SIT increases scholarships for Peace Corps volunteers repatriated due to COVID-19

Publication Date: March 31, 2020
Publication Location: Brattleboro, Vermont
Contact: Kathryn Schoenberger  |  [email protected]

Scholarship benefits apply to SIT Part-time Hybrid and Global Master’s Degrees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont – Extending its six-decade connection with the Peace Corps, SIT Graduate Institute is offering enhanced academic scholarships to thousands of returning Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) forced to leave their posts this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scholarships give these Peace Corps volunteers access to SIT's part-time hybrid and global master’s degree programs at significantly reduced tuition.

Peace Corps volunteers are now eligible to receive 40 percent off their tuition for a part-time hybrid master’s degree through the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program and 35 percent off their tuition for an SIT Global or part-time hybrid master’s degree through the National Peace Corps Association. These scholarships have been increased from SIT’s standard rates to RPCVs of 35 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in support of the spring 2020 returnees, and in recognition of SIT’s longstanding relationship with the Peace Corps.

“SIT has supported the Peace Corps community from its inception in the early 1960s, when we were one of the first institutions in the nation to train Peace Corps volunteers in a variety of international languages, as they prepared to travel abroad,” said Carol Jenkins, CEO of World Learning Inc., SIT’s parent organization. “Today, we continue to stand by our friends and their outstanding work, offering Peace Corps volunteers a way to make the most of their time back home, should they wish to purse their higher education.”

SIT grew out of a Peace Corps partnership with The Experiment in International Living, a global study abroad program started in 1932 that continues today as part of World Learning, Inc. In the early 1960s, Peace Corps founding director Sargent Shriver, who participated as both a student and leader in Experiment programs, turned to the organization to train outbound Peace Corps volunteers. Out of that partnership, SIT was founded in 1964.

Standard SIT scholarships for all RPCVs will remain in place, while those who returned home due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be offered the additional scholarship benefits for SIT master’s programs starting between 2020 and 2022. Prospective students may apply here. A full list of SIT master’s programs is below.

Many of SIT’s graduates go on to work in high-level positions with organizations such as the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and major foundations across the globe.  

“SIT’s master’s programs are built on its nearly 90-year history of training the next generation of intelligent, compassionate global leaders at a time when the world faces unprecedented challenges,” said Dr. Sophia Howlett, president of SIT. “Like the Peace Corps, we are proud to stand at the forefront of global institutions sending effective leaders, professionals and change-makers into the world.”

To learn more about SIT Graduate Institute's scholarships for returning Peace Corps volunteers or SIT master's and doctorate programs, please reach out to Mary Kay Sigda at [email protected] or Maira Tungatarova [email protected].