Cornelia M Smith Fellowship Application

The maximum award is $1,000 per student per academic year (July-June). However, this amount is not guaranteed and is contingent upon the amount of funding in the scholarship fund. If you submit requests in excess of $1,000, only $1,000 will be considered and the remainder will be disallowed. Students may apply at any time throughout the year, and their application will be reviewed at the next review date as long as they have FAFSA (or CSS for international students) on file with Financial Aid for the academic year they will be reviewed/awarded.

FAFSA and CSS applications open in October of the prior academic year (applications for the 2020-2021 academic year open in October of 2019, etc.). FAFSA is open until June 31, however CSS closes much earlier on February 1st. If you anticipate applying for reimbursement in an academic year, please apply for FAFSA or CSS well in advance, otherwise you will have to apply for the next academic year and have your reimbursement postponed. This is especially important for students intending to graduate as we cannot push payments past your graduation date.

Applications will be reviewed quarterly in March, June, September, and December.

The maximum that can be requested for travel is $750 - these costs include but are not limited to registration for events, travel, lodging, and meals. Please note that according to University policy, campus parking passes cannot be reimbursed through this fund.

The maximum that can be requested for books and software is $350. Please note that according to University policy, the cost of hardware (computers, tablets, etc.) cannot be reimbursed through this fund. Before buying any software, please double check to make sure that the software is Baylor approved and that you don't have a student license to use it through Baylor. You can check approved software at the Baylor HelpDesk. If the software that you want is not approved, you may request approval by going to the Baylor HelpDesk Request Portal and following the below steps:

1. Log in and Click on the blue Service Catalog button
2. Scroll to the S’s or search “Software”
3. Click the “Software Purchase - Request a software purchase” button
4. Complete and submit the form

The maximum that can be requested for training and professional societies is $300.

When applying, please attach a expense report and ONE document containing all receipts. If travel reimbursement is part of this application, also include evidence of funds received from the Graduate School as well as the Biology Department - this can be shown by including screenshots of the emails detailing your award from each party and including the award amounts in the expense report you supply.