Grants are available in three forms. The dean's office administers $500 Stainrook grants, available to students who entered as first-years starting in the Fall of 2006 with a grade point average of 3.5 at the beginning of the academic year in which they plan to participate. Also, the Honors College makes a few grants to its own students. Students receiving either of these grants are not eligible for the following minigrants.

The International Studies program has a small budget that it disburses in minigrants, on the recommendation of participating faculty, to a number of students enrolled for credit. First the program director allots each instructor a budget proportionate to the number of students enrolled and the cost of the trip. Instructors then develop criteria for the awards, accept applications, and forward their recommendations to the International Studies office. The Minigrant application form, available on this website, is composed in Word so that individual instructors can customize it. Checks are available at the International Studies office: students are normally asked to write a thankyou note to an alumni donor in exchange for them. $500 is generally the maximum award; awards may be made before or after the study tour.

Normally, the program will not approve an even division of the allotment among all students. Rather, for an unusually expensive trip, a general subsidy can sometimes be made outside the minigrant program.