Reference and Education

Education has been made to be a right everyone can enjoy but when it comes to financial means social acceptance, education for indigenous people has undeniably been a privilege only a chosen few can have the benefit from. One of the indigent facing great dilemmas in education is the domestic Americans inhabiting the Polar Regions of Alaska and the tropical Hawaii Island in the United States of America. The recorded number of remaining genuine domestic Americans in the 2008 United States Census revealed that this indigenous people have minimal population comprising only 0.79% of the population of the United States of America.

This nominal number in population of the Americans hinders educational development in their area. This fact alerted many educational institutions, thus, many educational advocates made it to a point to seek major sponsorship for the Native American scholarships. Nowadays, the domestic Americans worked extra hard to establish their own academic institutions to edify all the members of their group. However, the education they provide to their people still needs more improvements.

So, many cultural institutes reached the Americans to help them reinforce the educational aspect of the domestic American tribe. The All Indian Pueblo Council is one of the prime movers to launch Native American scholarships aiming to benefit many indigent under the banner of authentic American Heritage so the All Indian Pueblo Council commenced the All Indian Pueblo Council Scholarship Grant Program. Eventually, upon the hard work of private educational organization, Native American scholarships funded by the federal government came into being.

Federally funded Native American scholarships are being granted to verified members of the 563 recognized American ethnic groups. Many highly-regarded socio-cultural groups like the American-Indian Science and Engineering Society and the American Anthropological Society are trying to civilize the domestic Americans by providing education. They crafted many programs such as providing Native American scholarships to make education accessible to the domestic Americans. Seeing the predicament of these indigenous people, many Native American Scholarships are now being offered to help not only the educational phase of this tribal group but also to improve domestic American employment. Here is a list of currently offered Native American scholarships:

• Cherokee Nation Higher Education Scholarship – This Program grants $500 to $1000 each year to 1200-1500 Cherokee Nation Members who are applies scholarship for undergraduate programs.

• Judith McManus Price Scholarship – $2000 to $4000 awarded each year to 3 domestic American and other minority undergraduate and graduate students majoring in urban and regional planning.

• Koniag Education Foundation Academic/Graduate Scholarship – $500 to $2500 scholarship grants were awarded annually to Alaskan Native Koniag, Inc. stakeholders both undergraduate and graduate students.

• Math, Engineering, Science, Business, Education and Computer Scholarships- $500 to $5000 awarded each year to 180 homegrown American undergraduate and graduate students.

• Minnesota Indian Scholarship Program – 3300$ to 6600$ awarded each year to varied number of Minnesota homegrown American undergraduate students.

• Native American Leadership in Education (NALE) – $500 to $5000 awarded each year to up to 30 homegrown American undergraduate students.

By Paul Bernardo

It is perhaps the ultimate dream of many students, my self included, to pursue a master degree overseas after college. However, considering the expenses that go with it, more often than not, this dream remains just but a dream, unrealized, that is. But wait, don’t give up just yet. You can still have this ultimate dream of yours realized through Overseas masters scholarships which can be found right at the college or university you intend to study, while others could come from more private institutions/sources and needs some researching.

Overseas masters scholarships indeed, is the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. That is for those who wanted to pursue a master’s degree abroad but don’t have the means to. This is the answer to the biggest challenge in fulfilling this ultimate dream, the cost, that is. Let’s face it, education these days has become extremely expensive. A great majority of the student population are even struggling to finish their college education from their local schools. This is where Overseas masters scholarships can be of great help.

But why is overseas? Not that you don’t trust the quality of education your home country can provide. It’s just that each country has its own reputation and specialization as far as education is concern. Isn’t it a wonderful opportunity to pursue a masters degree to a college well known for the field you would like to specialize in, and excellent at that? I hope this can’t be taken as discrimination of some sort. Admit it, pursuing and finishing education overseas is no easy feat for anyone.

Like any other scholarship grants, overseas masters scholarships are significantly hard to get. It may sound like a wonderful idea however one can’t actually deny the fact that the process of applying such and having it approved is no walk in the park, so to speak. Opportunities on Overseas masters scholarships are way too low compared to the number of students vying for it. This altogether, makes the road a lot harder and more difficult for those who wished to get their masters degree abroad. But a very good point here worth emphasizing is that ones financial limitations is not in any way a hindrance in pursuing a masters degree abroad. All it takes is just ones full dedication and hard work.

There are in fact quite a number of private institutions from various countries offering overseas masters scholarships to qualified applicants from across the globe. Here’s to name a few:

- China: CUCAS Excellent Students Scholarship for 2011 Spring Semester
- Europe: Masters programme of Biomedical Engineering in September 2011
- UK: Clarendon Fund Scholarships at University of Oxford
- UK: The Rhodes Scholarship 2011
- Japan: Joint Japan-World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program for MASTERS DEGREE IN INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT AT YOKOHAMA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
- Italy: Master level Scholarships for academic year 2010-11 at Politecnico di Torino
- Australia: Australian Development Scholarships for Masters Level Study for Pakistani Nationals.

By Paul Bernardo