submitted by devries@augsburg.edu
Critical Language Scholarship
Eligibility
First-year Students, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors; US Citizens
Deadlines
Official CLS Deadline: Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Purpose
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State that offers fully-funded overseas language and cultural immersion programs for American undergraduate and graduate students. With the goal of broadening the base of Americans studying and mastering critical languages and building relationships between the people of the United States and other countries, CLS provides study opportunities to a diverse range of students from across the United States at every level of language learning.
The CLS Spark Program is a virtual opportunity that offers introductory language instruction in a number of CLS languages. Spark prioritizes students without access to instruction in the target language at their home institutions, and participation in Spark includes automatic consideration as a semi-finalist for the CLS summer language student (if the Spark participant applies for it). The critical languages supported currently include Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili
Application Process
CLS has great resources available to help you understand the program and application process and write strong essays. Be sure to consult them! Prospective applicants should consult with Jacqui deVries as early as possible. No institutional endorsement is necessary, but Prof. deVries provides support for the application process.
Campus Representative
Jacqueline deVries, Professor of History and Director of Major Grants and Fellowships, Memorial 114, <devries@augsburg.edu>
Official Website
The Critical Language Scholarship Program