Professional Development Grant

Professional Development Grant

QVA provides professional development grants to highly-motivated LGBTQ+ students with financial need who have opportunities to attend professional conferences. This grant can support any kind of program costs, as well as travel, lodging, food, and purchase of professional attire. Winners of this grant usually receive in the range of ~$500 to ~$1,000.

Current undergraduate and graduate students who attend the University of Virginia on a full-time basis can apply for a grant. Special attention is given to conferences where UVA is underrepresented in attendance, with initial focuses being on engineering, technology, business, and marketing through the established O4U and oSTEM suite of conferences, with exploration of other conferences. Recipients can re-apply for a grant one year after receiving a grant. Non-recipients may re-apply with an updated application each semester. Students may receive multiple different types of grants or awards within one year.

Awarded funds will either be applied directly to the student’s account by the Student Financial Services office or be sent directly to students. For questions about the grant application, or in cases of unexpected and urgent financial need, please email

Blair@queervirginia.org

To help us make a grant decision, we ask for your permission to work with Student Financial Services to understand your full set of aid. Please go to this website, https://virginia.academicworks.com/users/sign_in, complete Net Badge authentication, and click on “Sign In With Your Institution”. Then click on “My Applications” and complete the two-question General Application to release your records to us.

When completing this form, please be aware that requests are evaluated and awarded monthly and applicants will be notified of a decision two weeks after a monthly application review deadline has passed. The application review deadlines for the 2023-2024 school year are as follows: 10/28/23, 11/25/23, 1/27/24, 2/24/24, 3/23/24, 4/27/24.

  • Although we don't generally send mail, we may send something related to any grants received. Please include an address where you feel comfortable receiving mail.
  • Education

  • If there is any information you would like to provide related to your GPA and Credit/No Credit classes, please enter it here. We are working to be especially inclusive of challenging circumstances throughout the pandemic.
  • Financial Circumstances

  • The EFC is the total approximate dollar amount of financial contributions you expect from relatives over the coming semester to help pay for your attendance at UVA.
  • Please provide a quick summary of any other major sources of aid such as scholarships / grants / loans, as well as any other considerations related to race, ethnicity, or disability that you feel are important to understand related to your financial need.
  • Essay Questions

  • Demographic Data Collection

    QVA recognizes that even greater barriers stand in the way of people marginalized from within the LGBTQ+ community. The Board of Directors is committed to leveraging the programs, funds, and actions of QVA in ways that combat these barriers and work on behalf of equitable access to education and opportunities for student success. As part of our commitment, we seek demographic information from our scholarship applicants. This information is primarily used to help the Scholarship Committee evaluate QVA’s distribution of financial aid to marginalized people, including but not limited to people of color, gender diverse persons, and disabled persons.