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Frequently Asked Questions
- ... regarding College Students
- ... regarding Colleges and Universities
- ... regarding DoD Civilian Employees and Military Members
College Students
Q:Who is eligible to apply for a DoD IA Scholarship?
A:You are eligible to apply for a DoD IA Scholarship if you meet the following criteria:
- You must be a rising junior or senior undergraduate, master's or doctoral candidate, or graduate certificate program student.
- You must be a U.S. citizen at the time of application.
- You must be at least 18 years of age.
- You must be enrolled (or accepted for enrollment) in one of the Centers of Academic Excellence (CAEs) listed at this web site, or enrolled (or accepted for enrollment) at an institution selected by a CAE as a collaborating partner for these purposes.
- You must be at the following stage of your studies (depending on your academic program and the level of scholarship for which you’re applying):
- have completed (or will have completed by the start of the scholarship period) the first two years of an undergraduate degree program and be eligible to begin either the third or fourth years of an undergraduate degree program;
- beginning the first or second year of a master's degree program;
- beginning or pursuing doctoral studies; or
- beginning or completing a graduate (post-baccalaureate) certificate program in information assurance.
- You must be pursuing a course of study and/or have declared a major in one of the scientific, technical, or managerial disciplines related to computer and network security, with a concentration in an information assurance function. For these purposes the disciplines related to computer and network security include such areas as: : biometrics, cyber operations, digital and multimedia forensics, electrical engineering, electronics engineering, computer crime investigations, computer and computer information science, computer engineering, software engineering, computer programming, computer systems analysis, database administration, data management, information security (assurance), network management, mathematics and business management or administration.
- Your undergraduate grade point average (GPA) must be at least 3.0 out of a 4.0; or, as a graduate student, you must have a 3.2 GPA out of a 4.0, or an analogous rank based on a comparable scale.
- You must be recommended for the scholarship by your school (CAE).
Q:For what length of time will I receive scholarship support?
A:Initial awards will be made for one year; second-year scholarship awards will be dependent on satisfactory academic progress, internship performance, and the availability of funds. Scholarship recipients who successfully complete the terms of an initial one or two–year scholarship (for example, complete an undergraduate degree) may apply for a second scholarship of up to two years for completing an advanced degree or graduate certificate program.
Q:Can I apply for a scholarship if I am not enrolled at one of the CAEs or their collaborating partner institutions?
A:All scholarship recipients must already be enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a CAE at the time of application.
Q:Why is the Scholarship Announcement also called a "Vacancy" announcement?
A:Your application for scholarship assistance is also an application for a DoD (federal) job. Regulations require that DoD identify an opening now for you to be employed as an intern or as a full–time employee. As an IASP Scholar, you will receive job experience in information security internships during breaks in your academic studies. Upon successful completion of your academic program and intern assignments, and when other conditions of employment have been met, you will be appointed to a full-time, permanent position in DoD in order to satisfy your obligation of employment with the DoD. Alternately, you may complete a period of obligated service as an active duty military member if accepted for military service.
Q:How long do I have to serve in DoD to meet the required service obligation?
A:If you elected to serve your period of obligated service as a civilian employee, you are obligated to serve in DoD in a full–time civilian position one calendar year for each academic year, or partial year, for which you receive scholarship assistance. DoD internships undertaken while you are completing your academic program do not count toward satisfying the service obligation.
Q:Can I meet my payback obligation by joining one of the Armed Forces?
A:You may elect to complete your period of obligated service by joining the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces may have a minimum service requirement that is longer than the original service obligation you incur in accepting an Information Assurance scholarship.
Q:Are there other conditions I must meet?
