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Middlebury students are eager to gain real world experience, and CCI is here to help. We realize that sometimes a great summer internship may be unpaid or offer a very small stipend; CCI provides internship grants on a competitive basis to help students with expenses related to unpaid summer internships/experiences.

Announcements

CCI has Summer Internship Funding Grants for students with unpaid internships!

The funding application deadline is April 5, 2024. 

Need help with your internship search? 

Please read all information and FAQs below and plan to secure your internship no later than April 1, so you have time to apply for funding. If after reading this web page, the FAQs and the Quick Guide, you still have questions, feel free to email Karen White at internships@middlebury.edu or Cheryl Whitney Lower at clower@middlebury.edu  
 

Competitive Grants for Summer 2024

  • Summer Internship Funding Grants: $4000
  • First-Year Explore Grants: $1000
  • Arts Grants: $1000 (for dance/arts trainings or residencies lasting 3 weeks or less)

Funding Applications due April 5!

Criteria for Funding Eligibility

  • Connects the work of an organization to your career exploration, academic pursuits, and/or personal passions and interests, and your aspirations for the future.
     
  • Includes substantive responsibilities and minimum time commitments as outlined below:
    • $4000 Summer Funding Grants are available to Sophomore Febs through Senior Febs and require a minimum internship length of eight weeks at 30 hours/week or a longer internship that totals at least 240 hours. Strongly encouraged: Appointment with a CCI advisor (or CTLR Health Professions/Science Research advisor) to discuss your plans.
    • $1000 First-Year Explore Grants available to First Years students and Sophomore Febs and require a minimum of four weeks with a total of at least 100 hours. Required: Appointment with a CCI advisor (or CTLR Health Professions/Science Research advisor) to discuss your plans. First-years are eligible only for Explore Grants or CCI-sponsored grants and may not apply for the $4000 competitive grant.
    • $1000 Arts Grants for short-term (three weeks or less) experiential arts opportunities (e.g. residencies, apprenticeships, dance festivals, etc)
       
  • Requires résumé approval by CCI Peer Career Advisor by April 3 (résumés approved last year still qualify as long as you have updated your résumé with new experiences).
     
  • Must have secured the internship AND accepted it in order to apply.
     
  • Must be a currently enrolled student with at least one remaining semester at Middlebury after the summer; must not be planning to transfer and must not be on leave for Spring 2024 or Fall 2024, unless for a Middlebury-approved Study Abroad/Away semester or an exception approved by CCI. 
     
  • Must not have already received a $3500 or $4000 competitive grant from CCI or be participating in another CCI-sponsored internship this summer. (Exceptions may apply for short-term Arts Grants.) 
  • May not be a self-directed project, independent research, or research with a Middlebury professor. 


    Use this Quick Guide to CCI’s 2024 Competitive Summer Funding for additional information about eligibility and how to apply. 

Frequently Asked Questions

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While we would like to fund everyone, we have limited funds, so awards will be made through a competitive process. You should make sure you have an alternative plan in the event that you don’t receive funding. 

All applications will be reviewed after the April 5 deadline. Funding decisions will be sent via an email by 5:00 pm on May 1. 

The funding process is competitive. It is important that you start your application early (don’t wait until the last minute) and put extra effort into writing a compelling essay that clearly demonstrates why this internship is a perfect fit for you. You should also tell the Committee what you hope to learn, how the experience will give you the opportunity to gain experience and skills, and how it relates to planning for your future. All applicants must have their resume approved by a Peer Career Advisor (PCA) during Quick Questions before they apply. We strongly encourage you to get your resume approved before you start applying for internships.  Students must visit a PCA for resume approval no later than April 3; some resumes take several visits to be approved. Resumes approved last year are still valid as long as you have updated the resume with new experiences. 

