Applications open for SEN Grant Program 2025 (United States)

Focus Areas

• Individual:
  • The application requires students to comment on 2 growth areas, ‘professional development’ and one additional growth area:
    • Social Justice Activism and Awareness (DEIB) – The knowledge and cognitive skills that support effective and appropriate interaction in a multitude of cultural contexts. Experiences that foster Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging are encouraged.
    • Civic Responsibility – A perceived duty to make a difference in the civic life of the communities, and to develop the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference
    • Ethical Leadership – Reasoning about right and wrong human conduct. This requires students to assess their own ethical values and the social context of problems, recognize ethical issues in a variety of settings, and think about different cultural perspectives that might be applied to ethical dilemmas.
    • Systems Thinking – The cognitive process to understand how a system’s constituent parts influence each other, and how the system behaves over time and within the context of larger systems.
    • Professional Development – The ability to clarify career goals while demonstrating the skills necessary to meet professional expectations.

Types of Grants

• Individual Sen Grant: Undergraduate students across the commonwealth are encouraged to apply for an SEN Grant that will support individual remote or in-person engagement opportunities that take place SUMMER 2025.
• Group Grant:  Group grants are designed to help fund student experiences  like research, alternative spring breaks, travel, etc., where the students will have very similar experiences.

Funding Information

• Individual:
  • Grant up to $2,000 to fund an engagement experience.
• Group:
  • Applying for a Group Grant, which allows awards of up to $7,500.

Eligible Activities

• Individual:
  • Funding can be applied toward any of the following engagement types/experience, including:
    • Undergraduate research
    • Professional experiences, such as internships or CO-Ops
    • Community-based learning
    • Creative accomplishments (arts, performances)
    • Education abroad (domestic travel)/Study Abroad (international travel)
    • Courses with out-of-class component (or embedded projects)
    • Organizational experiences (clubs, leadership positions)
    • Peer mentoring (resident assistants, learning assistants, teaching assistants, peer counseling/mentoring, etc)
    • Self-directed student engagement
    • Volunteerism
    • Employment Experience (dining commons jobs, campus jobs, other professionally related jobs, etc)

Eligibility Criteria

• Individual:
  • Students must be currently enrolled as undergraduate students at Penn State. Students applying for summer funding must be enrolled in summer courses or registered for the following fall. Students who graduate in the Spring/Winter, completing their Penn State degree, are not eligible to receive a SEN grant the following semester/cycle. Students must also be in good academic and disciplinary standing with the University.
• Group:
  • Students must be currently enrolled as undergraduate students at Penn State.
  • Students applying for summer funding must be enrolled in summer courses or registered for the following fall. Students must also be in good academic and disciplinary standing with the University.
  • Seniors are eligible, but the engagement experience must take place prior to graduation.

Application Requirements

• Individual:
  • Applicants are required to follow all Federal, State, University, and CDC safety and travel protocols during the experience.
  • Applicants will be required to provide a budget explaining specific use of funding using the budget template provided in the application process.
  • Grant awardees will be assigned a Penn State engagement coach upon funding and will receive specific instructions after the awarding period.
  • Grant awardees may be required to complete a version of the Student Engagement Canvas course to receive their full funding, which includes completion of a pre- and post-experience surveys, activities, reflection journals, check-in meetings, and POSTER assignment. This module is not for credit and costs no tuition or fees. Failure to attend coaching sessions and/or complete Canvas course assignments/activities may warrant a change in funding status and/or retraction of funds.
  • Finally, the SEN asks students to download the Engagement App, follow the SEN profile account, and share their experience (poster/video link) to the feed at the end of their experience. Further instructions will be provided.

For more information, visit SEN.