An undergraduate senior accepted into an audiology graduate program may qualify for one opportunity but not another reserved for second-year graduate students. A scholarship for educational expenses may help with living costs while expressly excluding research or travel. Even awards from the same foundation can have different specialty requirements.
This guide explains official ASHFoundation and American Academy of Audiology Foundation routes, with closed-cycle terms clearly separated from announced next-cycle information. Use it to build a shortlist, then check the current application before submitting.
Audiology scholarship options at a glance
Checked October 17, 2026. The reviewed opportunities are not presented as open today. ASHFoundation says its next Graduate Student Scholarship program opens in 2027; the AAA Foundation says its next scholarship cycle begins in January 2027. Exact new deadlines and complete updated terms were not established in the reviewed pages.
| Opportunity | Published award | Intended fit | Cycle and eligibility caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASHFoundation General Graduate Student Scholarship | Up to 15 awards of $5,000 in the displayed program | Full-time students accepted into or enrolled in eligible U.S. communication sciences and disorders graduate study, including clinical audiology doctorates | Next program opens in 2027; retained fall 2026 enrollment instructions are historical. |
| AAA Foundation Empowering Students Scholarship | Four $5,000 awards displayed | Audiology graduate students showing exceptional clinical promise | Closed; national SAA membership and common graduate-study rules apply. Recheck next call. |
| AAA Foundation Jerry Northern Scholarship in Pediatric Audiology | Three $10,000 scholarships displayed | Students at least in their second graduate academic year who have completed a pediatric audiology course | Closed; displayed graduation exclusions and additional travel benefit concern the 2026 call. |
| AAA Foundation Jill Botkin Hearing Health-Care Accessibility Scholarship | One $5,000 award displayed | Students focused on access to hearing care; individual page specifies educational support in an AuD program | Closed; at least second academic year at award and current-cycle conditions apply. |
| AAA Foundation Amit Gosalia Scholarship in Private Practice Audiology | Two $1,500 awards displayed | Students with clinical promise and interest in private practice, at least in their second academic year | Closed; not a general first-year or unrestricted research award. |
These are per-recipient amounts with the award counts shown separately. Do not multiply an award by the number of recipients and present that total as what one student can receive.
ASHFoundation: graduate educational funding that includes audiology
The ASHFoundation Graduate Student Scholarship supports full-time graduate study in communication sciences and disorders. Its published eligibility includes students accepted for or enrolled in graduate programs in the United States. Both clinical and research doctoral students may be eligible under the applicable program rules.
For clinical doctoral programs in audiology, the page requires accreditation or candidacy status from the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. It explicitly says that accreditation condition does not apply to research doctoral programs.
The student must be in full-time study for the full academic year. A related hearing-science interest, part-time enrollment, or a program outside the stated geographic scope should not be assumed to satisfy the requirement.
Can an undergraduate senior apply?
The program includes undergraduate seniors who will enter qualifying graduate study. That does not make it an undergraduate tuition scholarship: the relevant funding and acceptance conditions concern graduate education.
The current page retains acceptance-letter instructions for students beginning in fall 2026 and good-standing documentation for 2025–2026. Those dates are not new requirements for 2027 applicants. Prepare your records, but wait for the next call’s exact enrollment-year and document rules before finalizing a submission.
General and restricted scholarship categories
The displayed program lists up to 15 general $5,000 awards and additional $5,000 awards in restricted categories. All applicants are considered for the general scholarship; those seeking restricted-category consideration must indicate that in the application.
Examples include:
- International Student Scholarship: the displayed Kala Singh Memorial Fund category supports non-U.S. citizens studying in the United States.
- Minority Student Scholarship: the displayed category is for members of a racial or ethnic minority group who are U.S. citizens. It is separate from ASHA’s Minority Student Leadership Program.
- NSSLHA Scholarship: the displayed terms specify undergraduate seniors with active National NSSLHA membership entering graduate study in fall 2026. The next cycle’s enrollment date must be confirmed.
- Research-aligned memorial categories: the page lists particular research interests, which must match the named fund’s actual criteria.
Do not assume every restricted category fits every audiology student. A speech-focused research fund may be inappropriate for a proposal that does not address its stated scope. Likewise, the AAA Foundation’s Sadanand Singh Memorial Scholarship and ASHFoundation’s Dr. Sadanand Singh Scholarship are separate opportunities with separate providers and rules.
Application documents and recommendations
The reviewed ASHFoundation instructions list:
- An online Student Information Form.
- A letter of application, limited to two pages, 12-point font, single-spaced, explaining post-program goals and why you chose them.
- Graduate acceptance or departmental good-standing documentation, depending on your stage.
- A transcript, with GPA documentation if the transcript does not include it.
- An essay of no more than 1,500 words excluding references, using the current prompt.
- Three confidential recommendations submitted by the recommenders through the online system.
The page accepts a student transcript version and says not to upload a third-party secure PDF transcript. Follow the current upload rules so a protected file does not become unreadable to reviewers.
Recommendation authors depend on your situation. Current undergraduates need at least two letters from academic faculty at their current undergraduate institution. Current graduate students need at least two academic faculty letters, which may come from current or past institutions. Applicants returning from the workforce may use colleagues, including at least one supervisor, as well as people familiar with their academic history and potential.
You are responsible for ensuring the letters arrive by the deadline. Ask early and monitor completion rather than assuming an automated request email has been acted upon.
Do not write the next application to an old essay prompt
ASHFoundation labels the displayed 2026 essay question as a sample and says the 2027 question will be posted when the program opens. It asks about unmet needs across communication sciences and disorders and the role of outcomes and cost-savings data, but that is not a verified 2027 prompt.
