Summer Experience Funding
We can help make your summer experience possible.
We want to ensure every Notre Dame student is financially able to participate in at least one summer experience. We recognize that some internships and research experiences are located in high-cost cities or may be with organizations that offer unpaid experiences or do not provide enough financial support to cover your summer living expenses.
Our Summer Experience Funding Program aims to enable Notre Dame students to participate in internships and other career-aligned summer experiences by providing funding to offset travel, housing, and food costs.
The goal of our funding is to balance a student's summer experience expenses with their summer experience income. In other words, we don't want students to miss out on a meaningful career development internship or other career-aligned experience because of the expenses involved in living in another city for the summer.
We manage this program through a competitive application process. Not all students who apply will receive funding, and not all students will receive the full amount they request.
If you have any questions before applying, please don't hesitate to email us at ccd-funding@nd.edu. We are committed to helping you navigate the process to make it as easy as possible to apply. Everything you need to know about the program can be found on this page.
Application Deadlines and Decision Dates
We recognize that students secure internships and other summer experiences at various times throughout the spring semester. We have adapted our application timelines to ensure that students receive timely decisions. Please know decisions are not made on-demand. You can expect to receive a decision by no later than the respective decision dates communicated below. All communication will be made by email to your netID@nd.edu email address.
Early Application
- Application opens: Thursday, February 1, 2024
- Application closes: Friday, February 23, 2024
- Decisions communicated by: Monday, March 11, 2024
Regular Application
- Application opens: Saturday, February 24, 2024
- Application closes: Friday, April 12, 2024
- Decisions communicated by: Monday, May 6, 2024
Ongoing Application
We know that some summer experiences will not be secured until after mid-April. You are welcome to apply after April 12. You can expect a response to your application approximately three weeks after submission.
What materials you need to apply
Our application process is intended to be as easy as possible. Simply answer a series of questions. If we have any questions, we will contact you.
Please know that you will need the following information for your application:
- Details of your summer experience
- Listing of your estimated expenses, including:
- Food expenses
- Travel expenses from/to your hometown (or ND/South Bend)
- On-site transportation (subway, bus)
- Housing (if you are looking for estimates, check colleges/universities or apartment websites)
- Resume saved to Handshake (instructions here)
- PDF of your internship/experience offer (this can be an email you save as a PDF)
Once you are ready to apply, the link below will launch the application and authenticate you using your netID and password. You are welcome to start and revisit your application.
Payment
If you are awarded CCD funding, your payment will be made in a lump sum, typically the last week of May 2024. If you have questions about the status of your payment, please email us.
Key details
- Funding is not guaranteed for any applicant. Not all students who request funding will receive funding, and not all students receive the full amount they request.
- Funds are intended to support food, transportation, and housing expenses incurred as a result of participating in a career-aligned summer experience. To help you understand what this looks like, we have provided a variety of scenarios based on past funding requests.
- Students whose compensation from an employer exceeds their food/transportation/housing are not eligible for funding.
- If you have questions about the impact on your financial aid package, please contact the Office of Financial Aid before applying.
- If you have questions about the tax implications of receiving funding, please see this Tax Implications Letter.
- A number of other departments and programs at Notre Dame offer summer experience funding. CUSE provides a centralized list of these opportunities.
Eligibility
The following is a partial list of our eligibility requirements to give you a sense of our priorities for funding.
- Our funding is available to undergraduate students only.
- Applicants must be returning to Notre Dame following their experience to complete their undergraduate degree. Students must be enrolled in the 2024 fall semester at Notre Dame.
- Funding will not exceed a student's income from their summer experience.
- Funding will only be approved to cover food, transportation, and housing expenses incurred during your participation in the summer experience.
- Applicants must have a career-aligned summer experience that is relevant to their post-graduate career goals. "Career-aligned" means the summer experience is work experience related to your career interests, and the experience will expose you to an organization, industry, or work tasks that will help with your career discernment.
- Employment must be on a full-time basis (at least 30 hours per week for at least six weeks or longer).
- Study abroad programs, academic classes, and job shadowing are not eligible for CCD funding.
- No more than three students will be provided funding at any one organization.
- Certain summer experience programs have funding limits with our program. For example, students participating in Notre Dame's Global Professional Experience program are only eligible to receive up to $1,500 in CCD funding to offset travel expenses. This funding is dependent on a student's demonstrated financial need and alignment of their experience with their career goals.
To help you understand what funding eligibility could look like, we have provided a variety of scenarios based on past funding requests. If you have questions about your eligibility before you submit an application, you are welcome to email us.
If you are ineligible for our funding program, you may be interested in considering one of the many grants and/or funding options at Notre Dame.
Priority order
We typically receive more requests for funds than we have funds available. Our decisions follow this priority order.
- Unpaid internships
- Low-paying internships
- Paid internships where a student's summer experience expenses exceed their summer income
Within each of these three levels, we will also prioritize students who have documented a demonstrated financial need (as documented through the Office of Financial Aid). See definitions of these three levels below.
Funding limits
The goal of our funding is to balance a student's summer experience expenses with their summer experience income. In other words, we don't want students to miss out on a meaningful career development internship or other career-aligned experience because of the expenses involved in living in another city for the summer.
- Unpaid internships typically qualify for up to $3,500. Students participating in unpaid summer internships in high-cost cities typically qualify for up to $5,500. High-cost cities include: Boston, New York City, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington DC.
- Low-paying internships typically qualify for up to $3,000. Students participating in unpaid summer internships in high-cost cities typically qualify for up to $4,500. ("Low-paying" generally describes experiences where an organization provides a small stipend, up to $500 per month).
- Paid internships typically qualify for up to $1,000.
If your summer experience income exceeds your summer experience expenses, you are not eligible for CCD funding.
If you have questions before you submit an application, you are welcome to email us.
International Experiences
Any student receiving financial or programmatic support from Notre Dame must complete the International Travel Registry through Notre Dame International (NDI) and fulfill any requirements articulated by NDI (including, but not limited to, attending the Heath and Safety Summit). If you are considering an international experience:
- Review these resources provided by Notre Dame International.
- All University-funded students are required to have insurance coverage. See details linked here.
- When traveling abroad, make sure you have addressed any health issues by visiting University Health Services.
- When accepting an international internship, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have addressed all VISA and work authorization, requirements with your prospective employer, and applicable government agencies.
- For additional insights into understanding different cultures and living abroad, please visit NDI's resources here.
Housing Options
One of the most significant expenses of your summer experience will be your housing. The CCD is not able to secure housing for you. Other students have found housing through these means:
- With family (please know that CCD Funding will not provide money to pay a family member for housing)
- With a friend's family
- Sub-leasing an apartment from another student
- Apartment complexes/buildings (search online for options from sites like apartments.com, apartmentguide.com, Zillow, etc. )
- Some colleges/universities offer internship housing
A good first step is to ask your employer/organizations where other interns have stayed in previous years or how those interns secured housing.
Keep in mind that many apartment complexes require up-front payment, an application fee, or pay a security deposit.
Above all, be sure to proceed with caution as you look at apartments and room-sharing services. There are many fake listings and many listings have hidden fees. The University of Notre Dame is not responsible for your housing decisions.
Ready to apply?
Our application will authenticate you using your netID and password. You are welcome to start and revisit your application.
Have questions?
If you have any questions about our funding program, please don't hesitate to email us at ccd-funding@nd.edu. We are committed to making it as easy as possible to apply for funding. You may also find it helpful to look at our list of scenarios based on past funding requests. This may help you understand how funding could look.