Scholarship Opportunities

Many national scholarships are available to accounting undergraduate students, most of them awarded by various professional organizations. Applying for these awards is an impressive introduction to the sponsoring organizations. During my undergraduate accounting studies, I was awarded an annual scholarship by my local chapters of the American Society of Women Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants. Both organizations invited me to attend their meetings, and I was surprised to find myself the only student in attendance. As I began frequenting the organizations' activities, I got to know many of the members and they provided me with some helpful career guidance. I also picked up a lot of professional pointers about networking, business etiquette, and professional education. I encourage all accounting students to not only apply for the scholarships below, but to take advantage of the opportunity to network with the sponsoring professional organizations. The time invested in your own personal development will last long after the scholarship money has been spent. Some of the following organizations also offer awards to high school, graduate, and PhD students pursuing their accounting education.

• The American Society of Women Accountants - eligible students should be either part or full time, pursuing a bachelors or masters degree in accounting, having completed 60 semester hours with a declared major in accounting. Scholarships are awarded by individual chapters throughout the country. To find the chapter nearest you, visit www.aswa.org.

• The National Association of Black Accountants - eligible students should be an ethnic minority, an active members of the NABA, and be enrolled in a full-time undergraduate or graduate accounting program. For additional details, visit www.nabainc.org, go to Membership and Programs/Students/National Scholarship Program.

• The American Institute of CPAs - The AICPA offers a variety of awards to high school students, undergraduates, and graduates. They also host a leadership program for minority accounting students and provide grant fellowships to accounting doctoral candidates. For more information, visit www.aicpa.org, interest areas/accounting education/resources/scholarships and awards.

• The Institute of Management Accountants -The IMA is a professional organization that goes to great lengths to reach out to accounting students. Applying for a scholarship is a good way to connect with the IMA. They also have student chapters that compete for various awards and in professional competitions. For more information, visit www.imanet.org, membership/membership categories/student member.

• Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting- Even though ALPFA offers limited scholarships to students, they have a strong network of student chapters and various regional and national events to provide resources to accounting students. ALPFA has a partnership with a non-profit to provide financial assistance and financial counseling, as well as access to scholarships. For more information, visit the student page through www.alpfa.org.