Graduate & Professional Student Aid

Penn’s graduate and professional students. They represent half of Penn’s student body, and they are absolutely essential to the future of scholarship and the professions. They enrich the undergraduate curriculum and experience, and they play a big part in attracting the best faculty, providing them with fresh insights in their research and teaching.

The impact of insufficient financial aid resources for these Penn men and women is profound, affecting not only the students, but also the professions, the University, and the world.

Amanda Kilby, V'12, recipient of the Hostetter Family Endowed Opportunity Scholarship, in the Marshak Dairy at New Bolton Center, Penn Vet's 700-acre campus in Chester County, PA.

What role can veterinarians play in reimagining and rebuilding the food systems of developing countries? How can we produce high-quality food animals using practices that are economically sustainable as well as environmentally friendly?

These are just two of the questions driving second-year Penn Vet student and Opportunity Scholarship recipient Amanda Kilby, V’12. Questions that Amanda — the daughter of a dairy farmer and small animal veterinarian — had never even considered until she became part of the globally-minded Penn Vet community.

Now, inspired and challenged by Penn Vet’s faculty and students, Amanda plans to forge a career in sustainable agricultural consulting — within the U.S. and developing nations.

It’s a career path she can afford to follow thanks in great part to the Opportunity Scholarship she is receiving at Penn Vet. By keeping her student debt down, the scholarship is also keeping her professional dreams intact. For this ambitious student, it means that once she graduates, she can continue to be guided by her commitment to making a difference, not the need to repay educational loans.

Read how Benjamin Franklin Fellowships have enabled Melissa Dunphy, GR'13, and Poulomi Saha, GR'11, to pursue their scholastic passions in pursuit of making a difference in the world.

Diana C. Mutz, Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication and Director of the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Poliltics (center), served as the Director of Innovation for the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey and mentor to several Annenberg doctoral candidates, including Susanna Dilliplane (L) and Seth Goldman (R)

In 2008, a history-making election year, graduate students Seth Goldman and Susanna Dilliplane, along with Penn Professor Diana Mutz, took to the internet to better understand the impact of media on voters. Part of a team at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, these doctoral students were key players in creating and conducting the 2008 National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES), which included, for the first time, 20,000 web participants.

Experts predict this new dimension to what is the largest and most respected survey of the American electorate will greatly enhance the data that is generated — data that will ultimately inform the future work of academics, journalists, and policy-makers.

On a campus full of uniquely relevant research, this is a project of historic importance. It stands not only to make a vital contribution to American political thought, but also to significantly shape the knowledge and perspectives of the graduate students who are so integral to its success.

Through Making History, we will ensure that the doors to Penn are open to exceptional graduate students – those committed to asking the questions that matter and to meeting the intellectual challenges of leadership in a complex world. Raising funds for graduate and professional student aid is a top campaign priority.

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