Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship revises eligibility policy, Pacific Islanders assured of eligibility

In our last post, I got to tell you that a program which provides over $1 million in annual financial aid is adding Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders as an eligible group.  In this post, we get to share very similar news, after hearing back from the Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship.  This underrepresented minority program has also revised its eligibility policy, and has assured the Pacific Islander Access project that Pacific Islanders are recognized as an eligible group!

While the previous policy limited eligibility to specifically mentioned underrepresented minority groups (of which Pacific Islanders were not one), the new criteria requires that applicants:

...come from groups that have been historically underrepresented in graduate programs

(You can find U.S. Census years of data confirming Pacific Islander underrepresentation in graduate programs right here: link)

We heard this news directly from the University of Illinois at Chicago, which administers the Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship, after contacting them following our national study on Pacific Islander eligibility for underrepresented minority scholarships and fellowships. We are very pleased with this decision to include Pacific Islanders, and commend the university for making the right decision.

The Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship is an exciting and generous financial aid program for underrepresented minorities interested in attending the University of Illinois at Chicago. In the first year, recipients of their recruitment award receive $25,000 per academic year plus a full tuition and fee waiver.  Together, this can easily amount to over $30,000 in annual financial support.  We encourage you to learn more by visiting UIC's webpage on the program, which you can find here: link

Mahalo once again to the Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship for opening its doors to Pacific Islanders!

And mahalo to you for reading.

Kawika