Rising Russian Enrollments

[Peirce, Gina M]

Devin (and all),



The only way I have heard of federal money for critical languages filtering down to undergrads (other than through some specialized programs, such as summer institutes abroad) is through SMART grants. However, a student must be majoring in the language to receive SMART funds, and the grants are need-based (students must access them through the FAFSA process, by applying to their university's financial aid office). Recipients must be juniors or seniors and have enough financial need to be eligible for a Pell grant. You can find some information on SMART grants at http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/SmartGrants.jsp?tab=funding. Also, federal Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships will be expanded in 2010 to include undergraduate students taking a language other than Spanish, French, or German at the second-year level or higher. Of course, only universities with Title VI-funded centers can award FLAS Fellowships.



By the way, Pitt's first-year Russian enrollments are also up significantly this fall.



Gina


***********************************
Gina M. Peirce
Assistant Director
Center for Russian and East European Studies
University of Pittsburgh
4414 Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: (412) 648-2290
Fax: (412) 648-7002





Date:    Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:11:55 -0400

From:    Devin Browne <dpbrowne at MAC.COM>

Subject: Re: Rising Russian Enrollments



Might the uptick be linked to the incentive to study critical languages like

Russian?  Has the US governments critical language money filtered down to

undergrad students yet?  There is federal money "out there" for the study of

Russian (and other LCTLs deemed critical under Bush II) and I remember

seeing quite a bit of press for it a few years ago.  As a high school

teacher, I've been encouraging my students to keep studying Russian, that

there's money out there for students who continue their study of Russian,

even if it's not their actual major, is what I recall reading -- that they

just have to continue their studies of the language alongside their other

studies.  But is this true?  How does the $$ get from the feds to the

college students?  Is it through the university language departments?

 National centers for Russian studies?  What specifically does an undergrad

student do to access this supposed money?



Thanks to the person who brought up this topic.  It's interesting to hear

about institutions that are seeing increased enrollments!



Devin


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