Applicants who are on financial aid or demonstrate high financial need, have longer internships, are juniors or higher, write a compelling essay, and have demonstrated their seriousness by talking with a CCI or CTLR advisor about their plans will be the strongest candidates. (Please schedule appointments with CCI advisors through Handshake or with the Health Professions/Science Research Advisors through CTLR website.)  Any combination of these will strengthen your chances. 

An internship should be one longer experience (e.g. 8 weeks or longer), not two shorter related experiences together in one application. Not receiving funding is not a reflection on the value of your experience but is the reality of the funding committee having to make hard choices with limited funds. Applications from students not on financial aid who have low expenses and are applying mainly to off-set lost summer wages are less competitive.

Remote, hybrid, and in-person internships are all eligible for funding.  

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International travel for College funded or sponsored internships is allowed but all travel for these internships (including students traveling to their home country to engage in an in-person or remote internship in that country) must be approved by the Global Operations Committee (Step #1 below) and all students must register their travel (Step #2 below). 

STEP #1 for International Internships: Funding requests for students traveling outside of the US (including students traveling to their home country) to countries with State Department Travel Advisories of Levels 2, 3, or 4 will necessitate additional paperwork and may be denied by the College based on a risk assessment analysis. Check the State Department Travel Advisory page. Travel to a Level 2 advisory country where Middlebury has a school abroad does not require additional review.  Travel to countries with Level 2 where Middlebury does not have a school abroad, as well as countries with Level 3 and 4 travel advisories (including your home country whether you are doing an in-person or remote internship in that country), require submission of an International Activity Review Form to the Global Operations Committee. Complete the form at the same time that you complete your funding application or earlier so the Committee has time to review your proposal. 

STEP #2 for International Internships (and those in Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico)
All students traveling outside the 48 contiguous states of the US to take part in an internship, are required to complete the MANDATORY Travel Registration Form. This allows Middlebury to account for the whereabouts of every student, staff member, and faculty member abroad to communicate with them and provide assistance if needed.  

Please see 4 Simple Steps for Safer Travel.

Information for international internships: International internships require more planning time, particularly in terms of investigating any visa issues associated with your internship. These internships can be an incredible part of a post-study abroad experience as well as an opportunity to explore work in international development or business, teaching, languages, and more. Please note that students must comply with international travel registration, waivers, and insurance coverage as described below in order to receive internship funding.

International registration, health, and insurance coverage process: If you receive internship funding and your internship experience is in a country other than the US, you must complete steps to register your travel plans online and ensure that you have medevac, repatriation, and health insurance. If you do not have such insurance coverage, you must enroll (there is a charge of approximately $75 per month). If you are an international student with an internship experience in your home country, you do not have to purchase the insurance but you still need to register your travel plans. Specific instructions will be included in your funding award notification. Students should consult the CDC, Parton Health Center and/or their health care provider on recommended vaccinations.  

 

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Students on an F-1 visa may participate in paid or unpaid summer internships. If the internship is unpaid, you may apply to receive internship funding from the College. If participating in a paid or unpaid internship in the US or with a US employer, you will apply for Curricular Practical Training (CPT). To be eligible for CPT, you must have been lawfully enrolled as an F-1 student for a minimum of one full academic year,  the internship must be related to your major (or intended major), and you must also enroll in the field work course through the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey to earn credit that will allow you to be eligible to apply for CPT. Please see scenarios below to evaluate whether you need to apply for CPT and visit ISSS’ web site for more information about CPT.

International students in F-1 status:  Please see scenarios below that will indicate whether you need to apply for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization. If applicable, follow the steps to obtain CPT as outlined below.

Internship scenarios and the need for CPT:

  • International students who are inside the U.S. and have an internship with a U.S.-based organization need CPT authorization.
  • International students who are outside the U.S. and have an internship with a U.S.-based organization might need CPT authorization (the organization would make this determination) *Consult with ISSS. 
  • International students who are inside the U.S. and have an internship with an organization based outside the U.S. are advised to obtain a letter from the organization confirming that no compensation is being provided. (CPT will not be issued in this situation.) *Consult with ISSS, if needed. 
  • International students who are outside the U.S. and who have an internship with an organization based outside the U.S. do not need CPT, which is a U.S.-based authorization. (Students should follow guidelines of the host country.)

