight slide
1-3 high resolution photos
A written reflective essay
An expense report
A thank you card to the Alvarez family