Scholarship for Service

The Computer Science Department at JMU recently became one of a few distinguished institutions in the country that is part of the Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship For Service (SFS) program. The award was made in September 2011 and will support three cohorts of students for the final two years of their study. The first cohort will be enrolled for the Fall 2012 semester.

Scholarship For Service is a unique program designed to increase and strengthen the cadre of federal information assurance professionals that protect the government's critical information infrastructure. This program provides scholarships that fully fund the typical costs that students pay for books, tuition, and room and board while attending an approved institution of higher learning. In return, the students agree to work for a federal agency for up to two years.

If you are interested in the undergraduate scholarship, please view the undergraduate scholarship requirements and application information.

The scholarship provides (for up to two years):

• tuition for 9 credit hours per semester
• an annual stipend in the amount of $15,000
• an annual cost-of-living allowance of up to $6,000
• an annual book and fee allowance of up to $1,000

To be eligible for the scholarship, you must:

1. be a United States Citizen
2. be unconditionally accepted to the JMU Computer Science Digital Forensics graduate program
3. meet criteria for Federal employment
4. be capable of getting a security clearance (for instance, not having any felony convictions, not using illegal substances, etc)
5. be registered with the Selective Service System if you are a male born after 12/31/59

During the time of study, a student that has been accepted into the program has the following responsibilities:

1. maintain full-time student status
2. finish the Master's degree within two years of study
3. serve an internship with a federal agency during the summer after the first year of study; students are responsible to secure internship positions
4. attend the annual SFS Job fairs (generally held in early January)
5. post and maintain a resume on the Office of Personnel Management system
6. be an active member of at least one of the student groups within the department that focus on Information Security (e.g. the Computer Forensics Student Group or the Cyber Defense Club)

After graduation, scholarship recipients must serve at a Federal agency in an information assurance position for a period equivalent to the length of the scholarship or one year, whichever is longer.

If a student fails to meet any of the responsibilities or obligations associated with the scholarship, or falsifies any information related to the scholarship, the student is required to pay back any monetary benefits received through the program.

For more information, please visit the official SFS FAQ from the Office of Personnel Management.

To apply for admissions into the program and the Scholarship for Service scholarship, you need to go to our online admissions page . You will need to supply the following:

1. academic transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate work
2. a current resume
3. Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) scores
4. a personal statement describing why you want to study Digital Forensics at JMU
5. a statement explaining what Scholarship for Service means to you
6. the contact information for two references who have agreed to write letters of recommendation for you

On the first page of the online admissions form, make sure to select "Computer Science" for the Department and Program of Study, and "Digital Forensics" for the Concentration. Also, make sure you select "Yes" for the question asking if you are interested in applying for the Federal Cyber Service Scholarship.

The graduate admissions committee is still considering applications for the scholarship. At this point (Spring 2012), scholarships will be given out to qualified applicants on a first come, first serve basis. Thus, we urge all applicants to submit their application materials as soon as possible.