
College of Public Health scholarships
These funds are here for you — created and sustained by generous alumni and friends who give back to ensure our current and future students have access to the world-class education our college offers.
The college has more than 20 funds for scholarships and a global health travel award available for current public health graduate and undergraduate students. Students only need to complete one scholarship application to be considered for multiple scholarships. These awards are granted based on a number of criteria including merit, financial need and research interests.
Eligibility
Academic scholarships
You must be an undergraduate or graduate student in a College of Public Health degree program during the 2024-25 academic year and be enrolled as a student for 2025-26 academic year to be eligible for academic scholarships from the college. Students who have their education fully funded are not eligible. Public Health pre-majors are not eligible.
Global Health travel award
The global health travel award is available to College of Public Health undergraduate and graduate students traveling to conduct research, participate in field practice placement and/or partaking in service-learning opportunities, all focused on global public health. To be eligible to apply for this one-time award, students must have the equivalent of one full-time year of study prior to travel date and travel must directly align with degree program academics, research and/or service.
Previously funded experiences include:
- travel to professional conferences (international and national conferences with a global health interest)
- international applied practice experiences (APEs)
- participation in programs with international research, service or coursework.
Scholarship and travel award deadlines
Academic scholarships
JAN
10
Application opens
MAR
15
Deadline to apply
Global Health travel award
The Committee reviews applications twice a year for global health travel opportunities proposed for the subsequent 12 months.
MAR
1
Spring semester deadline
OCT
1
Autumn semester deadline
Scholarship details
Application process
Access the application for College of Public Health scholarships or a global health travel award through ScholarshipUniverse. Students must submit the appropriate application and all required documentation online by stated deadlines.
These steps describe the process that the Student Scholarship and Awards Committee follows:
- Applications are reviewed for eligibility and de-identified.
- The de-identified applications are distributed to two randomly selected faculty evaluators on the committee. The committee always has five faculty evaluators (one faculty evaluator from each division within CPH).
- Faculty evaluate and rank the applications they are responsible for. The rubrics for this ranking system include the following criteria:
- Academic scholarships: how the scholarship will support the applicant’s goals, how the applicant has contributed to Ohio State's Shared Values, and how the student has demonstrated academic perseverance.
- Global Health travel award: how the travel experience is related to global public health and how it will advance the applicants' goals.
- Each application’s two faculty rankings are averaged and then all application scores are sorted highest to lowest to determine which applications will be funded based on each scholarship's awarding criteria and individual applicant responses.
- Applicants are notified as to whether they received a scholarship.
CPH academic and Global Health travel award recipients responsibilities
- Recipients will be informed via their Ohio State email if they have received an award. In the email notification, recipients will be given award acceptance instructions and a deadline to accept the award. The process involves accepting the award.
- If recipients do not formally accept their awards by the deadline specified in their offer letters, the funds may be reallocated to other applicants.
- Recipients may be asked to attend a scholarship event honoring them and the relevant donors.
Additional responsibilities for CPH Global Health travel award recipients
- All CPH students traveling internationally are responsible for checking with the Office of International Affairs to ensure that the destination is approved by The Ohio State University.
- Ohio State students traveling to international locations for the purpose of education abroad, undergraduate or graduate/dissertation research, internships or independent study are required to enroll in the university’s supplemental international insurance plan, which is $1.50 per day and is provided through GeoBlue. The insurance includes coverage for medical, evacuation, repatriation, emergency assistance, and political security and natural disaster.
Will applications be reviewed by divisions or programs before reaching the Student Scholarship and Awards Committee?
- No. The Student Scholarship and Awards Committee reviews and decides on all applications.
What happens if students apply for other funding for travel after they have been awarded by CPH?
- If a student secures additional funds from another source after receiving an award from the College of Public Health, the committee has the ability to reduce a student’s CPH global health travel award so as not to exceed the total cost of travel.
For travel awards, what information should I include when describing my budget?
- In addition to providing a total dollar amount requested, please itemize your expected costs. The travel award is meant to assist with covering the cost of transportation, food, lodging and conference registration.
What does the committee consider when selecting scholarship or global health travel award recipients?
- The committee considers each applicant’s academic record, the applicant's contributions toward Ohio State's core values, public health experiences, community service and leadership. The committee also considers the description of current financial assistance, how the award will help the applicant achieve academic goals and overall presentation and writing skills.
For scholarships, general scoring is based on the extent to which the application (1) clearly articulates the student’s own public health career goals, (2) demonstrates how the student will act to advance diversity and inclusive excellence in the college and/or university, (3) demonstrates the student’s ability to overcome obstacles and persevere with goals and (4) demonstrates a high level of financial need.
For the global health travel award, scoring is based on the extent to which the application (1) clearly articulates the student’s own public health career goals, (2) clearly articulates how the travel experience will advance the student’s career goals, and (3) demonstrates a high level of financial need.
How are the funds disbursed?
- Scholarship funds are disbursed into the student’s Ohio State account by the Bursar at the beginning of each term covered. For the global health travel award, half of the funds are disbursed into the student’s account prior to travel and the other half are disbursed after travel is completed.
Additional scholarship opportunities
Review and apply to other funding opportunities available from the university and from external organizations. We share the following to help you get started finding additional financial aid.
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ScholarshipUniverse
A single-source tool to find and apply to scholarships available across Ohio State and externally.
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The Graduate School
Learn more about grants and other funding opportunities for graduate students.
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Student Financial Aid
Explore the different types of aid, student work opportunities and details on FASFA to be considered for the most financial aid.
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External scholarships
The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) has developed extensive lists of curated scholarships and financial aid opportunities.