A:Yes. Before awarding you a scholarship or hiring you, the appointment agency will ask you to complete a Declaration for Federal Employment, or other DoD form to determine your suitability for federal employment and to authorize a background investigation of your suitability. The agency will also ask you to sign and certify the accuracy of all the information in your application. You will be required to obtain and maintain eligibility for a security clearance in order to receive financial (scholarship) assistance or a federal job appointment within DoD under the Information Assurance Scholarship Program. Before awarding you a scholarship or hiring you, the appointing agency will ask you to complete certain forms to initiate the security clearance process. If you are a male over age 18 who was born after December 31, 1959, you must have registered with the Selective Service System (or have an exemption) to be eligible for a federal job. On appointment, you will be required to sign an agreement to accept assignments that involve travel or changes in duty stations, assignments in different organizations and functional areas, and assignment in different geographic areas during your internship and while serving in any permanent, full–time position to which you are converted on program completion.
Q:What are the requirements for obtaining a security clearance?
A:In order to obtain a security clearance, you will be required to complete an extensive security questionnaire and undergo a background investigation. Elements of this investigation include employment and law enforcement checks, questioning of references, and a personnel interview. Expect to be questioned about your family background, past work and life experiences, health, use of alcohol or drugs, financial affairs, prior record of arrests/convictions, foreign travel, and other pertinent matters. In addition, some DoD organizations may require drug testing, polygraph examinations and psychological reviews as part of the security clearance process. The following website: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/l/blsecmenu.htm provides both military and civilian personnel additional guidance on obtaining a personnel security clearance.
Q:What happens after I am selected?
A:The DoD agency that wants to appoint you as a Student Trainee, or hire you, will contact you to extend a tentative offer of employment (contingent on satisfaction of all appointment prerequisites) and to initiate new-hire processing. You may be asked to travel to a location the agency specifies for processing, to include initiation of suitability and security clearance processes. (Travel costs will be covered through the CAEs scholarship program grant, or by the DoD agency.) After all preliminary processing steps are completed satisfactorily, you will be given a final offer of appointment and appointed as a Student Trainee or an employee of a specific agency. You will receive instructions about when, where and how to report for any new employee orientation and your intern assignments at that time.
Q:Where will I serve my internship and where will I complete my service obligation after I earn my degree?
A:You will serve your internship and may be employed in a full–time, civilian position with one of the Department of Defense Military Departments (the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of the Air Force) or with another DoD Component. These DoD organizations have installations world–wide. Service obligation through the Armed Forces would be performed at any duty location to which you are ordered, world–wide.
Q:Will I be assigned a mentor?
A:Yes. In addition to your regular supervisor, DoD will assign a mentor to you during the period of your Information Assurance Scholarship Program participation. The mentor's job will be to get to know you, provide you general guidance and support, help you to resolve any major difficulties you may encounter while completing program requirements, and give you professional, career–related advice during your program participation.
Q:Will I really be given meaningful work during my intern assignments?
A:Your intern assignments will be tailored to your grade level, your experience background, the work available at your DoD agency duty location, your academic studies, and your academic schedule. Every effort will be made by your DoD agency to ensure that all or nearly all of your intern assignments present you with learning opportunities that will allow you to contribute in meaningful ways to accomplishment of the hiring agency's performance goals and objectives.
Q:Will I receive any non–academic training while I am participating in the Information Assurance Scholarship Program?
A:Your employing DoD agency may direct you to undergo certain specialty training while you are a program participant, if necessary to perform your intern assignments, or to further your development in a certain area, if there is time available.
Q:Does DoD have a formal career program for information assurance professionals?
A:The Deputy Secretary of Defense has endorsed the concept of a DoD certification program for IA personnel. The certification program for information assurance professionals includes certain competency–based and role–based development. Your supervisor and mentor can help you assess your education and experience background and prepare for certification after you receive your appointment as a Student Trainee.
Colleges and Universities
Q:What must I do to establish a scholarship program on my campus?
A:To establish an Information Assurance Scholarship Program on your campus, you must compete for grant funds by submitting a successful proposal in response to the Grant Solicitation.
Q:What is required to submit a successful proposal?