Use the period before opening to clarify your interests and gather evidence. Once the current prompt appears, answer that actual question rather than submitting a polished response to last year’s assignment.
Allowed expenses and prior-award restriction
ASHFoundation states that scholarship funding is directed toward educational expenses, including tuition, books, and living expenses, not personal or professional travel or research expenses. A dissertation project may therefore require a different grant even if you receive this educational scholarship.
The applicant must not have received a prior ASHFoundation scholarship. That is a substantive eligibility gate, not merely a preference for new applicants. The reviewed page does not establish the payment recipient, disbursement schedule, or automatic renewal; confirm those details in the current award terms.
AAA Foundation scholarships: clinical interests and membership matter
The American Academy of Audiology Foundation’s scholarship overview lists several awards for audiology graduate students. It says the next scholarship cycle begins in January 2027.
The displayed common rules require national Student Academy of Audiology membership both when applying and when the award is made. Do not assume membership in a local student chapter is the same as national SAA membership.
The page describes full-time AuD, PhD, and combined AuD/PhD study at U.S. universities, but its current enrollment-year and graduation exclusions still refer to 2025–2026 and spring/summer 2026. Those dated clauses must be replaced by the actual next call, not mechanically shifted forward by a year.
The portfolio permits only one scholarship award per academic year, even if you apply for several. A student may receive a specific scholarship only once but may qualify for a different scholarship in a later year. This is different from both automatic renewal and ASHFoundation’s prior-scholarship restriction.
Match the award to your training stage and goals
Empowering Students Scholarship: The overview displays four $5,000 awards for students with exceptional promise as clinical audiologists who are currently enrolled in an audiology graduate program. The reviewed summary does not impose the same explicit second-year condition shown for several other awards, but all current common and individual rules still need checking.
Jerry Northern Scholarship in Pediatric Audiology: The individual program page displays three $10,000 scholarships. Applicants must be at least in their second academic year and have completed at least one pediatric audiology course. An interest in working with children does not replace the coursework requirement.
That page also describes an additional $500 for travel to AAA 2026+HearTECH Expo in San Antonio. This is an event-specific historical benefit, not evidence that a future recipient receives unrestricted extra tuition funding or a 2027 travel award.
Jill Botkin Hearing Health-Care Accessibility Scholarship: The individual page lists one $5,000 award intended for educational support in an AuD program. The overview emphasizes access to hearing care, especially for communities facing geographic barriers. The individual page requires at least the second academic year when awarded. Follow the narrower individual wording instead of assuming every research doctorate qualifies.
Amit Gosalia Scholarship in Private Practice Audiology: The overview displays two $1,500 awards for students showing clinical promise and interest in private practice, with at least second-year graduate standing as determined by the school. A statement should explain the actual interest and preparation, not invent practice ownership or independent clinical experience.
Prepare the correct recommendation format
The AAA Foundation overview lists a personal statement or essay, CV or résumé, and a recommendation rubric completed by a qualified person such as a clinical supervisor, professor, adviser, mentor, or employer.
A rubric is not necessarily interchangeable with a conventional recommendation letter. Download the current materials for each selected scholarship and check its prompt. Do not assume ASHFoundation’s three-letter requirement applies to AAA Foundation applications simply because both support audiology students.
The reviewed pages do not establish complete payment and expense rules for every AAA award. Confirm the recipient, eligible expenses, enrollment checks, and any reporting before using an expected award in your semester budget.
Build an application shortlist that respects your stage
Incoming graduate student
Start by checking acceptance, full-time enrollment, program location, and accreditation. ASHFoundation may be relevant under its current incoming-student rules. An award explicitly requiring a second academic year may not be.
Current second-year or later student
Record the academic-year status your university recognizes, completed specialty courses, and expected graduation. Compare clinical, pediatric, access-to-care, private-practice, and research interests against individual award requirements. Do not stretch one essay to fit conflicting purposes.
Research doctorate student
Confirm that the opportunity accepts the degree and proposed work. Separate educational funding from research funding: an award may accept research doctoral students but prohibit spending the money on the research itself.
International student
Check the actual citizenship and study-location clauses for each fund. ASHFoundation has a specifically described non-U.S.-citizen category, but that does not automatically mean every scholarship is open to international applicants at any institution.
Write about clinical learning without exposing private information
An application can demonstrate responsibility and preparation without including a patient’s name, audiogram, identifiable case history, or confidential assessment. Describe the learning, your supervised role, and the question it raised in general terms.
For a research experience, separate your own contribution from the laboratory’s overall results. For a service project, distinguish participation from leadership and completed work from future plans. Accuracy is more persuasive than an exaggerated claim of independent expertise.
Frequently asked questions
Are audiology scholarships open now?
The reviewed providers point to future cycles: ASHFoundation says its next program opens in 2027, and the AAA Foundation announces January 2027 for its next cycle. Do not treat the closed calls described here as accepting applications today.
Can I use a scholarship for conference travel?
Not automatically. ASHFoundation explicitly excludes travel from this scholarship’s permitted uses. The Jerry Northern page describes a separate travel benefit for a specific 2026 event, which does not establish a standing benefit for future cycles.
Can I receive awards from both foundations?
Their published internal award restrictions differ, and neither should be treated as a blanket approval of all outside-aid combinations. Check each current award agreement and ask your institution how outside scholarships affect other assistance.
Will the award renew each year?
Do not assume renewal. ASHFoundation bars prior scholarship recipients under the reviewed rules, while the AAA Foundation limits a particular scholarship to one receipt but allows different awards in later years. Confirm current conditions before planning multi-year funding.
