Summer Writing Program Scholarships
Program Information
Naropa University MFA Writing & Poetics and Creative Writing students may be eligible for the following temporary employment opportunities. Please check the Naropa Employment page in May.
Student Instructional Positions
Apply for Summer Writing Program Scholarships
- 2025 SWP Scholarship Application closed February 21st, 2025.
SWP Student Financial Aid & Student Employment Opportunities
Financial Aid for Degree-seeking Students
Degree-seeking students taking the program for graduate or undergraduate credit may be eligible for federal financial aid if enrolled for at least 6 credits (three weeks undergraduate credit, three to four weeks for graduate credit). Naropa BA and MFA student should complete the FAFSA by March 1. The FAFSA is available at fafsa.gov.
Students who are enrolled as degree-seeking students at another institution and are taking the SWP for credit, should contact the financial aid office at their home institution for information regarding eligibility.
Students who request Financial Aid to attend the Summer Writing Program (SWP) are generally awarded enough aid to cover the cost of tuition and fees, with some funds available for books and/or living expenses. Federal regulations prohibit the release of student aid until a student is officially attending at least half-time (enrolled for at least 6 credits). Since students do not become half-time until the beginning of week three of the Summer Writing Program, their aid and refunds will become available at the beginning of that week.
SWP Student Employment Opportunities
Naropa University MFA Writing & Poetics and Creative Writing students may be eligible for the following temporary employment opportunities. Please check the Naropa Employment page in May. You are also welcome to apply for support staff positions not listed here, but will not be able to enroll in workshops.
Instructional
An MFA lecture is one of the few opportunities that graduate students have to present scholarly and creative research during their degree program. Presenters should lecture on topics about which they are knowledgeable and passionate; subjects that complement the SWP programming.
While we require the lecture to be in a standard format (not performance-based)—all lectures must be 40 minutes with a 20-minute Q&A—we encourage you to utilize the multi-media capacities in the Performing Arts Center. Slides, primary source material from the Naropa University Audio Archive Project, etc. are a great way to make your presentation more engaging.
Only MFA students are eligible for these positions. There is 1 position available. Specific times and locations of student lectures will be listed in the SWP Master Schedule. There is no financial compensation for MFA lectures.
The graduate instructor position offers graduate students an opportunity to design and teach a writing workshop. Due to the fluctuating weekly populations of undergraduate students during the Summer Writing Program, graduate instructors have the unique challenge of creating a weekly workshop that can accommodate both students taking the program for one week or for all three weeks.
Graduate instructors are responsible for attending weekly staff meetings (9–9:30 a.m. on Wednesdays) with the BA coordinator. The BA coordinator then leads a group session with all BA students and instructors. This session is scheduled from 9:30–10 or 10:30 a.m. After this session, students will split into smaller groups with each graduate instructor heading a discussion group of BA credit students from 10:30 to 12:30 p.m. Graduate instructors are responsible for commenting on final BA manuscripts.
Only second- or third-summer MFA students are eligible for these positions. There are 2 positions available, depending on the number of BA students who enroll.
Staff
The SWP Portfolio Editor sets guidelines for submission, editing, layout and coordinates all aspects of production and distribution of the annual Summer Writing Program Portfolio with the Bombay Gin Literary Journal editors for final publication in the next issue.
