Women's Cyber Security Scholarships

Scholarship Sponsored by ISC2 Foundation

Center for Cyber Safety and Education — ISC2 Women’s Cybersecurity Scholarship

Quick overview (read this first)
- Applications for 2025 are closed. Award/no-award notifications for the 2025–2026 school year will be emailed in June 2025.
- This program is administered by the Center for Cyber Safety and Education.
- If you’re also interested in the ISC2 Graduate or ISC2 Undergraduate Cybersecurity Scholarships (open to all genders), those are separate applications — you must apply to them directly. You can import information and documents from this application into the Undergraduate or Graduate application using the import button on the top right of the dashboard.

What the scholarship offers
- Up to ten scholarships will be awarded.
- Each award ranges from $1,000 to $5,000.
- If you are selected, the funds will be sent directly to your educational institution and applied to tuition, fees, books, and required materials. Recipients do not receive the award funds directly.
- Awards must be accepted within three (3) weeks of notification. If you don’t accept within that window, the award may be given to another applicant.
- All funds must be disbursed to the school by December 31 of the award year — awards do not carry over to the next year.
- Awards are one-time only; they do not renew. You must reapply each year to be considered again.

Who is eligible
- You must be planning to pursue (or already pursuing) a degree with a focus on cybersecurity, information assurance, or a closely related field in the fall of 2025.
- Eligible degree levels: associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or post‑graduate.
- Minimum GPA: 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (or the equivalent on a comparable scale).
- Open to applicants of any nationality (U.S. citizenship is not required).
- Study format and location: on-campus or online; full-time or part-time; in the U.S. or internationally.
- You do not need to be currently enrolled to apply, but no award funds will be released until you are enrolled and official documentation is received.

Required application materials (checklist)
1. Unofficial transcripts from your current or most recent school. (If you are awarded, official transcripts will be required before funds are disbursed.)
2. One letter of recommendation (see guidance below).
3. Resume or CV — maximum 3 pages. Do not include links to publications.
4. Responses to the essay prompts listed immediately below.

Letter of recommendation — guidance for the writer
- Provide one letter that addresses:
a) How long you have known the applicant and in what capacity.
b) What skills or abilities the applicant has that will support them in completing a degree.
c) Any other information about the applicant that should be considered.
- Academic references are preferred. A professional reference is acceptable if it addresses the points above.

Essay prompts (you will answer these in the application)
a) Why should you be chosen to receive this women’s cybersecurity scholarship? What makes you stand out from your peers?
b) Describe why you need the scholarship.
c) Describe your personal and educational background.
d) What or who inspired you to pursue a career in cybersecurity? What makes you a candidate for success in information security, and what are your professional goals?
e) After you graduate and enter the field, how will you “pay it forward” to support other women (students, recent grads, mid-career changers) entering cybersecurity?
f) Describe any contributions you’ve made to the cybersecurity field (volunteer work, articles, etc.), plus any relevant hobbies or extracurricular activities and what they mean to you. (Do not include links to articles.)

Important rules and deadlines to remember
- Acceptance deadline: you must accept the award within three weeks of notification or it may be re-awarded.
- Disbursement deadline: all awards must be sent to the recipient’s institution by December 31 of the award year.
- Awards do not renew — reapply each year if you want to be considered again.

Next steps / where to watch for future applications
- Applications are closed for 2025. Check the Center for Cyber Safety and Education and ISC2 scholarship pages for updates about the next application cycle.
- If you have questions about the application process, look for contact details on the scholarship website or your applicant dashboard.

If you’d like, I can help you draft your essays or review your resume before you apply next cycle.