Scholarships

Covered Costs

An SJI scholarship may cover the costs of tuition, transportation to and from the educational program, and reasonable lodging (up to $150 per night, including taxes), up to a maximum total of $1,500 per scholarship.  Transportation expenses include round-trip coach airfare or train fare.  Scholarship recipients are encouraged to take advantage of excursion or other special airfare offers (e.g., reductions offered when a ticket is purchased 21 days in advance of the travel date) when making their travel arrangements. Recipients who drive to the site of the program may receive $.445/mile up to the amount of the advanced purchase round-trip airfare.  Funds to pay tuition, transportation, and lodging expenses in excess of $1,500 and other costs of attending the program such as meals, materials, and transportation (including rental cars) at the site of the education program, must be obtained from other sources or be borne by the scholarship recipient.

Scholarship applicants are encouraged to check other sources of financial assistance and combine aid whenever possible.  Scholarship recipients also are encouraged to check with their tax advisors to determine whether the scholarship constitutes taxable income under Federal and State law.

Eligible Recipients

Because of the limited amount of funds available, scholarships can be awarded only to full-time judges of State or local trial and appellate courts; full-time professional State or local court personnel with management responsibilities; and supervisory and management probation officials in judicial branch probation offices.  Senior judges, part-time judges, quasi-judicial hearing officers including referees and commissioners, administrative law judges, staff attorneys, law clerks, line staff, law enforcement officers, and other executive branch personnel are not eligible to receive scholarships.  The demand for scholarships precludes providing more than one scholarship per year to any one recipient. Also, recipients are limited to no more than one scholarship in a two-year period, absent programmatic reasons that would require attendance at a series of courses held on a more frequent schedule.

Eligible Courses

SJI scholarships can be awarded only for courses presented in a U.S. jurisdiction (other than the one in which the applicant resides, except in the case of online programs) that are designed to enhance the skills of new or experienced judges and court managers; address any of the topics listed in SJI’s Special Interest categories; or are offered by a
recognized graduate program for judges or court managers.  The annual or midyear meeting of a State or national organization of which the applicant is a member does not qualify as an out-of-State educational program for scholarship purposes, even though it may include workshops or other training sessions.  (Scholarship funds may not be used for attendance at any association annual conference.) 

Selection Criteria

The factors SJI will consider in selecting the scholarship recipients include:

1. The date on which the application and concurrence (and support letter, if required) are sent;
2. The unavailability of State and local funds to cover the costs of attending, or participating in, the program or scholarship funds from another source;
3. The absence of educational programs in the applicant’s State addressing the particular topic;
4. Geographic balance among the recipients;
5. The balance of scholarships among educational programs;
6. The balance of scholarships among the types of courts represented; and
7. The level of appropriations available to SJI in the current year and the amount expected to be available in succeeding fiscal years.

The postmark or courier receipt will be used to determine the date on which the application form and other required items were sent and applications will be reviewed on a “First Come/First Considered” basis on a quarterly basis. 

How and When to Apply

Judges and court managers interested in receiving scholarships must submit SJI’s Scholarship Application (Form S1) and the written concurrence of the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court (or the Chief Justice’s designee) on SJI’s Scholarship Concurrence Form (Form S2) (see our Grant Guidelines). The Scholarship Application must bear the original signature of the applicant.  The signature of the presiding judge of the applicant’s court cannot be substituted for that of the Chief Justice or the Chief Justice’s designee on the Concurrence form.  Court managers, other than elected clerks of court, also must submit letters of support from their immediate supervisors.

Scholarship applications should be submitted on a “first come/first considered” basis.  No longer will an applicant need to wait for the quarter preceding the education program to submit a scholarship application to SJI.  The applications will be reviewed on a quarterly basis, and we will distribute available funding as evenly as possible across the fiscal year.  However, applicants are strongly urged to apply as soon as a program has been identified, since applications may be submitted at any time.  Those received by the first day of the second month of a fiscal quarter will be reviewed, and awards will be made by the end of each fiscal quarter.  Scholarship applications must be received by the due date; it is no longer a mail due date. 

All applications should be sent by mail or courier (not fax or e-mail) to:

Scholarship Program Coordinator
State Justice Institute
1650 King Street, Suite 600
Alexandria, VA 22314

Applying for an SJI scholarship does not register the applicant for a course.  Applications to attend or register for an educational program should be sent to the organization offering the program.

Non-Transferability

A scholarship is not transferable to another individual.  It may be used only for the course specified in the application unless attendance at a different course that meets the eligibility requirements is approved in writing by SJI. Decisions on such requests will be made within 30 days after the receipt of the request letter.

Responsibilities of Scholarship Recipients

Scholarship recipients are responsible for disseminating the information received from the course to their court colleagues locally and, if possible, throughout the State (e.g., by developing a formal seminar, circulating the written material, or discussing the information at a meeting or conference).  Recipients also must submit to SJI a certificate of attendance at the program, an evaluation of the educational program they attended, and a copy of the notice of any scholarship funds received from other sources. A copy of the evaluation must be sent to the Chief Justice of the State. A State or local jurisdiction may impose additional requirements on scholarship recipients.

In order to receive the funds authorized by a scholarship award, recipients must submit a Scholarship Payment Voucher (Form S3) together with a paid tuition statement/receipt from the program sponsor, a transportation fare receipt (or statement of the driving mileage to and from the recipient’s home to the site of the educational program), lodging receipt, and a certificate of attendance/completion. Scholarship Payment Vouchers must be submitted within 90 days after the end of the course attended, or SJI will be unable to reimburse incurred costs.