Your economic status is factored into the selection process for the Foreign Affairs information Technology (FAIT) Fellowship. So, it is important that you fully complete the financial section of the application.
The FAIT Fellowship is designed to attract individuals from diverse backgrounds and those with financial need who want to pursue in IT-related bachelor’s or master’s degree and a career in the Foreign Service.
Although your financial documents and income information may demonstrate your financial need, don’t skip the Statement of Financial Need. This part of the application gives you the opportunity to tell your unique story, beyond what the numbers say. Your statement can strengthen your application in the selection process.
As you draft your statement, you should:
- Describe your personal situation and why you need academic funding.
- Share your family’s story – your parent’s socioeconomic status or any circumstances that affect your ability to attend or pay for college.
- Provide quantitative data in your statement, including the amounts of financial assistance you’ve received and your outstanding education-related debt.
- Add any plans that you’ve made for covering educational costs (such as, increasing educational debt, working while in school, selecting schools with lower tuition, etc.).
- Mention if you receive educational funding from external sources like scholarships or the GI Bill.
You’ll need to tell your story in 400 words or less, so you may find it helpful to create a first draft in a Word document, run a spell check, and edit it to be within the word limit.
Remember – the selection panel reads every Statement of Financial Need when reviewing applications. Providing this statement in your application can strengthen your application by adding depth to your story.
