Student Funding

Graduate Student FLAS Fellowships

FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES (FLAS) FELLOWSHIPS 

Full-time graduate and professional school students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents may apply to study less- or least-commonly taught languages of the Middle East and Middle East area studies. 

See FLAS ​guidelines for more information:

Available Spring 2025

Contact Griffin Orlando at griffin.orlando@duke.edu with questions.

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SUMMER FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES (FLAS) FELLOWSHIPS

Full-time undergraduate, graduate and professional school students who are US citizens or permanent residents may apply to engage in intensive language study in a language of the Middle East. Priority will be given to less-commonly taught languages. 

See FLAS guidelines for more information:

Available Spring 2025

What is FLAS?

Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships support students taking less commonly taught languages partnered with area studies coursework. This program provides both academic year and summer fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students at the intermediate language level and above.

The goals of the program include:

1. to assist in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area/international studies;
2. to stimulate the attainment of foreign language acquisition and fluency; and
3. to develop a pool of international experts to meet national needs.

FLAS Fellowships are possible because of grants provided from the U.S. Department of Education to Duke  and global studies centers. For more information, contact Griffin Orlando at griffin.orlando@duke.edu.

Eligibility

All applicants must meet the following criteria, in addition to any specific requirements for the particular language of application.

• Students must be a U.S. citizen by birth or naturalization, or a permanent resident.
• For Academic Year fellowships, graduate students must be enrolled in a program of graduate or professional study by the start of the Fellowship, but may apply in advance of admissions notification.
• For Summer fellowships, you may be a prospective graduate student as long as you can demonstrate graduate or professional school admission during the upcoming Fall. You may apply in advance of admissions notification.
• Graduate students must be at the intermediate or advanced level of language study. If applying as a beginner, you must have advanced-level knowledge of another regionally-related language (for example, if applying as a beginner in Polish, you must have advanced knowledge of Russian, or any other Slavic language).
• At the undergraduate level, only students at the intermediate or higher level in the less commonly taught language of application are eligible.
• Students should be enrolled (or accepted to soon enroll) at Duke University or one of our designated partner institutions in the state of North Carolina.

Types of Fellowships

Summer

Summer FLAS Fellowships provide a $3,500 stipend and up to $5,000 for tuition and fees for approved intensive summer language courses in the U.S. or abroad.  Consult with individual FLAS coordinators for travel costs in excess of the stipend.

FLAS students are permitted to receive additional funding from other sources to support their intensive language programs as long as they do not duplicate what is covered by the FLAS fellowships.

For example: If a student receives funding from other sources to cover 100% of tuition and fees, his or her FLAS fellowship will not cover tuition and fees but will provide a $3,500 stipend. If other funding sources cover only a portion of tuition and fees (e.g. half), FLAS can cover the remaining cost of tuition and fees up to $5,000 and a $3,500 stipend. Students are required to report any additional funds from other sources for their intensive language program to their FLAS Coordinators.

Academic Year

Academic year FLAS Fellowships provide a stipend plus support for tuition and fees. Fellows are required to take at least one language and one area studies course each semester.

The FLAS Fellowship will provide a $20,000 stipend to a graduate student plus $18,000 towards tuition and fees. If you are selected as a FLAS fellow, you are required to obtain a confirmation from your home/academic department stating that the department will cover any required difference between the FLAS stipend and your graduate school’s minimum allowance.

FLAS fellowships could affect financial aid packages. We recommend that if awarded you contact the Office of Financial Aid to determine the fellowship’s affect on your financial aid package.