A:CAEs are required to advertise and manage a competition for scholarship applicants; conduct an evaluation of applicants' qualifications and abilities; and submit all the applications received to DoD, along with the CAEs assessment and recommendation of each proposed scholar's capabilities and potential. Institutions are also required to submit a basic (scholarship program) technical and cost proposal in response to the grant solicitation addressing the CAEs plan for establishing and managing the IA Scholarship Program if a grant is awarded. Basic proposals should cover the design and scope of the proposed program; unique qualities that might distinguish it from the approaches of other institutions; disciplines to be encompassed; and the institution's plan for administering and managing scholarship awards, stipends and other financial aspects of the program. Finally, the basic proposal should describe the process the CAE used to publicize the program, and recruit and assess student candidates. The solicitation also invites CAEs, as part of their response to the solicitation, to address two optional annexes: ANNEX 1 invites CAEs to partner with the Information Resources Management College (IRMC) of the National Defense University (NDU); ANNEX 2 allows CAEs to request funds for modest support for building the institution's capacity for research and education in information assurance.
Q:What types of activities will be considered for support under ANNEX 2, Institutional Capacity Building?
A:Types of activities CAEs may propose can include faculty development, curriculum development, laboratory improvements and/or faculty research in information security in order to develop a strong foundation for the Scholarship Program. Specific requirements and areas of interest are addressed in the annual Solicitation for Proposal.
CAEs must address the extent to which the capacity to be developed supports an information assurance mission need of the DoD; the relation of the support requested to achieving the goals of the Scholarship Program; the specific elements of the Scholarship Program that will be enhanced or strengthened by the requested support; and the impact on the Scholarship Program of not receiving the support requested. Responses to ANNEX 2 of the solicitation, Institutional Capacity Building, are optional and will be evaluated separately from the institution's basic proposal in response to the solicitation
Q:How will CAE proposals be evaluated?
A:The primary criteria against which CAEs' basic technical proposals will be evaluated are: (a) the merits of the institution's proposed approach to designing and developing a robust scholarship program and the likelihood of its producing high quality information assurance scholars for DoD employment; and (b) the quality of the institution's process for promoting, advertising and evaluating students for scholarship and a federal job appointment within DoD, and the effectiveness of this process in producing "well –qualified" candidates for DoD selection. Other factors, of lesser importance, include the program's congruence with DoD requirements and relevance to mission needs; staff and faculty qualifications; adequacy of institutional resources; and reasonableness of the cost proposal.
The primary criteria for evaluating the ANNEX 1 requests will be (a) the merits of the institution's approach and the ability of the CAE to meet the conditions imposed by DoD for the IRMC partnership; and (b) the potential benefit of the program to DoD students and to meeting DoD mission needs. ANNEX 2 requests will be evaluated primarily on the merit of the initiatives proposed and their relationship to laying a strong foundation for the scholarship program; and (b) the potential benefit to IA Scholarship students and to DoD mission needs of the proposed capacity building enhancements.
Q:How can I get a copy of the grant solicitation and more information about the program?
A:You may visit the Grant Solicitation section of this web site to download a copy of the solicitation. The National INFOSEC Education and Training Program Office at the National Security Agency is the central point of contact for information regarding the program. The staff can be reached at (410) 854–6206.
DoD Civilian Employees and Military Members
Q:What opportunities for Information Assurance Scholarships are available for DoD civilian and military personnel?
A:There are 4 different opportunities for DoD personnel:
- Information Resources Management College's (IRMC) CIO Certificate Program and IA Certificate Program with Follow-on Degree at Partnering Center of Academic Excellence (CAE):
- Civilian employees and military officers may apply to attend the CIO Certificate Program and the Information Assurance Certificate Program offered through IRMC, National Defense University, Washington, D.C. These programs may be completed through the 14–week resident Advanced Management Program (awards CIO and IA Certificates) or nine intensive courses (each accomplished through 1-week in residence or 12–week web-based distributed learning). Graduates of the IRMC programs will have a follow–on opportunity to complete a master's degree or doctorate at selected IASP partnering Centers of Academic Excellence (CAEs).