Please see here for more information about the summer credit option.  

Please see instructions in previous FAQ (#2 in the list) about international internships if you plan to do an internship in your home country or anywhere outside of the US.  

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A First-Year Explore Grant gives students the opportunity to work with an organization to explore a career-related interest or field during the summer and be supported by a CCI $1000 grant. The experience must be at least 4 weeks long and 25 hours per week. Internships can be remote, in-person, or hybrid.  

First-Year Febs, First-Years, and Sophomore Febs are eligible for the $1000 grant but are not eligible to apply for the $4000 competitive grants. Sophomore Febs may choose to apply to either an Explore Grant or a $4000 grant. All First-Years and Sophomore Febs are eligible to apply for CCI-sponsored or cohort internships (including MiddWorks for VT internships). These all come with guaranteed funding.  

Students applying for a First-Year Explore Grant must have met with a Peer Career Advisor (PCA) via Quick Questions to have your resume approved before April 3. (We strongly urge that you have your resume approved early BEFORE applying for positions.) The PCAs can help you create a resume or work to improve one that you already have. You must also meet with a CCI or CTLR advisor before applying for funding. Schedule an appointment with a CCI advisor via Handshake or email Mary Lothrop or Hannah Benz at CTLR to schedule an appointment for Health Professions or Science Research related experiences.      

Students awarded a First-Year Explore grant are required to attend an internship pre-departure meeting on May 7 at 7:00 pm in Wilson Hall, McCullough.  

 

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CCI does not have funding for self-directed projects. (A self-directed project means you are not working for or with an organization.) CCI also does not have funding for independent research. Please see the Innovation Hub for funding related to a summer self-directed project or CTLR’s web site for funding related to research.   

Occasionally CCI will fund a medical shadowing experience if it meets the criteria for length of the internship (8 weeks, 30 hours a week or 4 weeks, 25 hours a week for an Explore Grant). You must have one doctor or healthcare provider who will serve as your primary supervisor and agree to oversee your learning for the whole experience.  You must provide a compelling reason why you cannot do this medical shadowing on your own time (saving time to study for the MCATs does not count) and need the funding for it. Once you have a shadowing experience secured and before applying for funding, please reach out to Hannah Benz, pre-health advisor, for an appointment to discuss whether this experience might be eligible.  

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Yes, you must have been offered your internship, accepted it, and committed to it. You must be sure that the internship for which you are applying for funding is the one you want to do. CCI expects you to conduct yourself professionally in your internship search. If you have accepted an internship, you should withdraw your applications from all other employers/organizations.  If you do change your mind, you will not be able to make changes to your application for funding or submit a new funding application, and you will need to forfeit your funding.  Exceptions may be granted if your employer rescinds the offer. 

Students should apply to their internships early and explain to potential employers that they have an opportunity to apply for funding by the April 5 deadline. Often employers will hire on a rolling basis. Do not wait until the application deadline to apply for an internship. 

Students who have been offered their internship contingent on a security clearance should still submit a funding application and indicate in their essay that they are awaiting security clearance. Your funding application will be held until we hear from you that your security clearance is complete.  

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We are expecting large numbers of applicants so will not be accepting late applications for funding. You may need to plan ahead and start early. If you are applying to internships with late application deadlines, you may explain to your interviewer or contact person that you have an opportunity to apply for funding but the deadline is April 5. You can ask if there is a chance you could hear a decision from them by April 5 or if they can at least indicate if you are a strong candidate for the position. This information can help you make a decision about whether to wait for a potential offer or make other plans. 

If you will not have an internship secured by the April 5 deadline and need funding, you should make other plans which may involve finding a paid position.  

