FLAS Fellowships

What is FLAS? 

Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships support students taking less commonly taught language and area studies coursework. This program provides both academic year and summer fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students at the intermediate level and above.

The goals of the program include:

1. to assist in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area/international studies;
2. to stimulate the attainment of foreign language acquisition and fluency; and
3. to develop a pool of international experts to meet national needs.

FLAS Fellowships are made possible by grants provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Students must submit applications online through Heels Abroad application system.

Types of Fellowships 

Summer

Summer FLAS Fellowships provide a $3,500 stipend and up to $5,000 for tuition and fees for approved intensive summer language courses in the U.S. or abroad.

Academic Year

Fellowship Award:

• Graduate students receive the cost of tuition and fees plus a $20,000 student stipend.
• Undergraduate students receive up to $10,000 toward tuition and fees plus a $5,000 student stipend.

Requirements: 

• Students must take one REEES language course and one area studies course related to the region each semester during the academic year
  • Priority languages are Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), Persian (Dari), Polish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Funding for summer fellowships in other East European and Eurasian languages may be approved on a case by case basis
• Undergraduate students are required to take the language at the intermediate or advanced level

Selection: 

The selection committee reviews all proposals and ranks them using a weighted scale that considers academic merit, demonstrated financial need, and the extent to which the proposed study or use of the language matches FLAS Program priorities.

Who Can Apply? 

> Students must be a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization, or a permanent resident.

> For academic year fellowships, graduate students must be enrolled in a program of graduate or professional study by the start of the fellowship, but may apply in advance of admissions notifications.

> For summer fellowships, you may be a prospective graduate students as long as you can demonstrate graduate or professional school admission during the upcoming Fall. You may apply in advance of admissions notification.

> Graduate students must be at the intermediate or advanced level of language study. If applying to begin study of a new language, one must have advanced-level knowledge of another regionally-related language (for example, if applying as a beginner in Polish, one must have advanced knowledge of Russian, or any other Slavic language).

> Graduate students studying a language at the beginner level must study that language at UNC (for Academic Year Fellowships) or through a domestic language program (for Summer Fellowships).

> At the undergraduate level, only students at the intermediate or advanced level in the less commonly taught language of application are eligible.

> Students must be enrolled full-time at UNC-Chapel Hill by the start of the fellowship.

Application Steps 

1. 1. Applicants must have their skills evaluated by a language instructor if they have any prior experience in the language of application. 1) Please download and complete the FLAS Language Evaluation Form 2) Complete the evaluation form 3) Upload the form via the application system. A former language instructor is recommended to complete the evaluation. If this is not possible, a UNC faculty member who teaches the language would be qualified to conduct the evaluation.
   2. Applicants must submit a complete FLAS Application Form by 11:59 p.m. EST, January 31, 2025 using the Heels Abroad application portal. Evaluations, transcripts and other required documents are all due by the deadline. You are responsible for ensuring the submission of evaluation form and recommendation letters. Any late submissions may result in disqualification.