Sen. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced on Tuesday the expansion of a program that will provide free college tuition to 1,000 students, provided they serve the government in a cyber-related discipline after their education.
The Cyber Service Academy scholarship program comes as part of the recently-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and offers spots at 20 schools in New York State (including six in the Big Apple).
Designed to fill glaring gaps in the U.S. government’s cyber workforce, the program will cover the full cost of tuition, along with textbooks, fees, travel and room and board, as long as recipients serve in the Department of Defense (DoD) or the Intelligence Community (IC) after graduating.
Spots at eligible New York City institutions are available at:
- Fordham University, Bronx
- New York Institute of Technology, Manhattan
- New York University, Brooklyn
- Pace University, Manhattan
- St. John’s University, Queens
- City College of New York, Manhattan
“My Cyber Service Academy scholarship addresses a dangerous shortage in cyber personnel in the public sector while also targeting the skyrocketing cost of higher education,” Sen. Gillibrand said in a statement. “The program will help train a new generation of cyber professionals, allow them to graduate debt free, and provide them the opportunity to serve in the Department of Defense or the Intelligence Community after graduating.”
Prospective students interested in applying for the 2025-26 academic year need to apply by Feb. 1, 2024.
Once finished with their education, students must serve in the DoD or the IC for one year for each academic year they were enrolled in the program (up to five years), and are expected to complete internships during school breaks.
Meanwhile, current DoD employees who are interested in pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree in cyber-related fields of study can also apply, and will be considered for the program’s “retention scholarships.”
The idea, according to Gillibrand, came about after years of the government’s defense agencies finding a lack of workers opting for public service careers, with many graduates opting for more lucrative jobs in the private sector.
The U.S. has moved in recent years to beef-up its cyber security force following several notable attacks — perhaps most notably in 2021, when hackers targeted the Colonial Pipeline that provides almost half of the fossil fuel power generation on America’s east coast.
The government paid nearly $5 million in ransom to Eastern European hackers behind the attack, and warned of future attacks that could be more dangerous, or attacks that would be more devastating to the country’s national security.
“The room and board stipend ranges from $22,000/year for community college students, and up to $32,000/year for graduate students. Applicants need to be either enrolled or accepted for enrollment at an eligible institution to be eligible for the Cyber Service Academy program,” according to Gillibrand’s office.
Increasing the workforce of the country’s cybersecurity community is a necessary step towards dealing with these types of events in the future, Gillibrand said.
Interested applicants can head to gillibrand.senate.gov/cyberacademy/ for further information, and to apply for a spot in the program.
