The Positive Social Change Doctoral Scholarship program will award five $20,000 scholarships* to education professionals applying to our doctoral/post-master’s degree programs and who have had a positive impact on their local community’s education challenges.

Scholarship Eligibility

To be eligible, you must:

  • Be a new Walden University student.
  • Enroll for the Sept. 4, 2012, start date for the Ph.D. in Education, the Doctor of Education (Ed.D), or any Education Specialist (Ed.S.) program.
  • Be fully admitted to the corresponding academic program with the university in receipt of all the applicant’s official documentation.
  • Not have received another merit-based Walden scholarship.

Scholarship Criteria

To apply for the scholarship, you must:

  • Submit an essay (see criteria below).
  • Include one letter of recommendation from a school or district official or employer on official letterhead describing how the applicant’s passion for education makes an impact on his or her students, school, district, or community.

Scholarship Application Process

Applicants must submit an essay of no more than 1,000 words describing:

  • How the applicant has demonstrated an ability to make a positive difference in his or her local school’s most pressing education challenges. The essay should address the following questions:
    • What are the local education challenges?
    • What were the specific actions the applicant took to positively impact social change in his or her respective school, community, or district?

Application Deadlines

You must email your essay and letter of recommendation to doctoralscholarship@waldenu.edu by:

  • Monday, July 23, 2012, for the Sept. 4 start date.

Scholarship Funding

Scholarship funds will be disbursed beginning in the student’s first term after being awarded the scholarship and remaining funds will be applied towards the following term(s) until all funds have been used. For funds to be disbursed, the student’s records with the Office of Admissions must be complete, including the student’s official transcript.

Students who withdraw from the program or university, or change to another degree program outside of The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership will forfeit the scholarship. Should the scholarship be forfeited, the student need not reimburse Walden for funds already disbursed to them. In order for scholarship funding to continue throughout the length of the program, recipients must meet the satisfactory academic progress criteria set forth by Walden University’s current catalog for the duration of their program. If a student is in a new semester and forfeited in the previous semester (due to internal lag time), the student will receive a revised bill for the prior semester in which they received the scholarship.

The cost of books and course materials are included in the tuition for many of Walden’s programs and specializations. All recipients who enroll in a Walden program are responsible for the technology fee each term.

This scholarship is not managed by Walden University’s Office of Financial Aid.

To learn more about scholarships, application deadlines, and other benefits that Walden offers to NEA members, please call an enrollment advisor at 1-866-492-5336.

*Not valid for Tennessee residents.

†Only one tuition-reduction benefit may be applied to tuition.