Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows

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The Heller School is proud to be a Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program, offering generous scholarships to Returning Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs)

GRE and GMAT waived for Fall 2020 due to COVID-19

Apply by June 1

Five 100% tuition scholarships for RPCVs

The Heller School is pleased to announce five new 100% tuition scholarships for RPCVs admitted to Heller for each fall term. Each of the following master’s degree programs will award one 100% tuition scholarship to an RPCV:

Guaranteed 60% scholarship for all RPCVs

All RPCVs admitted to the Heller School for the Fall 2020 admission cycle will receive a scholarship of 60% of their tuition expenses.

Eligibility & How to Apply

To verify their affiliation, RPCVs should submit a copy of their Description of Service (DOS) as proof of their Peace Corps experience. The DOS may be submitted through the applicant's Status Page once an application has been submitted. The application fee is also waived for all RPCVs.

Meet a few of our RPCVs:

Chibo Shinagawa, MS’19

Shinagawa found Heller through the Peace Corps program website. “I was looking specifically for programs that focus on advancing social justice as part of their curriculum. I’ve always been a community organizer at heart. That’s my passion, and I’ve always known my interest was in reproductive health and reproductive justice, which is part of the reason why I decided to join the Peace Corps.” She says her Peace Corps experience also helped expose her to the role of direct service organizations, as part of her role included facilitating vaccinations and immunizations at a local health clinic.

Ricki Herrera, MBA/MA SID’20

“As cliché as it sounds, I’ve always been interested in service," says Herrera, who was sent to Lesotho, a tiny country in Southern Africa, as a community health volunteer. He worked with a local clinic and schools on a program to target HIV-positive youth, since Lesotho has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, and offered nutrition workshops and monitored malnourishment rates in the village.

At Heller, he's been thrilled to find a welcoming community of RPCVs. “It’s hard to explain the bond that all the volunteers have. There’s a big readjustment when you come back, and it’s nice to find everyone.”

Brooke Evans, PhD'19

“To see social work in a developing country and have a different lens and approach, I learned again how much I appreciated understanding the bigger picture of macro systems of care,” says Evans, who served in Mongolia for two years. There, she met a Heller alumna, who recommended Heller to Evans as she started to think about pursuing a doctoral degree. As she learned about Heller’s health policy expertise and tight-knit community of returned Peace Corps volunteers, she decided it would be an ideal fit.

Lisette Anzoategui, MA SID/COEX’15

The Peace Corps sent Anzoategui to Honduras to work on a property tax system, female entrepreneurship and community banking.

“Throughout my time there, I saw constantly the interaction between violence prevention and conflict and peacebuilding and development. That was a huge part of why I chose Heller, where I could do the dual degree in sustainable international development and coexistence and conflict to make those linkages.”

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