- Scholarships for IRMC CIO Certificate Program Graduates:
- Civilian employees and military officers who completed the CIO Certificate Program (or Advanced Management Program) and the Information Assurance Certificate (NSTISSI 4011 Certificate) in FY06 or later may also apply to begin a follow–on master's degree or doctorate at selected CAE Partner institutions. The applicants' IRMC Certificates/Diplomas may have been earned through participation in resident instruction, web–based distance learning, or a combination of the two methods.
- Naval Postgraduate School:
- Civilian employees and military officers may apply for a master's degree or doctorate program in Computer Sceince at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Enlisted personnel may apply for the master's degree. The degrees will be taken entirely at the Naval Postgraduate School; there are no partnership arrangements with other universities. Students in the NPS program will receive NSTISSI 4011 and 4015 and CNSSI 4012 through CNSSI 4014 certificates.
- Air Force Institute of Technology:
- Civilian employees and military officers may apply for a master's or doctoral degree program at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; enlisted personnel may apply for a master's degree. The degrees will be taken entirely at AFIT. Both the master's and doctoral degree programs offer degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science; the master's program also includes an Information Resources Management degree option. All degrees have specialization in Information Assurance and also result in NSTISSI 4011 and CNSSI 4012 certificates for the graduates.
Q:What are the eligibility requirements?
A:Eligibility requirements for each opportunity are as follows:
- IRMC CIO Certificate Program and Follow–On Scholarships:
- Civilian applicants must be a GS/GM–12 or above (or equivalent) and active duty military applicants must be an O–4 or above. All applicants must have a bachelor's degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0, or equivalent; PhD applicants must have a master’s degree with an attained GPA of 3.2 out of 4.0, or equivalent. Applicants will be required to have already taken the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), or equivalent, if required by the participating partner university. Additionally, partner universities may require a higher grade point average and/or prerequisites courses. All applicants must possess at least a Secret clearance.
- Scholarships for IRMC CIO Certificate Program Graduates:
- Civilian and military IRMC CIO Certificate Program graduates who have completed the IRMC CIO Certificate and NSTISSI 4011 Certificate in FY06 or later are eligible for consideration for scholarships to complete their master's or PhD programs with a CAE partner institution. Admission requirements vary by school; however, GPA requirements for admission are typically 3.0 for master's degree programs, and 3.2 or above for PhD programs. CAEs may also require prerequisite courses or other background (e.g., knowledge of a programming language and data structures.)
- Naval Postgraduate School:
- Civilian applicants for the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) program must be a minimum of GS–9 to GS–13 or above. Military officer applicants may range from W–1 to W–4 and O–1 or higher, although most Services typically select O–3 level officers. Enlisted pay grades authorized at NPS for the IASP are E–4 to E–9, however, eligible pay grades for enlisted applications may vary by individual Service. Academic qualifications for individuals who have earned a bachelor's degree and are applying for the MS degree program are a minimum grade point average of 3.0 out of 4.0, or equivalent. Qualifications of students for the PhD program are determined on an individual basis, including the university the applicants attended, the number of years they have been out of school, their work-related accomplishments, and other factors. Generally NPS requires students to be in the upper half of their MS program peers. Minimum clearance level for NPS students is Secret (or students must be eligible to apply for Secret clearance upon acceptance).
- Air Force Institute of Technology:
- Civilian and military applicants may be of any grade. Applicants to the MS degree program must have an appropriate bachelor's degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 or equivalent; doctoral applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 or equivalent. Minimum GRE scores for all applicants are 550 verbal/650 quantitative. Minimum clearance level for AFIT students is Secret (or students must be eligible to apply for Secret clearance upon acceptance to the school).