Department of Defense Cyber Scholarship Program (CYSP)

What Is CYSP?

The Cyber Scholarship Program (CySP) is designed to recruit the nation’s top cybersecurity talent to the Department of Defense (DoD) workforce to secure our nation against the threats to its information systems and networks.

Pace University recommends the most qualified student applicants to the DoD, and the DoD selects students to participate in CySP. The CySP is a highly competitive and prestigious scholarship program.

Award Benefits

• Academic scholarship covering full tuition, fees and books;
• Stipend - $27,000 for undergraduate students; $32,000 for graduate students;
• Paid summer internships in cybersecurity-related roles; and
• A cybersecurity-related job with the Department of Defense following graduation (pending security clearance).

Scholarship recipients are required to work in the DoD a minimum of one year for each year of scholarship support they received under the CySP. Internships do NOT count towards the post-graduation obligation requirements.

Eligibility Requirements

Before applying, students must determine whether they meet the eligibility requirements. Verify your eligibility.

View detailed information about the program

Application Procedure

• Verify your eligibility.
• Verify your ability to pass a background investigation.
• Create a CySP online application account.
• Fill out the Applicant Interest Form.
• Attend one virtual scholarship info session on either December 9 or December 16. Register for a virtual scholarship info session or email cyberscholarship@pace.edu with subject "Information Session Registration"
• Schedule an appointment with the faculty point of contact (PoC) to assess your eligibility and review your application packet before January 15 Any follow-up appointments with the PoC must also be completed by January 15.
  • Your PoC are Dr. Li-Chiou Chen and Prof. Andreea Cotoranu. For program-related questions, or to arrange appointments with the PoC, email cyberscholarship@pace.edu.
• Upload all application documents to the CySP application system by January 15.
• Submit the application in the CySP application system by February 1, 2023. Applications may not be received or changed after this date.

Applicants should thoroughly review the application instructions and documents. The DoD requires several documents along with the application, and obtaining some of these documents may be time sensitive (*). All these documents must be obtained and uploaded to the system by the student before January 15.

• Two letters of reference*
  • Letters must be on University letterhead and contain the full name and contact information of the faculty member (phone, email, and address). See the application package for instructions about the content of this Letter of Reference.
• Transcripts
  • Official or certified transcripts from all the institutions of higher learning you have attended. Electronic transcripts may be accepted as long as they are certified by the institution.
  • Should include course grades for Fall 2022, and complete course registration for Spring 2023.
• Resume (use this template)
• A separate list of Recognitions, Honors, and Awards (do not include these on the resume)
• Supplemental Competency Statement: Knowledge, Skills and Attributes
  • These narrative responses describe the level of your attainment of six knowledge and ability factors. See the application package for details.
• Acknowledgement of the Supplemental Statement of General Academic and Employment Conditions (OF612) (PDF)
  • This is an agreement to accept a federal appointment and intern assignment.

Application Deadline

February 1, 2023

Contact Information

Your University Points of Contact (POCs) are professors Li-Chiou Chen and Andreea Cotoranu.

Please direct all cybersecurity scholarship-related inquiries, including for application advisement to cyberscholarship@pace.edu.