If you are reading this after the April 5 deadline and know that you may get an offer before April 24, you may submit an application for funding up until April 24. You may only do this once you have a confirmed internship. We will not accept any applications after April 24. Your application will be left in pending status and IF we have funding available (no guarantees), we will review your application and you will know by mid-May. Please understand that if we are able to review any late applications, it will be an even more competitive process. If you are granted funding, the money will not be deposited into your account until mid to late June. Contact Cheryl Whitney Lower (clower@middlebury.edu) with questions.  

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Except for Arts Grants, CCI typically does not fund classes, trainings, or experiences with organizations that charge a fee for participation, e.g. third party internship providers, yoga retreats, etc. We may make exceptions if the majority of the experience is an internship and the internship portion itself, without the curricular portion, meets the minimum time requirements for funding (8 weeks long and 30 hours per week) or if the fee is charged mainly to pay for housing.  

CCI does not fund on-campus summer undergraduate research positions with Middlebury faculty because these positions are funded by Middlebury’s Undergraduate Research Office in the CTLR.  

We do not fund paid internships unless it is a very low-paid internship (i.e. less than $4000 for an eight-week experience or more). In this case, we may choose to provide a supplement grant to bump you up to the equivalent of $4000 (not available for Explore Grants).  For instance, if you are receiving a $2000 from your employer, you may apply for CCI funding and if you are selected for funding, we might award you a $2000 supplement grant so that your total compensation for the summer would equal what other students are receiving from CCI. Students in this position should use the $4000 grant application form and explain your situation and financial compensation in your narrative. If you are receiving any compensation from your employer such a housing or transportation stipend, or from an organization that supports you such as Posse, you can expect that CCI will deduct that amount of money from your internship grant in order to make your award consistent with what other students are receiving.  Contact Cheryl Whitney Lower at clower@middlebury.edu if you have questions about a low paid internship. 

CCI does not generally fund students who receive funding by another Middlebury program or office. The exception is if you are taking part in an intercultural experience that benefits the community, it is possible to combine a CCI grant with a Cross-Cultural Community Engagement grant through the Center for Community Engagement. 

CCI does not fund experiences where a family member is serving as your supervisor.

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An affiliation agreement is a written contract detailing the legal obligations of both the school and the experiential learning site to facilitate experiential learning for students. Middlebury College does not enter into such agreements, meaning you would not be able to accept an internship that requires an affiliation agreement for participation. 

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CCI will not require a budget to be submitted as part of your funding application but we do recommend using our Budget Template (see next question) to plan out your expenses and costs for the summer to make sure you can afford to do this experience with the grant amount for which you are applying (typically $4000 or $1000). Some students may use CCI’s budget planning template and decide an unpaid internship is not realistic for them at this time and decide to pursue a paid internship or job instead. 

The set grant amounts give you decision-making power over your own summer experience. Your costs may be substantially higher than the grant, in which case you will need to assess your plans. Consider these grants support from CCI to help cover the costs associated with your internship. You may need to obtain a part-time job to finance the whole experience. On the other hand, if your costs are low (i.e. you decide to live at home or you are participating in a remote internship) and the set grant amount exceeds your budget, the grant can be used to offset lost summer wages. Applications from students not on financial aid who are applying mainly to off-set lost wages are less competitive.

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Creating a budget and thinking carefully about how much money you need for your experience can be a great learning experience. Use this Budget Template to plan your summer. 

A typical food budget will vary depending on where you live, but we advise using a figure of approximately $75 - $100 per week.

Housing can be tricky. If you choose to stay in a university-based internship housing program (e.g., NYU in New York City), your entire internship funding allocation will likely be eaten up by that cost—and then some! But you don’t want to spend your summer sleeping on someone’s floor either. Start your search early, check out resources such as Airbnb, look for house-sitting opportunities, and enlist your various networks (such as the Middlebury Alumni Communities in various cities). We recommend allowing approximately $800-$1000 per month for housing. 

