Office of the Press Secretary
(Aboard Air Force One en route Andrews Air Force Base)

For Immediate Release December 8, 2000

Fact Sheet

Scholarship for Service

Today, at a speech at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, President Clinton highlighted the new Scholarship for Service initiative, a component of the Federal Cyber Services (FCS) Training and Education initiative.

Scholarship for Service awards scholarships for the study of information security in exchange for a commitment to work for a specified amount of time for the federal government. It also supports the development of information security faculty and facilities through capacity building grants.

The demand for information technologists and information security specialists has grown faster than the supply. In both the public and the private sector, there is a dearth of qualified new professionals in information security. In the federal government alone, the shortage is projected to be over 37,000 within the next six years. SFS is one of several initiatives aimed at addressing this shortage.

One of five educational initiatives detailed in the President's National Plan for Information Systems Protection, Version 1.0, Scholarship for Service offers tuition for junior and senior academic years of undergraduate study, or two years of master level study, summer employment in a federal agency, and a living stipend.

The initiative is jointly managed by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Personnel Management. The National Science Foundation issued the Scholarship for Service grant proposal announcement on October 27, 2000. Proposals are due in late January, and awards will be announced in Spring 2001. The FY01 program is expected to fund approximately 175 students, who will begin studies in Fall 2001. Additional information about this program can be found on the National Science Foundation (NSF) web site at .

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