Lifetime Experience Grants
About LTE Grants
The Lifetime Experience Grant program, first funded with the generous support of the WKU Sisterhood, is open to students in all majors across all campuses. It is designed to help students become more competitive for national scholarships by supporting high-impact educational activities, including engagement in undergraduate research or creative activities, diversity and global learning, service or community-based learning, and internships or other forms of experiential learning.
In the past, students have used these grants of up to $3000 to:
- pursue low-paid or unpaid internships in the U.S. and abroad
- gain training in their discipline not available at WKU
- fund service projects in the U.S. and abroad
- conduct research
In return for funding, recipients must
- meet with an advisor in the Office of Scholar Development and apply for at least one
national scholarship. Preference is given to those applying for the following:
- Boren Scholarship
- Critical Language Scholarship
- Fulbright US Student Grant
- Gilman Scholarship
- Goldwater Scholarship
- Marshall Scholarship
- Mitchell Scholarship
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
- Rhodes Scholarship
- Gates Cambridge Scholarship
- Truman Scholarship
- Udall Scholarship
- complete a short service project aimed at encouraging other students to pursue similar
experiences. Examples of service projects include:
- an Instagram Story takeover
- participating in a panel or information session
- giving a class presentation
Application Deadlines:
OSD will review and award LTE applications monthly until funding has been exhausted. The first review deadline for 2021-2022 will be November 1, 2021.
Eligibility:
- Must be enrolled at WKU with at least one full semester left to complete.
- Must have a 3.0 GPA.
- Must be planning to apply for a nationally competitive scholarship.
- Must be able to demonstrate how LTE funding would increase one's competitiveness for one or more national scholarships.
- Preference will be given to students planning to apply for at least one of the following national scholarships: Boren, Critical Language, Fulbright, Gilman, Goldwater, Marshall, Mitchell, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Rhodes, Gates Cambridge, Truman, Udall.
Restrictions on Funds:
- The LTE Grant Program is not intended to fund coursework in the U.S. or abroad. Students seeking funding for study abroad should indicate how they use funding to support activities outside normal coursework.
- The LTE Grant is not a travel grant. Students may include conference travel in their budgets; however, conference participation should not be the focus of the proposal.
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