Guidelines

• The type of training and how it will be provided must be clearly stated.
• A schedule that includes a minimum of weekly in-person or virtual (Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangout, Zoom) check-ins with supervisor
• Opportunities to present work or collaborate with other employees

• Students who have secured a summer internship opportunity that is unpaid or minimally paid (less than $12.50/hr) may apply for a fellowship to finance their living expenses.
• Students who are interested in pursuing faculty-mentored research during the summer may apply for a fellowship to support their work as a researcher.
• Research proposals must be developed according to program guidelines and endorsed by a University of Richmond faculty member.
• Each program has its own requirements, and students must qualify according to program standards. GPA will be considered by some programs. Review program qualifications for further details.
• First-time applicants who have not received UR Summer Fellowship funding in a previous summer are given priority in the awarding process. Students who have previously received a summer fellowship are not guaranteed an additional summer of funding support.
• Students may only be awarded one fellowship per summer
• In order to be eligible for a summer fellowship, applicants must meet enrollment requirements for the semester before and after the desired summer experience:
  • Applicants must be enrolled full-time during the semester preceding the summer fellowship OR be on an approved leave and have met all of the criteria to return in the fall semester following the summer experience;
  • Applicants must be registered for a full-time course load for the fall semester following the desired fellowship period OR have an approved leave scheduled for the fall semester with plans to return in the spring of the following year;
  • Applicants who plan to transfer to another institution the semester following a summer fellowship period are not eligible for funding. Students who receive funding and sign a funding contract then decide to transfer during the course of the summer fellowship period may be required to reimburse the University for the funding amount granted.

•  A summer internship opportunity that is unpaid or minimally paid (less than $12.50/hr)
  • Commission based experiences or opportunities where total compensation is not determined prior to the start date are not permitted
• A summer experience must be a minimum of 240 hours and at least 6 weeks. The maximum number of hours that will be funded is 400
• A summer experience can start no earlier than the Monday after the last day of spring semester exams and must end no later than the Friday prior to the first day of the fall semester.
• A summer experience cannot take place at a business owned by the student’s family member
• In order to be an eligible internship, an experience must take place at an organization other than the University of Richmond
• Internships with organizations or businesses that are not affiliated with the University, but are owned by a UR-employee or in which the student will be supervised by a UR employee, are not typically eligible for funding through URSF. Employees who wish to hire or supervise a student for work at an outside organization with which they are affiliated must first contact the General Counsel’s office for review based on the University’s Conflict of Interest policy.
• In order for an internship to be eligible for UR Summer Fellowship funding, it must meet the National Association of Colleges and Employer’s (NACE) criteria to be defined as an internship:
• Shadowing experiences are not eligible for a UR Summer Fellowship award, as they do not meet the above requirements.
• A summer experience must be done at an organization that meet Career Services guidelines
• Supervisors must:
  • Be a professional with expertise and education and/or professional background in the field of the experience.
  • Not be a current University of Richmond student.
  • Not be a member of the student’s family

The amount of the awards will be made according to the number of hours spent in the fellowship at the rate of $12.50/hour. The minimum number of hours is 240 over the course of six weeks; the maximum is 400. For example:

• 400 hours = $5,000
• 320 hours = $4,000
• 240 hours = $3,000

The award rate is non-negotiable; cost-of-living adjustments are not made based on the location of a given internship or research experience.

Students who are minimally paid by their site or another funding source (such as Bonner or Richmond Scholars) may apply to be topped off to the stated amounts. For example, if a student is paid a $1,000 stipend from the internship site for a 400-hour internship, they may apply to receive $4,000.

International internship or research experiences obtained via fee-based/third-party companies or providers are not eligible for UR Summer Fellowship funding, with the exception of the following approved providers: CIEE; IES; ISA Internships, and the diiVe summer 2024 consulting internships. Domestic(located in the US) internship or research experiences obtained via fee-based/third-party organizations are eligible for UR Summer Fellowship funding. It is highly encouraged that students engage with the resources provided by the university prior to utilizing a fee based/3rd party organization to secure a domestic experience. Approved third-party provider internships must meet all of the stated criteria for the desired URSF funding program, including total number of hours.

Students are not permitted from enrolling in credit-bearing work during the period of their undergraduate research or internship. If a student has a compelling reason to take a class during the same time period as their UR Summer Fellowship, the credit-bearing work cannot interfere with the student’s research or internship, and it should not require any adjustment to the student’s research or internship work schedule. If you would like to seek an exception to enroll in credit-bearing work during the period of your fellowship, contact Brendan Halligan. In all cases, students who have a UR Summer Fellowship must receive permission from their site supervisor or faculty mentor before they may enroll in credit-bearing work during the same time period.

Students are eligible to receive funding through UR Summer Fellowships regardless of their family’s financial circumstances or whether they are receiving financial aid. Funding may affect the amount of financial aid that a student is eligible to receive during summer session if the research or internship overlaps with the student’s summer school enrollment. Funding will not affect the amount of financial aid the student is eligible to receive for the academic year following the summer the fellowship is received; however, it may affect a student’s eligibility for need-based financial aid for the year after. UR Summer Fellowship funding must be reported as student income on the next year’s financial aid application, just as income from any other summer job would be reported, and it will be assessed as part of the overall review of the student’s eligibility for need-based financial aid. We strongly encourage students to speak with a financial aid advisor to learn what, if any, impact UR Summer Fellowship funding might have on their financial aid eligibility.

All UR Summer Fellowship recipients and their internship or research supervisors sign a contract at the outset of the funded experience that states: “If you do not fulfill the conditions of this contract and the internship/research requirements, you will repay the University for the initial 70% advanced to you and forfeit any right to the remaining 30%.” Extenuating circumstances should be discussed with the student’s UR Summer Fellowship program manager.

Examples of situations in which award recipients could be expected to remit partial or full repayment of summer fellowship awards include:

• The student is dismissed or fired by the organization hosting the student as an intern or researcher
• The student is awarded fellowship funding, but does not accept / participate in the internship or research opportunity for which the fellowship was awarded
• The student departs an internship or research experience prior to the stated end of the fellowship period and/or without completing the research or internship project for which the fellowship had been provided
• The student works significantly fewer hours than originally indicated in the summer fellowship contract