TROY – A $750,000 grant will provide scholarships for Troy University graduate students in rehabilitation counseling.

The Federal Government Service Grant, which will be disbursed in $150,000 per year increments for five years, will provide scholarships for TROY students at Alabama campuses pursuing master’s degrees and was awarded to the University in December, said Dr. Donna Jacobs, dean of the college of education.

Jacobs expects the scholarships to help the program, which requires 48 semester hours rather than the usual 36, to grow. The Troy campus had unsuccessfully applied for the highly competitive grant in the past. Through the University’s consolidation last July, however, Jacobs said TROY students could now reap greater rewards.

 “By pooling our resources, we can expose students to four times what they would have gotten with only involving students from the Troy campus,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs said that she was impressed with the way all four TROY campuses collaborated to help plan this program.  She said that the counseling faculty from Troy, Dothan, Montgomery and Phenix City put their individual ideas aside and considered what was best for the University as a whole. 

“Through this program, we will be able to award 20 stipends per year,” said Jacobs, who expects them to be spread equally among the four campuses.

The College of Education is already accepting applications for this year’s funding, she said.  Applicants, this year, must be currently enrolled in the rehabilitation counseling graduate program.  Next year, undergraduates who are accepted in the master’s program may be considered for this scholarship.

After students obtain their master’s degree, they must work in the area of rehabilitation counseling for two years per every year of scholarship award.