Individual Professional Conference Grant

The Individual Professional Conference Grant is an opportunity to get financial support for attending a national or regional professional conference of your choice. There is no preset list of conferences from which you are required to choose.

TheDream.US will assist you with the following major expenses associated with attending or presenting at a conference:

Conference registration fee
Air/train fare
Up to 3-nights of lodging at the conference hotel

Conference Grants DO NOT COVER:

Local travel including to/from the airport or train station to conference site
Gas or tolls for car travel
Meals outside those included with the conference registration
Hotel and travel accommodations for local conferences
International conferences

Qualification & Eligibility Requirements

You are eligible to apply if you meet all the following criteria:

Currently eligible for TheDream.US Scholarship when you apply for the grant and when you attend the conference
Must submit grant application by deadlines outlined in the Individual Professional Conference Grant Timeline Chart
All Scholars, regardless of race/ethnicity and immigration status, are welcome to apply
Conference must be directly related to your major/career of interest
Must have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher when you apply
Must have earned 30+ cumulative credits by the time you attend the conference
Must be 18 years of age or older
Must have a LinkedIn profile account

If you need flight/train and hotel accommodations:

Personal credit card (not debit card) is required by hotels for check-in
(Note: If you do not have a personal credit card, you may want to consider attending a professional conference within your city, so that hotel accommodations will not be needed. This grant will still cover the conference registration fee.)
Must have a valid photo ID (not expired) for hotel check-in
Must have a valid travel ID (not expired), if traveling by plane
Must be able to attend at least 2 full conference days, which does not include arrival date
(Note: you will be able to choose which 2 days of the conference you wish to attend.)

Please Note: To ensure we are providing this opportunity to as many Scholars as possible, priority will be given to Scholars who did not already receive a Professional Conference Grant in the 2022 academic year.

Application Procedure

To apply, please complete the following:

Step 1: Create or Update Your LinkedIn Profile

Creating a LinkedIn account is free (do not pay for a premium account) – go to www.linkedin.com on a desktop computer and register for an account. Once you’ve created an account, create a LinkedIn profile. Ensure your LinkedIn profile has the information listed here.

Step 2: Complete an Online Application

As part of the online application, you will need to answer a short essay question: “How will attending this conference contribute to your future career and/or academic goals?” (no more than 2-3 short paragraphs).

Complete the Application Now

Questions?

If you have questions about the Individual Professional Conference Grant, please contact Chris Aviles at [email protected].

If you have questions about traveling while undocumented, please refer to this travel guide created by Immigrants Rising.