About the Program
Thanks to generous donations from individuals over the years, AG Bell is able to offer several scholarships for full-time students who have a pre-lingual bilateral hearing loss in the moderately-severe to profound range, use listening and spoken language, and who are pursuing a bachelors, masters or doctorate (not law or public policy) degree at an accredited mainstream college or university. This is a merit-based scholarship program and award selection is extremely competitive. Over the past six years approximately 10% of applicants were selected to receive an award. While the number and value of awards varies from year to year, in 2012, 141 applications were reviewed for 20 awards which ranged from $1,000 to $10,000. Find additional program information in the FAQs.
This program is now accepting applications (application packets available below). The deadline is March 15, 2013 at 5 p.m.
2013 Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for this scholarship program, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:
- Listening and Spoken Language must be the applicant's primary mode of communication.
- Hearing loss must have been diagnosed before the applicant’s fourth birthday (pre-lingual hearing loss).
- Hearing loss must be bilateral and in the moderate to profound range. Applicants must have an unaided Pure-Tone Average (PTA) of 60dB or greater in the better-hearing ear in the speech frequencies of 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz. Applicants with cochlear implants meet this eligibility requirement. Unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss does not qualify.
Formula for calculating the PTA: On the unaided audiogram, look at the results for the better hearing ear at 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz and add those three numbers together, then divide that total by three. The result is the Pure Tone Average. To be eligible for this program, the applicant’s PTA must be 60 or greater. - Applicant must be enrolled in or have applied to a mainstream and accredited college or university as a full-time student working to complete a bachelor’s or graduate degree. This means that, for the 2013-2014 academic year, the applicant must be a fulltime undergraduate or graduate student pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree at a mainstream college or university.
- Applicants in the United States must have a minimum cumulative un-weighted GPA of 3.25 on a 4.0 scale (equivalent minimums: 4.06 on a 5.0 scale or 81.25 on a scale of 100). For high school seniors, this is a cumulative GPA for grades 9-11 and the first semester of grade 12. For college freshman, this is cumulative GPA for grades 9-12 and the first semester of college. For college sophomores or higher including graduate students, it is the cumulative GPA on college transcripts for all semesters completed.
Non-U.S. Applicants: Applicants must have a minimum 80% cumulative on their high school or secondary school transcripts. For colleges outside of the United States, applicants must have a ranking equivalent to a minimum 3.25 GPA; for example, for students in the UK, Australia and India, a minimum of an Upper Second Class ranking is required. - Applicants may receive a total of two awards through the AG Bell College Scholarship program.
PLEASE NOTE: We are very strict with the eligibility criteria. Without exception, applications that do not meet all of the criteria are screened out of the process and are not considered for an award.
Application and Deadline
Click here for an application packet (PDF).
The deadline for applications is March 15, 2013. All materials must arrive together in one package by 5 p.m. local time on March 15, 2013. Only transcripts sent from the educational institution will be accepted separately from the application.
Mail application package to:
AG Bell 2013 College Scholarship Program
Wendy Will – PMB 178
1221 Flower Mound Road, Suite 320
Flower Mound, TX 75028
- We do not confirm receipt of applications. If you would like to know whether or not your application was received, you may choose to send your application using the USPS Return Receipt (green postcard) or by a service that can confirm delivery. Please know that delivery confirmation requiring a signature or in-person certification may delay delivery. AG Bell does not accept any responsibility nor make exceptions for delivery delays including those resulting from delivery confirmation requirements. To ensure timely delivery, applicants are encouraged to submit applications well in advance of the deadline.
- Faxed applications are not accepted under any circumstances.
- Late and incomplete applications are not considered under any circumstances.
- Applications are not returned for any reason.
Please do not contact AG Bell seeking an exception to these policies.
Administrative Processes & Notification
In the weeks after the application deadline, all applications are screened to confirm eligibility. Eligible applications are then forwarded to the award selection committee for review. Ineligible applications are destroyed.
Once the screening process is complete, applicants will be notified only by email of the status of their applications – either the application is not eligible, or the application is being reviewed by the award selection committee. Eligible applicants will also receive information about when they can expect to receive information about the award decisions.
Notification of award decisions will be by email only. Both those selected and those not selected will receive an email.
Taken from https://www.listeningandspokenlanguage.org/Document.aspx?id=266.
