S-STEM Programs for Transfer and Non-Transfer Upper Division and Graduate Engineering and Computer Science Students

Financing a college education is very difficult for many students. In the state of Arizona, many families cannot even afford the low tuition provided by a major public university. Since 2002 much needed National Science Foundation S-STEM scholarship programs have been held for upper division and graduate engineering and computer science students at Arizona State University. One S-STEM program is for upper division transfer students from local community colleges and out-of-state. A second S-STEM program is for non-transfers and graduate students who have graduated through either of the S-STEM programs. Although the program is ranked highly by students and the scholarships, especially those for transfer students, have become very competitive, each year changes are made in an attempt to make the program even better. This paper describes recent changes that have been made to the program for improvement and in response to challenges.