When planning out your summer budget, you will also want to include transportation to and from your internship site, as well as transportation costs such as subway fare, commuting by train, gas and tolls, etc.

It is okay if your internship site wants to provide minimal financial assistance such as a subway pass, help with housing, or daily lunch passes. You do need to indicate these funding sources in your application.

 

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PLEASE NOTE: THE SUMMER 2024 FUNDING APPLICATION PROCESS IS NOW OPEN.

If you have read all the information on this page and have completed all the steps in the Quick Guide: CCI Competitive Summer Funding, including having your resume approved, writing your essay, and completing additional paperwork if your internship is outside the U.S. and necessitates review by the Global Operations Committee (see FAQ on international internships), then you are ready to apply! Find all the forms and templates you need on this page.

Submit an application for funding in MiddApply!
1. Login with your Middlebury username and password.
2. Click on CCI Application for Funding/Credit.
3. Answer all required questions and upload your Essay and CCI-Approved Résumé into the funding application.
4. Read the Internship Funding Agreement form in the application in entirety before signing it as there are
important conditions that you must adhere to when accepting funding from Middlebury College.

All communications will be sent through email so students must check email, clutter, SPAM and junk email folders daily. Failure to respond to email will result in application being declined.

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Funding notifications will be sent by Handshake email by end of day on May 1. You may need to monitor your Middlebury spam, junk, and clutter email folders (as sometimes Midd Apply emails get sent there via Middlebury’s filtering process). 

If you are awarded funding and have entered your direct deposit information correctly and completed all steps outlined in your award letter by the deadlines, you can expect your money in your account by mid-June. Students who have not entered their direct deposit information correctly will have checks mailed to them. Since you will probably not receive your money until mid-June, be sure to make your summer plans accordingly; you may need to arrange to start your internship later to accommodate the payment schedule. 

Please note that international students may have taxes withheld ahead of time so the amount of the grant you receive may be less than stated in your award letter. 

All funded interns must attend a mandatory internship pre-departure meeting on Tuesday, May 7 in Wilson Hall, McCullough.  Attendance will be taken, and any student who has not attended the meeting risks losing their funding or sponsorship. Contact Cheryl Whitney Lower at clower@middlebury.edu ahead of time with any extenuating circumstances, such as study abroad.

The grant requirements are outlined in the Internship Funding Agreement form. You will be asked in your funding application to read the Internship Funding Agreement thoroughly and agree to its terms.

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If you are selected for a CCI-sponsored, MiddWorks for Vermont, or other CCI Cohort internship (all posted in Handshake), this means your internship comes with funding from CCI, contingent on submitting your application for funding in MiddApply, completing all required paperwork, and passing eligibility criteria: you must be in good academic and judicial standing, be an enrolled student Spring ‘24 and Fall ‘24, have one semester left of college after the summer, and be not be planning to transfer in the Fall.  

You will be sent an award email via internships@middlebury.edu with instructions on how to submit your application for funding. Please wait for your award letter or reach out to internships@middlebury.edu with questions.   

Only Vermont-based Cohort interns and CCI-sponsored interns working in-person or hybrid with Vermont-based organizations may request Middlebury campus housing once they have accepted their internship offer. More information on 2024 summer housing fees and dining plans will be posted here. Please note that CCI provides Residential Life with a list of confirmed funded students approved for summer housing.  

Funding will be deposited in your account by June 7 after a final eligibility check with student life deans.  To be eligible for funding, you must be in good academic and judicial standing, be enrolled for Spring ‘24 and Fall ‘24 academic terms, and not be planning to transfer. In most cases, graduating seniors are not awarded funding but occasional exceptions are made. 

You will also have requirements to attend the required pre-departure meeting on May 7 at 7:00 pm, complete mid-internship and final reflections, and submit a photo and a donor update letter. MiddWorks for VT, diiVe and Team4Tech interns will have additional required meetings.